David Marsh is among the most decorated swim coaches in the world.
But on a recent morning in Coronado, Marsh was less concerned about elite athletes than he was about making the sport accessible to children who have yet to swim their first race.
Marsh won 12 NCAA team championships as the head coach at Auburn University from 1990-2007, was head coach of the U.S. women’s swim team at the 2016 Olympic Games, and is an International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee.
Now, as program director for Coronado Swim Team Elite (CSTE), Marsh caters not only to the professionals, but also to children who have just learned to swim. He said coaching this range of abilities allows him to use swimming as a tool to develop both athletes both mentally and physically.
“I’ve been an expert at coaching [swimmers] in college and developing them to win national championships,” Marsh said. “But that’s not thorough development. It’s really icing on the cake. My passion is the full range.”
Walking through the crowd gathered to compete in the Crown City Open Water Swim, one of several competitive events hosted by CSTE, Marsh encouraged swimmers by name and swapped stories with volunteers before cheering on the day’s fastest competitors in an awards ceremony.
The Open Water Swim may be a long way from Olympic pool decks, but Marsh said his goal in Coronado is to use swimming as a vehicle for personal development, in the way it helped him as a teen.
Marsh had planned on being a baseball player in high school, but didn’t make the team. So, he went out for swimming because the team didn’t cut anyone from the roster. Within a few years he was competing – and winning races – at an international level.
Marsh said he believes the best swim programs focus not just on results, but on support, growth, improvement, and life outside the pool.
“I really believe in what swimming can do for people, but it does take a whole process,” Marsh said. “The most profound impact on developing kids is through an age-group program like CSTE.”
Coronado Swim Team Elite formed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant pool closures. Marsh, who was running a swim program called Team Elite in La Jolla, was unable to obtain practice space for his athletes. So he partnered with Peter McVey, who led the Coronado Swimming Association, to find pools where they could train.
McVey helped Team Elite find swim lanes with a hand from the Navy, which allowed the clubs to use base pools while other aquatics centers remained closed. After spending time together, McVey and Marsh decided to combine their programs, and in May 2020 Coronado Swim Team Elite was formed.
The group rents pool time at the Coronado Community Center as one training location, and rents lanes at UC San Diego as another. As a result, Marsh is planning to rebrand the team to be more inclusive of the La Jolla contingent, but doesn’t want to lose sight of the cultural elements of Coronado that he believes make the team unique. Beginning in late August 2026, the team will be called San Diego Swim Club, with branches called San Diego Swim Club – Coronado and San Diego Swim Club – La Jolla to identify training locations.
Marsh’s own connection to Coronado began back in 1989, when he hosted an elite training camp at the city pool, and grew enamored with the island lifestyle, coupled with the ability to augment swimming practice in pools with surfing and bodysurfing.
“I fell in love with Coronado way before I ever imagined I could be here,” Marsh said.
Marsh moved to San Diego after the 2016 Olympic Games to take over the University of California San Diego swim program in 2017. He left UCSD after the 2019 season to refocus on his club and professional coaching, but maintained his connections in Southern California and now splits time between San Diego and the East Coast.
Anna Bai, a former age group and high school swimmer who was looking to get into coaching, joined CSTE in 2024 to run the day-to-day operations in Coronado. CSTE currently holds sessions six days per week at the Coronado Community Center. Bai said she quickly realized that Coronado has a unique place in aquatics culture.
“As I got to know the kids, a big part of it emotionally was the Navy, and seeing how kids may lack some consistency due to moving around,” Bai said. “I started to see that maybe I could be a consistent factor with these kids despite them having other moving pieces in their lives.”
Bai now works in concert with Marsh, aiming to grow CSTE and the future San Diego Swim Club – Coronado into a program that supports both the developmental and elite sides of the sport.
Programs run for swimmers as young as 6, and continue up to groups catering to adults looking to continue their competitive careers. The team currently has about 150 members, about 65 of which train in Coronado.
Younger swimmers train four days per week and pay $225 per month, while the older swimmers training five days per week pay $300 per month. Marsh said the goal is to continue to add members and turn Coronado into a hotbed of competitive swimming.
“I’m all about doing it the best way it can be done,” Marsh said. “What does that mean? The best possible experience, the most possible human growth, and the best possible results for the time and energy put in.”
