San Benito swim coach Leif Nordstrom is making smiles all the
way around.
San Benito swim coach Leif Nordstrom is making smiles all the way around.
Nordstrom, who is waiting to find out the results from his dental board exam, took over as head boys coach this year at the last minute.
Athletic Director Randy Logue said he almost had to cancel the season because of the uncertainty of having a qualified coach.
Nordstrom (San Benito class of ’92) agreed to coach the team with some urging from current swimmer Logan Kratzer
“When he first mentioned it to me, I didn’t think it would work,” Nordstrom said. “But he kept coming back to me and asking me. Talking to the boys and seeing their enthusiasm for it, I felt they deserved to have this part of their high school career. They’ve all been receptive to what I’ve tried to offer them.”
The 29-year-old said he would like to come back next year even though he hopes to be a full fledged dentist by then.
“It will be tougher to get it to work into my schedule, but I would like to do everything possible to make it work,” Nordstrom said. “I’ll just have to block out time.”
Nordstrom has been working with his dad, Darick, at his office on Sunnyslope Road in Hollister as an office manager and assistant while completing the final requirements to begin drilling away.
Nordstrom received his undergraduate degree in Spanish Translation from Brigham Young University and then went to dental school where his father attended at the University of Southern California, where he graduated last year.
Nordstrom originally was a walk-on on the BYU swim team. But the coach told him that he would be the No. 2 backstroker and as a freshman wouldn’t travel to compete.
So he quit and joined the water polo team, where he played for two and a half years.
He teaches an Old Testament religion class in the mornings at San Benito High and then goes to the office until practice begins in the afternoon. He will usually go back to the office until late in the evening. Any extra time goes to his wife and two kids, he said.
As an avid debater growing up, Nordstrom didn’t always want to go into dentistry. He also thought about becoming a lawyer.
“The more I got involved in dentistry, the more I liked it,” Nordstrom said. “I didn’t want to be doing it just because it was something my father does.”
Nordstrom’s attitude toward coaching stems from his standards that he set for himself when he was a swimmer.
“I am a real competitive person,” Nordstrom said. “I get emotionally involved when I see the boys succeed or when I see them struggle. It’s not something I do from a distance. I am competitive in just about anything I do – it is my nature.”
San Benito didn’t have a swim team or a water polo team during his freshman and sophomore years. But during his final two years he qualified for the Central Coast Section playoffs in the back and breaststroke.
After a good showing during his junior year, Nordstrom said he was looking for an encore performance his senior year.
But a motorcycle accident forced him to miss most of the season. He got the two meets that he needed to be able to swim in before the league championship. While in the league finals, Nordstrom just qualified in the backstroke for CCS.
“I was basically swimming one-legged,” he said.
The hardest part this season about being a first year-coach has been seeing a couple swimmers become ineligible because of grades.
“That is something I never dealt with before,” Nordstrom said. “I knew I wanted to go to college. Even though I am very competitive and love just about any sport, I knew that was secondary to my education.”
The goal for this season was to repeat as league champions even though the team had lost a lot of seniors, Nordstrom said.
“It was a tough loss at Live Oak – a humbling loss,” said Nordstrom about the meet that dropped the Balers into second place. “I am excited we have a lot of good swimmers coming up through the ranks over the next couple years. We have a large freshman class.”
He said he is encouraged by the development that he has seen in the team this year.
“We had seven or eight boys on the team who I would consider intermediate swimmers,” Nordstrom said. “But just about every one of those guys is now someone I feel can compete. The freshmen will be highly competitive as seniors.”
