Alamo Area Aquatics Diving
Coach Alexis Radhakrishnan
Charly is originally from Corpus Christi, TX. His father, Trey Collins, coached him all the way through his high school years. He was District 30 champion two years in a row and a Region VIII finalist three consecutive years. In 1995, he dived and competed for Palo Alto College in San Antonio, TX by Stan Randall and earned NJCAA All-American status in ’96 and ’97. Charly also coached for 8 years with Alamo Area Aquatics Diving, assisting in the development of divers who were offered college scholarships and competed at national level meets. In 2001, he was part of the cast of professional divers in the show” Viva” at Sea World of Texas, showcasing the arctic animals of the Pacific, combined with synchronized swimmers, aerialists,s and high divers. He joined McCormick Divers in Jan of ’04. Charly is a multi-talented individual, showcasing his musical talents in years past and currently pursuing a 2nd-degree black belt in karate.
Tommy Law became interested in diving after watching Greg Louganis and Bruce Kimball on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Tommy and his brother spent a lot of time playing around on the boards at Forest Oaks Pool in 1985. Tommy competed in Summer league for two years and high school for three years. Chris Petit, Kirby Weedin, Craig Nolder, Debbie Christiansen, and Stan Randall coached Tommy through the years.
Tommy started coaching as an assistant with San Antonio Divers from 1991 to 1993. He then became Debbie Christiansen's assistant coach at Palo Alto College in 1994. Tommy took over the head coaching position when Debbie received her Masters Degree and moved to Dallas. Tommy has been coaching the Alamo Area Aquatics Team since 1995 and has been coaching high school diving for the Northside Independent School District for the last sixteen years. He has been coaching the divers at the University of the Incarnate Word since 2010. In 2011 he coached an NCAA II national champion. In 2012, Tommy was named TISCA 5-A Diving Coach of the Year.
Tommy Law graduated from John Marshall High School where he held the school diving records for one-meter and three-meter for over seven years. Tommy went on to graduate from the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Secondary Education) and a minor equivalency in Russian. Tommy was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity from 1990 to 1996.
Tommy married his lovely wife, Elaine, in October 1998 during the "Great Flood". He and Elaine have two dogs, Brooke and Maggie. Elaine is a project manager for Planned Systems International. Tommy's goal is to develop and produce a team of divers that compete nationally and internationally. He is also interested in helping high school divers attain college scholarships through diving.
A native of Austin, Texas, Coach Stan Randall grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University. He moved to San Antonio in 1995 and has been the director of the Alamo Area Aquatics Association diving program since that time. There, he has been preparing and developing top-level athletes for a future in university diving or careers in teaching the sport by way of his mentor program for prospective coaches.
Coach Randall is truly one of the United States elite age group diving coaches, having developed many local, state, national, and international diving champions. Stan has 43 years of coaching experience, with his earliest national level success coming in 1974 (and again in 1976) when he had divers selected for the United States Junior Olympic teams. He has coached numerous members of various United States National diving teams since that time. In 1982, Coach Randall had his first double international gold medallist at the Can-Am-Mex Games. He was also the recipient of the United States Age Group Coach-of-the-Year Award that same year. His internationally famous Red Roof Inn diving team won the U.S. national team title in 1984 and again in 1986.
In 1986, Coach Randall was selected to be the United States national team coach responsible for taking an American diving team that competed in Aachen, West Germany. Two years later, he was appointed the U.S. senior diving coach for a national team trip to Moscow, Russia (the former U.S.S.R.). Since then, Stan has coached American teams at international meets in Sweden, Austria, Mexico, England, Canada, and Switzerland. He has also conducted training camps and clinics in Rio De Janerio, Brazil; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Montreal, Quebec; Sweden; Austria; and Denmark.
In the last 5 years, his high school divers have been very successful and made State every year. Divers such as Christopher Law, Nathan Gonzales, Katie Leonard, Maddy Crosby, Nick McCann, Abby Miller are just a few that have finished in top 3 or won State.
Apart from his love for the sport of diving, Stan’s hobbies include horseback riding, photography, and backpacking. Much to his joy he can do all of these here in San Antonio and it’s surrounding countryside.
John Ryan will enter his fourth season as Trinity’s assistant swimming coach in the 2020-21 campaign. Coach Ryan spent 25 years as the head coach of the Tiger men’s and women’s swimming teams. He retired from the head coach position in May 2017 and moved into the role of assistant coach. He was appointed head coach in June 1992, and the swim teams began competition the following fall season. It marked the beginning of Trinity’s first-ever varsity swimming & diving program.
During Coach Ryan’s tenure as head coach, 24 men’s and women’s swimmers (14 men and 10 women) earned All-America accolades following the NCAA Division III Championships. In March 2014, Stephen Culberson became Tiger swimming’s first national champion, as he captured the NCAA 100-yard freestyle event. Culberson later qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The success of Trinity’s teams also extended to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) on Coach Ryan’s watch. The Tiger women captured 17 of 19 SCAC Swimming & Diving Championships, including 14 in a row from 2004-2017. Trinity’s men won 10 SCAC Championships during the time period, beginning in 1999.
Seven of his men’s swimmers and four women received SCAC Swimmer of the Year distinction while serving as head coach. Coach Ryan earned SCAC Coach of the Year honors 15 times to include SCAC Coaching Staff of the Year on several of those occasions. Prior to joining the Trinity staff, Coach Ryan oversaw the men’s and women’s programs at Wesleyan (CT) University from 1986-1992. He had 19 individuals achieve NCAA Division III All-America recognition while at Wesleyan. From 1982-1986 he was the head women’s coach at Southern Methodist (TX) University and led a previously unranked team to a top-10 Division I national finish. Coach Ryan’s 1984-85 squad posted an undefeated season, highlighted by a victory over the NCAA national champion the University of Texas.
Coach Ryan had earlier ties to San Antonio in his career. He was the head coach of the San Antonio Aquatic Club (SAAC) and the aquatics coordinator of the North East Independent School District from 1976-1982. Coach Ryan organized the North East Summer Swim League in 1977 and enlarged the program to over 30 teams by 1982. In the fall of 1977, Coach Ryan brainstormed the founding of the Alamo Area Aquatic Association (AAAA), which has helped coordinate club and high school swimming in the greater San Antonio aquatics community.
SAAC swimmer Cassie Cochran set two American breaststroke records in January 1977 while competing for the USA in Paris, France. Coach Ryan also guided five SAAC/AAAA swimmers to gold-medal National Junior Olympic record-breaking performances between 1979 and 1982.
A former U.S. Army officer, Coach Ryan served as the swimming coach of the United States Modern Pentathlon Training Center at Fort Sam Houston (in San Antonio) from 1970-1972. He was on the staff of the gold-medal-winning USA team at the 1971 CISM (international military sports) in Thun, Switzerland. Three of his athletes competed for the USA Modern Pentathlon team at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. After the Munich Games, Coach Ryan completed a tour of duty in the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) before leaving the service in 1973.
Coach Ryan earned a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin (ME) College in 1969 and a master’s in education from The College of William and Mary (VA) in 1976. While in graduate school in 1973, Coach Ryan founded the Peninsula YMCA Swim Team at Newport News, Virginia. His team won the 1975 Virginia Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Age Group Championship, and the squad later finished fourth at the national YMCA Championships.
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I started gymnastics when I was seven years old, and it was a major part of my life that helped introduce me to the sport of diving. My accomplishments in gymnastics include state champion in vault twice (level 6 and level 9) and regional qualifier as a level 8 (twice) and level 9 (twice). I started diving recreationally when I was thirteen and transitioned from being a gymnast to a diver during my junior year of high school. I reached level nine in gymnastics before deciding to switch lanes and make dive my athletic priority. Gymnastics has benefitted my air awareness while diving; however it was a challenge adjusting my timing when it came to diving into water, rather than landing on a floor. I will be working on this over the next 3-6 months by diving with Kentucky Diving Club as well as my high school team.
Scholastically, the courses I enjoy most are creative writing, AP English Language, and sociology. Creative writing has been a major focus in my life for three years. When I was in eighth grade, I began playing the ukulele and writing music. Writing brings me tremendous joy both as leisure and in academics. I am excited to continue creative writing in my high school courses, and plan to do so in college. AP English Language is very different from my previous creative writing courses. This class has enabled me to improve my essay writing and helped me acquire skills I hope to use in the future. As Sociology is the study of environmental impacts on social behavior, and music and creative writing can be expressions of human emotion, I hope to utilize all these areas for a future career.
I am a hard-working, compassionate person. Scoring points for my team and helping us achieve city and regional titles in the past was very rewarding. We have our sights set on a state title and I will work tirelessly to contribute to that achievement. I feel the discipline gained from gymnastics and my co-curricular activities will prepare me for my athletic future. They certainly motivate me to continue into the collegiate ranks.
In high school, Rangel graduated from Edison High School. He was Dive Team Captain for 2 years... He also dove with AAAD his Junior and senior year. He was UIL State finalist. He is a diver at Incarnate Word University.
SWIM COACH
Coach John Ryan.
