For nearly two decades, Dean Kendall, an Electrical Engineer Professional Associate (Hazardous Gas Engineer) for the COMET contract at Kennedy Space Center, swam competitively in central Florida for the legendary Winter Haven Stingrays Swim Club and later at Winter Haven High School.
In fact, Dean’s entire family – parents Dean and Tami, brothers Luke and Jordan, and sisters Hannah, Abby, and Grace, are well known in the Winter Haven area for their prowess on the water. The Kendall name is etched throughout the record books for swimming in Polk County.
In April 2005, 6-year-old Dean set pool records in the 50-freestyle and 50-backstroke during a meet at the Rowdy Gaines Olympic pool in Winter Haven.
Four years later, he placed first in the boys’ 10-and-under 800-meter open water at the 2009 Florida Swimming Junior Olympics in Fort Myers.
Today, Dean, 25, is lending his expertise and experience to coaching his hometown high school swim team, the Titusville Terriers.
“I helped with both the girls’ and boys’ newer swimmers this year and helped get splits during the meet for all swimmers,” said Dean.
A five-year veteran at KSC, Dean joined Aerodyne Industries nearly two years ago and this year he decided to help coach the local team – although he was originally planning to teach them backhands and aces.
“I was told that the school was actually looking for a head tennis coach and I wanted to apply for that and then I also saw the opening for assistant swimming coach,” said Dean. “Since I had experience in swimming, I thought it would be a good trial run to see how it affects my work lifestyle before my wife gave birth to our son in November.”
He made quite a splash in his first year on the staff as the Titusville’s boys’ team repeated as winners of the Cape Coast Conference championship meet held Oct. 4, 2024, at the Cocoa Beach Aquatic Center while the girls finished third.
The boys’ team also set a conference record after swimming a time of 1:28.33 in the 200-freestyle relay.
“It has been most rewarding, I love watching the team cheer on each other and do their best at swim meets,” he said.
The most satisfying aspect of his coaching role was “getting to see the swimmers better themselves each swim meet and put in hard work at practices.”
When asked if he plans to return to coach the next season, Dean’s answer was succinct: “Absolutely.”
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