Grace Del Pizzo is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

Desert Mountain High School head coach Crystal Strimple may be modest when talking about her leadership experience.

However, she has been instrumental in the swim team’s success over the past few seasons.

Strimple’s recent accolades speak for themselves. At the 2022 AIA Division II State Championships Nov. 4-5, she took home her third consecutive Coach of the Year award, and the girls’ team earned a third straight championship.

Strimple wasn’t a competitive swimmer in school. Instead, she played competitive tennis.

“When you don't competitively swim, you have to study it a little bit more,” Strimple said. “You're not just relying on what you know, or what you were taught. You research a little bit more, you ask more questions, you take more classes, you go through all of that.”

Even though she didn’t swim in high school, Strimple said she believes her knowledge of tennis transfers over to swimming.

“They're both very individual, but swimming is more of a team atmosphere… [Tennis] is very similar to swimming in that way. You do your own thing, but you're part of something bigger,” Strimple said.

Desert Mountain assistant coach Chris Pospisil recalled that Strimple made a memorable first impression in all the right ways.

“I met Crystal when I first got my job working with Scottsdale Aquatic Club,” Pospisil said. “I walked on deck to shadow Crystal and immediately figured out that she's no nonsense, tells it how it is, whether it's good or bad. I was immediately drawn to her guidance and leadership.”

Strimple’s coaching style is forthright, and it seems to bring the best out of her swimmers.

“I think, if you didn't know Crystal, that she would be very intimidating. But it's really just no nonsense. There's no sugarcoating,” Pospisil said. “Once she… [has] a feel for the kid and what they need and how they need to be coached, I think she's second to none.”

Desert Mountain junior Gabbie Primiano, who earned Swimmer of the Meet honors at the state championships, added, “As a coach, she never underestimates anyone… She always sees the potential in every single person.”

Along with coaching Desert Mountain, Strimple also coaches club swimming at Scottsdale Aquatic Club. Besides the difference in duration of the club and high school swimming seasons, there are other distinctions between the two.

“In club [swimming]… the ebb and flow is a little bit bigger, the roller coaster might be a little longer. And then high school swimming, it's very short,” Strimple said. “It's like running a 5k versus running a marathon.”

No matter the circumstance, Strimple often ends up coaching against her own swimmers.

“The kids all know each other because a lot of the kids from the club teams are in Scottsdale schools,” Strimple said. “My hope is that when they see each other at meets, it's not, ‘oh, that person swims for this club and I swim for this club,’ it's, ‘hey, that's my friend… we swim together at high school,’ and they chat. And likewise on the club front.”

Desert Mountain’s swim team has seen no shortage of success under Strimple, and Pospisil said it’s due to the atmosphere Strimple has intentionally maintained.

“I think she really likes to cultivate an environment that is equally as fun for the kids as it is rewarding,” Pospisil said. “She has cultivated this environment where we have a lot of fun, it's team oriented, but we win… I think they go hand in hand. I think we win because we're really team oriented, and I think we are team oriented because we've experienced a lot of success.” 

Strimple, on the other hand, is adamant that she is, “just the name on the paper.”

“It's nice that I get Coach of the Year, and it's very humbling for me, but it's definitely not about me,” Strimple said. “I'm not the one swimming, I'm not the one putting in that work and getting up on the blocks. I want them to swim for themselves… and I want them to be proud of who they're swimming for… It really comes down to being humble, and when we're humble then we're successful.”

For her part, Strimple coaches the way she would want to be coached, and she said she believes that this is what allows her to bond with her swimmers.

“I set out in my coaching to not play favorites… I genuinely like all of the kids that come through my path,” Strimple said. “I want them to feel like they're valuable because they are. So I might be a hard ass to the kids in practice, but that's because there's a time and a place for all of that. And then I'm a little more relaxed and approachable. One of the kids did say that at the [district] banquet, ‘she's a hard ass, but she really cares.’ And I always wanted the kids to feel that way.”

Strimple’s swimmers respond well to this method of coaching, including Primiano.

“During high school season, she's always just pushing me to go harder at every meet,” Primiano said. “She's always encouraging.” 

In terms of what coaching high schoolers brings to her life, Strimple said it’s fun to be “at the base of the foundation.”

“It affords me a lot of things. I have a lot of flexibility, I get to do what I like to do, which is teach kids how to do something,” Strimple said. “I get to work with the teenagers and just put in my own little impression of what I wished I would have had as a coach in high school, and watch them grow into these really cool humans, and watch them come back and give back. And that's important. I think that's why coaching is really fundamental.” 

Clearly, Strimple loves what she does, and her swimmers make an impact on her just as much as she does on them.

“You're gonna have a coach that maybe doesn't care, and I never wanted to be that way,” Strimple said. “I always wanted to be a coach that they knew they could come talk to, they knew that I cared… That brings a lot of joy, to watch them grow into these cool humans… It's really cool to watch it evolve.”