Coach Ben returns to Texas Gold and AG Masters with six years of coaching experience. He most recently was head coach for the Cedar Park Typhoons in the summer of 2010. Also in recent years Coach Ben has been the Age Group Coach and Assistant High School Coach for the San Antonio WAVE Swim Club. In the summer of 2009 he was the Head Coach for the Whispering Oaks Summer League Swim Team in San Antonio, and was an assistant coach for them for four years prior. In High School he was the Captain of both the Swim Team and the Water Polo Team, and swam for Club Teams and Summer League teams. Coach Ben currently gives private swimming lessons, and holds USA Swimming and ASCA Level 1 coaching certifications, as well as Lifeguard, First Aid, CPR, and Coaches Safety certifications. Outside of swimming, Ben's passions and interests include: playing ultimate frisbee and water polo, working on computers, and cheering on his three favorite sports teams, the Dallas Cowboys, the Boston Red Sox, and the San Antonio Spurs. His favorite band is The Beatles and his favorite movies are the timeless films of the Star Wars series. Ben comes from a family of five kids, all swimmers. He began swimming when he was six years old and has never looked back. His favorite stroke is the breaststroke and his favorite event is the 200 I.M. in which he competed at the Texas 5A UIL State Championships. He has since used his talents in swimming to enable young people to make the most of theirs.
Aubrey is entering his 23rd season as a coach for Texas Gold Swimming. This will be his 18th year at the helm of the Wells Branch based Texas Gold program. With an emphasis on stroke technique and mechanics he has developed some of the best Age Group talent in the State of Texas. He has coached twenty different Texas Gold swimmers to 77 individual Texas State Championships in the last sixteen years. His swimmers have also achieved 16 State records and 2 National records. He has been voted the South Texas Age Group Coach of the Year for 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010. He was also awarded the American Swim Coaches Association Age Group Coach of the year for 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2010. He received the 1999 and 2003 Tex Robertson Age Group Coach of the year award for the state of Texas. He has also been voted the South Texas Senior Coach of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009.
David began swimming at age 6. He started swimming in summer league in San Antonio for the Braun Station Seagulls, and then moved up to age group swimming at Alamo Area Aquatics. After moving to Georgetown, David joined Aquadillos in 1994. He swam four years at Georgetown High School, and also swam for Georgetown Area Swimming. While attending Trinity University, he was a diver on the swimming and diving team. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in Computer Science. David first coached the Aquadillos in 2000, and has also coached for the Aquatics of Georgetown in the winter. David also was a competitive gymnast for many years. He currently does websites, computer tutoring, and basic computer repair for individuals, non- profits, and small businesses.
Prater graduated from Southwestern University in 2011, where he came in 12th place at the SCAC Championships in the 100 free with a time of 48.73 and was a part of the 400 free relay team that shaved seven seconds off their time to come in seventh place with a time of 3:18.52. He was also a member of the 200 free relay team that finished in seventh place at the SCAC Championships with a time of 1:41.31 and scored two points in the 100 breast with a time of 1:03.32. He was a member of the 200 yard free relay that finished in fifth place and 400 medley and 400 free relays that came in seventh at the SCAC Championships… member of 800 free relay that ended in eighth…individually ended in 14th place in the 500 free Prater was a four year letter man in Swimming at Star Charter High School. He has been coaching for the local summer league team for 3 years.
Coach Dale Huggins swam for Westwood High School from 1988-1991 where he was a team captain and earned the admirable Warrior Award, as well as being a regional qualifier. He was a USS swimmer representing Longhorn Aquatics from 1991-1995, where he achieved TAGS and Senior Circuit time standards. At Austin College from 1991-95 his honors included two-time team captain and admirable Hannah Award, four All-American Honorable Mention, and 11 school records. Since 1995 he has been swimming as a USMS Masters swimmer for Texas Longhorn Aquatics and now for Aquatics of Georgetown Masters and has accumulated 21 National Top 10 Times, 1 South Central Zone Record, and 3 Longcourse National Championship titles. Coach Huggins has attended Gold Medal Swimming Clinics and in 1998 he was in Lausanne, Switzerland for the 90th FINA Anniversary honoring the world-class water athletes, including Russia's Alexander Popov, Australia's Micheal Klim and USA's highly decorated Jenny Thompson and Tobie Smith. Coach Huggins was head coach for Pflugerville High School in 1999-2000 where, during his tenure, 16 school records were broken and his men's team earned 3rd place at districts, their highest place they had ever achieved. Coach Dale founded the Aquatics of Georgetown in 2001 for age group swimmers. He began offering practices for adult swimmers in 2006, and the Aquatics of Georgetown Masters has been attending several competitions including several National meets. The program evolves every year, and in early 2008, became a Texas Gold satellite team, joining coach Aubrey Knapper's Texas Gold North team. To quote Coach Dale, “There is nothing more satisfying to me than to spread my passion for the sport of swimming”. Dale is presently the Director of Operations for Action Pawn, a position he has held since 1999.
