BORN FOR THE WATER: WHAT MAKES LONG BEACH THE AQUATIC CAPITAL OF AMERICA?

LB908
1 day ago
11 min read

By Gina Valencia

A master women's crew racing around Naples Island. Photo courtesy of the Long Beach Rowing Assoc.

With six miles of sandy coastline, a mild year-round climate, and an Olympic legacy that stretches back nearly a century, Long Beach has earned its title as the Aquatic Capital of America. When the 2028 Games arrive on our shores, the rest of the world is going to understand why. Long Beach will host 11 Olympic and seven Paralympic events, more than any city outside Los Angeles. Our coastlines will serve as the backdrop for water polo, windsurfing, kiteboarding, open-water swimming, rowing, canoe sprint, and artistic swimming. And for the first time in history, the Paralympics are coming to Long Beach as well. The city has been building toward this moment for generations.

An Olympic Legacy

Marine Stadium, the iconic flatwater venue near Naples Island, hosted Olympic rowing's very first race in 1932. Ninety-six years later, it will do so again. Originally built as the first manmade rowing course in the United States, it was declared "the world's finest course for one of the world's greatest sports" by then International Olympic Committee President Henri de Balliet-Latour. Now the city makes history again: when the 2028 Olympics arrive, Long Beach will be the first city ever to host Coastal Rowing.

The city has produced Olympic champions across multiple sports, but when it comes to aquatics, the legacy runs even deeper. From swimmers Susie Atwood, Julio Arango, and Luis Ayesa to diver Pat McCormick (who won two gold medals in both platform and springboard at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics) to generations of water polo players from local high schools, LBCC, Shore Aquatics, and Cal State, this city has been sending athletes to the Games since 1956. Wilson High School alone has sent swimmers, divers, and water polo players to every Summer Olympics since 1952, including Paris 2024.

The Belmont Pool, now being replaced with a brand-new world-class facility, hosted top divers and swimmers from its opening in 1968 until its demolition in 2014. The iconic indoor facility hosted the 1968 and 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials and was a training and competition site for elite divers and swimmers, including Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis.

Since October 2024, the Historical Society of Long Beach has been celebrating this legacy with Olympics on the Golden Shore, a free public exhibit showcasing local athletes, photographs, and artifacts from the 1932 and 1984 Games in Long Beach.

The Aquatic Capital of America

The title "Aquatic Capital of America" was officially adopted as a city slogan in 2008, coined by yachtsman Tom Shadden, who co-founded the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation (ACOA) after he and fellow members realized how many aquatic Olympians, National Champions, and World Record holders came from Long Beach. After almost two decades, ACOA has evolved into a fully volunteer non-profit dedicated to youth swim programs and water safety education.

"Our focus is on kids learning-to-swim programs and promoting Long Beach for all the good it has to offer," says Greg Shea, Vice President of ACOA. "We feel that the city deserves its well-earned reputation as the Aquatic Capital of America for the many aquatic athletes from here."

(Left) Klaus Barth-the legendary swimmer, coach, and one of the founders of Shore Aquatics. (Middle) Chi & Kristen Kredell keep the legacy at Shore Aquatics running. (Right) The Shore Aquatics 14U Team won the National Championship in Indiana in 2025. Photos courtesy of Shore Aquatics.

ACOA celebrates that legacy through its Annual Awards and Hall of Fame program, honoring those who have achieved extraordinary success in aquatic endeavors. Inductees include Wilson alumna and diving legend Pat McCormick, the first woman inducted into the U.S. Swimming Hall of Fame; Maureen O’Toole, also from Wilson, who had to play on the boys’ water polo team as there was no girls’ team at the time, then played on the men’s LBCC team, before becoming the world’s top female water polo player; and Craig “Chi” Kredell, a Wilson and Long Beach standout who competed on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo Team.

Aquatics run deep in the Kredell family. Chi’s wife, Kristin Barth Kredell, swam for Wilson and won a national championship playing water polo at UCLA. Her father, Klaus Barth, founded the beloved Shore Aquatics program in 1993, the first year-round water polo club in the nation.

“Since 1996, Shore Aquatics has sent 33 [athletes] to the Olympics,” Chi said. An amazing feat that says it all.

Chi joined the club early as a coach, and today he and Kristin lead it together: he as water polo director, and she as swim director, training hundreds of young athletes to reach their potential. One of their signature courses is Junior Lifeguards, an intense coed summer program for ages 6–19 that Chi says, “makes a true athlete.” Their son and daughter now train with Shore as well. “We’re a water polo family, big time,” Chi said.

Hundreds of participants swim a loop around the bay and Naples each year as part of the annual "Naples Island Swim." Photo courtesy of Greg Shea (ACOA) & Naples Island Swims.

And Long Beach is a big-time water polo city.

Five-time Olympian Tony Azevedo from Wilson is the sport's most iconic American figure and a revered global athlete. As a proud Long Beach resident, Tony is the founder of the elite 908 Water Polo Club, and has dedicated his life post-competition to growing the game, especially in and around Long Beach through his club and many clinics. This year, on July 1st and 2nd, he is bringing the first annual Sandro Cup to Long Beach’s Bay. Meant to inspire the next generation of future Olympians, this open water tournament will kick off “4th of July week” on Long Beach’s Olympic waters for years to come.

At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the USA Men's National Water Polo Team was represented by four Long Beach residents. Left to Right: Chase Dodd, Ryder Dodd, Max Irving and Hannes Daube.

Long Beach native Ryan Bailey exemplifies longevity and excellence and took part in four Olympic Games for Team USA, earning Silver in 2008. Adam Wright, now the head coach for UCLA's water polo team, is another Wilson star and former Olympian channeling his experience into building champions. Considered one of the best players in U.S. history, Jody Campbell, yet another Wilson Bruin, is a two-time silver Olympic medalist. The current U.S. Men's National Team features four Long Beach athletes: Max Irving, brothers Chase and Ryder Dodd, and Hannes Daube. The four represented the U.S. Men’s Water Polo Team at the 2024 Paris Games. No city in the country has a prouder water polo history.

Open-water swimming is woven just as deeply into the city's identity.

Marathon swimmer Penny Dean trained near the Queen Mary and in 1976 set a world record swimming from Southern California to Catalina Island in 7:15:15, a record that still stands. Two years later, she became a global legend by setting the fastest English Channel crossing in history.

That spirit of endurance lives on in Wilson alumnus Hank Wise, a Stanford All-American swimmer and SWIMLB coach who swam the Catalina Channel for the eighth time in September 2025, which at the time tied him for an all-time individual record number of crossings. Holding both individual and relay records in the Catalina Channel, Hank has swum, paddled, and surfed all over the world. He was presented with keys to the city for his aquatic achievements and honored as the 2018 ACOA Athlete of the Year.

(Left) Hank Wise in swimsuit on boat. Photo Credit: Parks Wesson. (Right) Hank swimming to Catalina next to kayak, taken by his navigator. Photo Credit: Sean Lieppman.

“It felt like being seen, truly seen, for something you love deeply and have poured yourself into. Open water swimming is a vast and magnificent sport, and simultaneously one of the best-kept secrets in athletics,” Hank said. “Being recognized by the ACOA felt like a small light being shined on that world, and I was grateful to help elevate it even a little.”

Swimming the Catalina Channel once is an incredible achievement, but to have done it eight times, well that’s just another level. For Hank, this endeavor has a way of strengthening not just his body, but his overall character.

“Training for a channel swim is both arduous and joyful, and it demands something I like to call Grrr-attitude…the marriage of grit and gratitude. You need both,” Hank said.

“Grit without gratitude turns dark. Gratitude without grit stays soft. When you combine them, you find out what you're made of, and the Catalina Channel has a beautiful, unforgiving way of showing you exactly that.” -Hank Wise

Long Beach’s sailing legacy has influenced the world.

Sailor Pete Melvin, a longtime member of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, adds to the city's sailing legacy with three World Championships, over 25 national titles, and a berth as the U.S. Tornado skipper at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. His influence on the sport extends far beyond racing: his design firm, Morrelli & Melvin, created the “Nacra 17” catamaran, the Olympic mixed multihull class used at every Games since Rio 2016, and the same boat that will race off Long Beach's coast in 2028.

Long Beach Yacht Club (LBYC) Staff Commodore John Busch has sailed all over the world in over 45 years of yacht racing. He's been part of winning race teams, including the 2016 LBYC team that claimed the 121-year-old San Francisco Perpetual Challenge Trophy, the second oldest perpetual trophy in North America. The San Diego native knows coastal cities up and down California, and he keeps coming back to Long Beach.

“The great weather, the good water, the distance from dock to open water,” John says. “If you love the water, this is the place to be.”

During our conversation at the Yacht Club overlooking Alamitos Bay, two young kids sailed past in little dinghies. Right on cue. "Naples Sabot," John explained. "You know what that is?" he said, gesturing toward the young sailors. "That's freedom."

John will serve on the Sailing Race Committee for the 2028 Games, a fitting role for a man who has spent a lifetime on these waters.

The Bay On Any Given Day

What sets Long Beach apart from other coastal cities isn't just its champions, it's who's sharing the water with them. On any given morning, Alamitos Bay is busy with swimmers, sailors, dragon boaters, outrigger paddlers, kite surfers, kite boarders, and water skiers. Some are training for the Olympics. Some are training for the first time. The bay and coast offer something for everyone, from beginners enjoying the calm flatwater of Alamitos Bay (it was my favorite spot to meet with mom friends on the perfect lazy summer day with the kids), to elite athletes pushing their limits on the open coast.

Local Long Beach youth enjoy the thrill of competition on board a Long Beach Yacht Club Cataline 37 during wet Wednesday evening race with former USC All-American Skipper, Mike Segerblom at the helm. Photo courtesy of the US Sailing Center, Long Beach.

Mary Cordero Melton has been paddling at Mother's Beach for 22 years. As General Manager of the Southern California Dragon Boat Club, she oversees more than 20 teams spanning adult, high school, college, breast cancer survivor, and adaptive paddlers. Her home team, the AeroDragons, practices three days a week on Alamitos Bay. The club hosts two signature annual events: a spring race for local teams and the Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival every July, drawing competitors from across the country and beyond.

"The waters here are a paradise: calm, lovely weather, a great place for locals to be introduced to these sports," Mary says. On what makes Long Beach the Aquatic Capital, her answer is direct, "The diversity that being in Long Beach brings. There are opportunities here for every water sport imaginable."

The community events that pack this waterfront year-round are a testament to that diversity. Thousands flock to Horny Corner every summer for the Beach Water Polo Cup at Alamitos Bay, the longest-running and largest beach water polo event in the world, founded by Olympian and Long Beach native Robert Lynn in the early 2000s, and now run by Nick Baba of USA Water Polo.

The ACOA Foundation also partners with the annual Naples Island Swims, an open-water competition dating back to 1903, offering one-mile, three-mile, and 500-yard races open to all swimmers; proceeds from this event underwrite youth swimming programs in the city.

Ensuring The Future Of Aquatic Excellence

The future of Long Beach aquatics is being built one swimmer at a time. ACOA's Waterproof Our Youth program funds swim safety education for local children, while the Grants for Gear program provides essential equipment to youth programs that couldn't otherwise afford it. The Jordan High School swim team has felt that impact directly, receiving goggles every season. Last year, Jordan received enough parkas for their 36-member team.

The Jordan HS Water Polo Team shows off their parkas funded by ACOA's Waterproof our Youth Program. Photos courtesy of Jordan HS Water Polo.

"These parkas provided far more than warmth and comfort," says Jordan Head Coach Brenden Gruneisen. "They foster dignity, confidence, and a sense of belonging to swimmers who otherwise go without essential gear. Due to [ACOA’s] generosity, Jordan athletes are better equipped to experience the benefits that come with participating in aquatics."

What sustains Long Beach's aquatic culture generation after generation is the fact that the city's champions come back.

Chi’s son’s 14U boys’ all-star water polo team captured the Delfina USA Champions Cup gold medal last November in Indiana, coached by Chi and Robert. Robert’s son played on the roster as well, a continuation of water polo excellence passing from one generation to the next.

Hanne Chupik, President of the Long Beach Rowing Association, sees this culture of paying it forward every day. "So many incredibly talented and hardworking athletes choose to stay involved in Long Beach, inspiring and supporting the next generation," she says.

"Many of the events here celebrate athletes at every stage, from rising young competitors to seasoned champions, so from a young age they see how deeply their community believes in them." -Hanne Chupik

The Annual Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival will be held this year on July 25, from 9am-6pm at Marine Stadium. Photo courtesy of the Southern California Dragon Boat Club.

Rowing's history in Long Beach is shaped by exactly this cycle of giving back. "Our coach, Sherri Kline, is a perfect example," Hanne adds. "She’s now coaching upcoming elite athletes as a way of giving back what was once given to her."

Greg Shea, Vice President of the Aquatic Capital of America

For Hanne, it all begins with one foundational skill. "Learning to swim opens the door to an entirely new world of sports, confidence, and lifelong opportunities.”

ACOA’s Greg agrees.

"When people learn to swim, their imagination opens to what other sports they can do.” -Greg Shea

As head coach and director of Swim Focus, a non-profit organization focused on safe, fun, team-oriented aquatics, Hank Wise dedicates himself to creating more than just swimmers. “We call it Character First, and we mean it,” Hank said. “The water is a dynamic, ever-changing environment, and we take that as our cue: like water, we aim to flow, to learn, to grow. The goal was never just to produce fast swimmers. It was to build a lifestyle, one rooted in the aquatic world, in shared effort, and in the belief that who you become in the pool shapes who you become everywhere else.”

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Getting involved is easier than you think. The Long Beach Parks and Recreation Department offers learn-to-swim, sail, and rowing classes for all ages. Leeway Sailing offers lessons for kids as young as eight. SoCal Kitesurfing runs classes from a 90-minute introduction to a five-day master course. Shore Aquatics, the Long Beach Rowing Association, and the Southern California Dragon Boat Club all run youth and adult programs year-round.

The ACOA website provides links to many water sport organizations in the city.

And the brand-new Belmont Beach Aquatics Center, set to open in Spring 2028, will replace the old Belmont Pool with a state-of-the-art facility for recreation, instruction, competition, and therapy.

You don't have to be an Olympian to belong to this community. Show up at Alamitos Bay on a Saturday morning and you'll find beginners paddling next to seasoned athletes. Take a sailing lesson. Join a dragon boat team. Swim the Naples Island loop. Cheer at a high school water polo match. And in the summer of 2028, grab a lawn chair and head down to Marine Stadium, or walk the Belmont Shore waterfront, and watch the best aquatic athletes on the planet compete in the same waters we call home.