Venice High has welcomed a new water polo and swim coach, English teacher AnneMarie Di Padova.

Di Padova has taught at Venice as an English teacher for four years. She has been involved and has had an interest in swimming all her life as she was on her high school’s swim team. 

“I’ve always been interested in it and the opportunity just came up, so I wanted to help preserve the program for the school,” she said. 

Previous water polo and swim coach, Sophie Sabbah, has been staying in touch with Di Padova through meetings and has been guiding her to get more familiar with what being a Venice High swim coach will be like. 

According to Di Padova, in a lot of ways, you’re still a coach even as a teacher. 

“It’s just a different setting, so applying that to an athletic development is definitely a big switch, but teachers are coaches too,” she said.  

Sophomore Saffron Collins, the girls’ swim captain, said that she looks forward to working with Di Padova. 

“There’s different rules and different settings that Ms. Di Padova has, but I’m looking forward to this season and myself being a captain for the first time learning how to coach as well, so this year will be a learning experience for both of us,” she said.