Coach Chris Mendoza-Smithour hails from Fairfield, CA, a city in between the Sacramento Valley and the Bay Area. He grew up swimming with his local club team, SASO Swimming, for ten years, where he was able to develop a love for the sport of swimming. After graduating from high school, he attended UC Santa Barbara and majored in Sociology with a minor in Asian American Studies. During his undergrad, he would go back to Fairfield in the summer and coach with SASO as an Assistant Senior Coach. However, he was eager to coach during the school year, so he was given the opportunity to work with the Santa Barbara Swim Club in 2017, where he was the Head Developmental and Novice Coach. After graduating from UCSB in 2018, Coach Chris interned and worked for a technological innovation firm in the Philippines, but was still interested in coaching part-time. So when he returned to the US, he was given the opportunity to continue working with SASO Swimming while he worked remotely, and was a Lead Site Coach, as well as the Lead 8-10 Age Group Coach. He was able to send athletes to JO’s and Far Westerns, and had three athletes in the Top 10 Sierra Nevada LSC rankings of their respective age groups. He was also an Assistant Coach for the inaugural swim team at Vanden High School, where he aided in sending three athletes and two relays to CIF Sections, with one of them scoring in the Top 3 of the Junior Varsity Division.

Coach Chris is excited to bring his passion for the sport of swimming on deck, and to guide athletes to new heights in order to achieve their goals.