Coaches & Directors

Kevin Blum

Head Coach - Elite/National Group

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Kevin Blum first swam at the Highlands summer league swim club in Fremont, CA, and began swimming year-round with Mission San Jose Aquatics at age 14. He went on to earn a swimmming scholarship at California State University, Northridge where he graduated with a degree in Recreation Management. In 2001, he founded Porter Valley Aquatics, with only one swimmer.

Kevin produced his first Junior National swimmer in 2005, and has had multiple Junior National Qualifiers every year since, including over a dozen swims that have made finals. In 2008 he produced his first Olympic Trials Qualifier and USA National Junior Team Member. In 2009, he produced 2 World Championships Trials Qualifiers and had his first USA National Championships finalist.

Now as the co-founder of Rattler Swim Club of San Fernando, Kevin looks to bring his expertise and knowledge of grassroot efforts to San Fernando, helping to establish the City of San Fernando as an aquatic power in the years to come. 

Adrian G Dinis

HEAD AGE GROUP COACH

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All-American backstroke and I.M.er Adrian Dinis started swimming competitively at the age of 5. Adrian was a standout swimmer almost instantly while swimming for Mission San Jose Aquatics, racking up multiple National Top 16 rankings and was selected for numerous Pacific Swimming Western Zone teams. He would later go on to be a familiar face on the National scene, qualifying for seven different events, showing off his versatility. Adrian went on to earn a swimming scholarship to Brigham Young University, then later transfer and earn a swimming scholarship to California State Northridge where he would finish school with two Bachelor's degree in Communications as well as Journalism. 
In 2001, Adrian joined Kevin in starting up Porter Valley Aquatics, seeing the need for aquatic improvement in the San Fernando Valley.  
To further improve aquatic awareness in the Valley, in 2004, Adrian also coached two different teams in the San Fernando Valley Catholic Swim League, St. Euphrasia and Our Lady of Lourdes, as well as helping make sure the league ran smoothly from an administrative standpoint.  
In 2005, Adrian took over the Aquatics Director position at Bishop Alemany High School, where he has served as both the Head boys water polo coach as well as the Head boys/girls swimming coach.  
Adrian has seen several of his Rattler swimmers ranked Nationally in the Top 10 in their respective age groups while consistently seeing his swimmers ranking amongst the Top 16 in Southern California.
As a co-founder of Rattler Swim Club of San Fernando, Adrian hopes to continue the work that both Kevin and he had put in to help San Fernando swimming rise to prominence. 

Liz Tierney

Senior I and II Coach

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Liz began swimming competitively at age 8 for Chippewa Valley YMCA, represented Chippewa, St. Charles YMCA (MO) and La Crosse Family YMCA at YMCA State meets from age 8-18. 4 time YMCA Nationals Qualifier with the La Crosse YMCA Wave. She was a Dorothea Shields Award winner senior year for leadership.

Liz also swam for University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh from 1999-2003... She was a 12-time conference finalist, MVP 2002-2003, held school record in 200 fly and currently hold record in 200 breast. She graduated in 2003 with a B.S. in Psychology.

Liz began coaching at the Holmen Area Aquatic Center in 1999, coaching age group swimming until 2003. She then went on to become Head Men and Women's Swim Coach at Ripon College in 2003-2004 and was named Men's Coach of the Year for the Midwest Conference. She then moved to CA in 2005,became a student at CSU-Long Beach working towards a M.S. in Kinesiology with a Sport & Exercise Psychology emphasis all while coaching for the Irvine Novaquatics for 2 years. Spent 2007-2008 as an assistant coach at Div 1 Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA then moved back to CA in 2008 and began coaching at Porter Valley Aquatics, now Rattler Swim Club.  Liz is also now in her second year as the Head Swim Coach at Chaminade High School. 
 

Helenka Lozano

Age Group Coach

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Helenka Lozano started swimming with Verdugo Park during the summers at age 6.  She loved the water so much, she joined the Burbank YMCA at age 9 and soon after was qualifying for and finaling at Junior Olympics.  At age 11, she joined the Glendale National YMCA swim team, where she continued her string of Junior Olympic success on through High School.  While in high school, Helenka set multiple school records, was a CIF Finalist, and had an impressive 3-year undefeated streak in her main event, the 50 free.
She would later earn a swimming scholarship to California State Los Angeles, where her promising swimming career would be cut short due to injury.
She has over 20 years of lessons/lifeguarding/coaching experience and was a welcome addition to the Rattler coaching staff.  She works primarily with the youngest and/or novice swimmers on the team and her teaching knowledge and attention to detail is one of the main reasons why the Rattler age group program is as successful as it is. 
Helenka has three children, all of whom are swimmers for Rattler Swim Club of San Fernando, which gives her perspective on both sides of the fence, both as mother and coach.  She sees the importance of aquatic awareness in the San Fernando area and has been instrumental to Rattler Swim Club’s grass roots effort in the city.