Our Coaches

Coaching Staff

Steve Carrera - Head Coach & Program Director - 14U Girls Team Coach

Steve Carrera is currently the Head Men's Water Polo Coach at Concordia Unversity. He guided the Eagles to an impressive 20-11 record including a 2nd place finish at the NAIA/CWPA National Championships in 2007. From 2000-2007 he was the head boys and girls water polo coach at Northwood High School. During his tenure at Northwood, the Timberwolves went from brand new program to CIF powerhouse. Under Steve Carrera, the Timberwolves won a pair of league titles (2003, 2006), qualified for CIF 6 years in a row, reached the Division I Final (06) and won the 2006 CIF Southern Section Championship (06). In 2006 Steve Carrera was awarded "Coach of the Year" from the Orange County Register. Steve was interviewed by Water Polo Planet noting the unprecedented success of the Concordia Water Polo team into top National ranks.

In 2009, Concordia finished the season ranked No. 11 nationally and downed cross-town NCAA Div. I foe UC Irvine along the way.

Steve graduated from Irvine High School in 1995 where he received first team all-Sea View League honors and second team all-CIF honors as a senior. He was also named to the South Orange County All-Star Team. He then went to Saddleback College where he played with Northwood Coaches Jimmy Bray and Ed Carrera. After Saddleback, Steve transferred to Queens College in NYC, where he received a full athletic scholarship to play water polo and swim. He was on the inaugural Premier League Division I Northeast team.

András Antal - Splashball & Masters Team Coach

Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary. András has been playing water polo since the age of 8. He played for Budapest Vasutas Sport Club (BVSC) before coming to the U.S. and served as team captain his last 4 years on the team. While with BVSC, he finished 2nd and 3rd in the Hungarian Junior National League, and also 2nd and 3rd in the U21 Hungarian National Championships. András was also on the Hungarian Junior National Team from 2006 - 2010 where his team won the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2009.

Duje Grubisic - 12U Boys Team Coach

Duje Grubisic, born and raised in Split, Croatia, has been playing water polo since the age of 12. Duje played on the Jadran Water Polo Club up through his Senior Year, winning multiple Croatian water polo championships and acting as Team Captain for 3 years. Duje played on the Croatian Water Polo Team from 2003 – 2004. He was named MVP the Men’s Water Polo Team at Concordia in 2009.

Caleb Hamilton - 12U Boys Team Coach

Graduated from Northwood High School in 2007 where Caleb played varsity water polo for four years. He was considered by many to be the nation’s #1 recruit. Caleb scored 405 goals in his high school career, including 137 goals as a senior. He earned All-American honors and was named CIF Southern Section Division I Player of the Year as a senior and area player of the year honors from the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register ... A two-time Sea View League MVP... Swam on the varsity swim team for two years and played basketball his freshman year. As a U.S. Junior National Team member he helped the U.S. win the 2005 Youth Pan Am Games and 2006 Junior Pan Ams. Caleb was USA’s leading scorer at the 2005 Junior World Championships and the 2005 Youth Pan Am Games.

Jakov (Jacob) Belamaric - 14U Boys Coach

Samantha "Sam" Gelberger - 12U Girls Coach

Rex Learmouth - Swimming Coach

Stefano Ragosa - 10U Mixed Team Coach

Stefano comes to us from Recco, Italy, where he started water polo and swimming at the age of 9.
He decided to swim competitively at 12 years old and was ranked 3rd in the country on 50 m and 100m freestyle with a personal record of 53.11 sec. At 16 years old Stefano quit the swim team to play water polo. In his first season, Stefano won the Italian Championship with his 17U Team. The next two seasons he placed 3rd with his 19U Team. Continually playing in first division, during the 2007/2008 season he scored 38 goals and was fifth in the rankings of Italian players. During the 2008/2009 season Stefano played in Savona ending the season ranked as 4th in Italy.

Stefano has played over 100 games with the Italian Junior National Team, ranking 4th in the European Championship and 4th in Mar Del Plata in Argentina for the World Junior Championship. His team won the Silver Medal at the World University Games in Bangkok, 2007. He has also played with the Italian Major National team. In his first game with the Major National team, at the age of 21, he scored 4 goals - a feat that had not been achieved before in Italian Water Polo. Stefano played for two years at the world league with the Major national team.

Jure Belamaric - 14U Boys Team Coach

Jure started swimming at the age of 6 and started playing water polo at the age of 12 where he grew up playing for V.K Sibenik, Croatia. He was a 3-time Croatian National Age Group Champion and was involved with the Croatian National Team from 15-17.

Jure was a two-time All-American and MVP of the Big 7 Conference in 2007 while at American River College. He is the record holder at AVC for goals (128) and steals (90). While at Concodia University Irvine he was selected NAIA All-Tournament twice, a 2009 team captain, and was the leader in scoring and assists in 2008. He was chosen team MVP during all four years of his collegiate career.

Martin Babovic - 14U Boys Coach

Steve Simmons - 14U Girls Team Coach

Steve started his career as a freshman in high school at El Dorado in Placentia. There as a sophomore, he helped the Golden Hawks achieve a CIF victory while playing in the goal. As a junior, Steve helped lead his team to a back to back CIF victory earning the honors of first team Orange Empire League, and second team all CIF. Steve also had the honor of being invited to play goalie with the "Born in 63" Team, a predecessor to today's National Cadet Team. As a senior, Steve helped bring his team to the CIF quarter finals and earned the honors of first team all league and first team all CIF. Steve made the transition from goalie to field player at Orange Coast College. There he broke the all time single season scoring record in his first year as a field player. The Lyon's Club of Costa Mesa awarded him top athlete of the year 1982.

From there, he joined one of the nationally top rated teams, UCSB. In the three years he played, the Gaucho's stayed in the top four ranking while holding the number one position numerous times. Though never achieving a national title, Steve had the privilege of playing with and against many world class athletes including many Olympians. Steve spent 10 years out of the water starting businesses and a large family. When his eldest decided to play water polo, Steve rekindled his love of the sport. He is elated to coach kids; three out of his six included, and give back to a sport that has brought him such joy.