Culver City High School varsity swim coach experienced a first year last spring that was one for the ages. Unfortunately, Peter Egan’s hopes for a great season turned into disappointment because of the coronavirus. Like all of the Culver City High
School spring sports, the excitement of seeing talented athletes perform in league play and eventually in the CIF playoffs turned into a nightmare.
“There are quite a few of very talented swimmers in our community and one of the big disappointments this past spring was both the girls and boys teams were pretty well positioned to win a few individual and relay races in CIF,” Egan said during a phone interview last Monday. “I think we would have made an impact in CIF in a few events. CIF is a special meet and we did not get the opportunity to live that out.”
Egan started coaching at the Culver City Middle school a few years ago. “I created the middle school swim program along with the help of Tom Salter and that was four years ago. That same year, I started coaching at Vistamar School for two years.” Vistamar is a small private high school in El Segundo.
“It was a big switch from Vistamar to Culver City,” said Egan. “We had 14 kids at Vistamar and my first year as the junior varsity coach at Culver City we had 35 players and this past season we have 60 junior varsity and varsity kids on the teams.”
Egan, who lives in Culver City and has two daughters who attend Culver City High School, met with long time Culver City high school swimming and water polo coaching legends Nestor Dordoni Sr. and Nestor Dordoni Jr. a few years ago. “Nestor Jr. was coaching the varsity swim team and there was a space open for a junior varsity coach. He welcomed me with open arms,” said Egan. “Last spring, I took over the varsity program.”
Although swimming highlights individual success Egan is looking to build team camaraderie. “It’s exciting to swim for your school and it’s very rewarding to be in a team atmosphere and all of that got snatched away from these kids. We were on the edge of how cool it really can be.”
The coronavirus blindsided Egan. “It was hard for us to have group communication at that time. I will be honest. I did not know how bad it was going to be.”
Egan first love is swimming and his second passion in screen writing. He is a teacher at Loyola Marymount University in the film department and he his published works include kids animation stories, writing some episodes for Rugrats and he has worked with Nickelodeon. He has also received a couple of Emmy nominations.
Egan is a lifelong swimmer and a Harvard graduate where he was an All-American Division I swimmer who loves Culver City. “The community is great. I am still coaching at the middle school and I love our town. Coaching is a great way to stay involved on the community.”
Egan is hoping things get back to normal this year and next year. “I am hoping and praying that we have a season this year. The idea is to continue to develop these kids so that Culver City builds a swimming profile. Nestor Sr. and Nestor Jr. built a great profile in water polo and I want to do the same thing with the swim program.”
