Coaching Staff
Coaches are the club's only paid staff; the board below runs everything else as volunteers.
Don Heidary
Don has forty-five years of coaching experience at every level and is Co-Founder and Co-Head Coach of Orinda Aquatics. He is a World Swimming Coaches Association board member, a two-term ASCA President, and has served on the USA Swimming Board of Directors and twenty years on the Pacific Swimming board overseeing Club Development and Senior Swimming. With Ron, he authored a 350-page Character First coaches' guidebook donated to ASCA, wrote “The Professional Swim Coach” manual for WSCA, and has lectured on character, culture and leadership at World Clinics in China, Africa, Mexico, Ireland and India. As Miramonte High School's head coach for thirty years he won five NCS Championships. He is the 2013 Positive Coaching Alliance National Double-Goal Award winner, a past NCS Honor Coach, East Bay and Pacific Swimming Age-Group Coach of the Year, the 2025 ASCA Top 5 Age-Group Coach nationally, and the 2026 ORCA Lifetime Service Award recipient.
Ron Heidary
Ron oversees the thirty-member National Group and, with Don, co-founded Orinda Aquatics. He is also Head Coach of Campolindo High School, which finished as the top public high school program nationally in 2013 and won the CIF State Championship in 2026 with an all–Orinda Aquatics roster; the program has won twenty NCS titles and produced over 150 High School All-Americans. Ron won California Coach of the Year in 2006, the Positive Coaching Alliance Double Goal Award in 2013, and Pacific Swimming Age-Group Coach of the Year in 1998.
Marc Cavallero
An original Orinda Aquatics member and national-level breaststroker who swam at UC Santa Barbara as team captain, Marc now coaches Senior Group (2 & 3) and runs the club's Fall Swimming (Polar Bear) and High School Pre-Season programs. He holds a Master's in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco and previously built programs at Moraga Country Club, Springbrook and Acalanes High School.
Tiffany Forbes
Tiffany brings extensive swimming and learn-to-swim experience, from recreational programs to founding head coach of the Orinda Moraga Swim Club and Masters coaching at Cal, Temescal and Boulder. She holds an M.S. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Colorado Boulder, coaches Junior 1, leads the Masters program, and oversees recruiting and onboarding for new families.
Dave Schurhoff
A long-time Lamorinda community coach who built dominant recreational programs at Meadow and Moraga Country Club and coached Campolindo High School to numerous NCS Championships alongside Ron. Dave was an early Senior coach at Orinda Aquatics and the program's original Masters coach.
Matt Ehrenberger
Head Age-Group Coach — Program Director, Membership
Matt brings over thirty-five years of coaching experience, including building seven County Championship teams. He coaches the Junior Group, directs Fall Swimming, High School Pre-Season and Spring Clinics, and oversees team membership. Under his methodical approach to stroke and race development, the Junior Group is a perennial top team at JOs and Far Westerns — ASCA's #1 small club in the nation.
In loving memory
Coach Kati McDermott coached the Senior Group for many years and, for a long stretch, organized every swimmer's team gear. She is deeply missed by the entire Orinda Aquatics family.
Board of Directors
Name | Role |
|---|---|
Mark Chiarucci | President |
Cristina Bensadoun | Secretary, Masters & Outreach Director |
Chris Leon | Treasurer (OA alumni) |
Burcin Can Metin | Tech Advisor / Business Development |
Vanessa Bratcher | Host Meet |
Sara Beugelmans | Safe Sport / Legal |
Summer Brown | Social Director |
Don Heidary | Founding Board Member, Corporate President |
Ron Heidary | Founding Board Member, Corporate Treasurer/Secretary |
General questions, volunteer coordination, meet direction, officials and social events each have a dedicated contact — reach out through Contact Us and we'll route you to the right person.