Adam Krikorian

Adam is a coach for a water team. He helps players play in the pool.

Adam grew up in California. He loved to swim when he was young. He also played many other sports.

Adam played water polo at a big school. He even helped his team win a big prize. Later, he became a coach.

As a coach, Adam won many prizes. His teams won 15 national titles at his school. He also leads a team for the USA.

His USA team won three gold medals in a row. This happened at the big Olympic games. Adam works hard to help his players win.

Adam Krikorian is a famous water polo coach. He helps players compete in the pool. Adam was born in 1974 in California. He loved to swim when he was just six years old. He also played soccer, basketball, and baseball.

Adam played water polo at a school called UCLA. He was a great player there. He even helped his team win a national title in 1995. Later, he became a coach at the same school. His teams at UCLA won 15 national championships. This happened while he was a player, an assistant, or a head coach.

Adam also leads the U.S. women's national water polo team. He has led them to great success. His team won three gold medals in a row at the Olympic Games. They won in London in 2012. They won again in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. They won a third time in Tokyo in 2020. He has helped many players become the best in the world.

Adam Krikorian is a very successful water polo coach. He helps athletes play their best in the water. He is best known for leading the United States women's national water polo team. Under his guidance, the team became famous all over the world. They won three gold medals in a row at the Olympic Games. This shows how much skill he brings to the sport. He makes sure his players are ready to win big games.

Being a great coach involves many important steps. Adam first learned the game as a player in college. Later, he became an assistant coach at UCLA in 1996. He then became the head coach for the women's team in 1997. He used what he learned from his own mentor, Guy Baker. He also teaches players how to use strong moves. One example is having a very good flutter kick. This helps swimmers move through the water with speed.

Adam's journey with water sports began a long time ago. He was born on July 22, 1974, in Santa Clara, California. He was the youngest son in an Armenian-American family. Adam started swimming when he was only six years old. By age 12, he was already setting records in the pool. He swam 5,000 yards every single day to get better. He also played soccer, basketball, and baseball during his youth.

Adam has won many awards for his hard work. At UCLA, his teams won 15 national championships in total. He won these titles as a player, assistant, and head coach. He was named the national coach of the year many times. For the women's team, he won this honor in 2001, 2005, 2006, and 2007. He even won it five times in a row at UCLA. These numbers show how much he knows about water polo.

His success connects to the biggest stages in sports. He led the U.S. women to gold in London in 2012. They beat Spain with a score of 8–5 in that game. He did it again in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In that year, his team beat Italy with a score of 12–5. His third gold medal came in Tokyo during the 2020 Olympics. They won a very close game against Spain with a score of 15–14. This makes him one of the best coaches in history.

Adam Krikorian is a highly successful American water polo coach. He is best known for leading the United States women's national water polo team to global dominance. Under his leadership, the team achieved three consecutive Olympic gold medals. He also built an incredible legacy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). There, he helped secure 15 NCAA national championships. His career spans roles as a player, an assistant coach, and a head coach.

Krikorian's path to coaching began with intense physical training and competition. He started swimming at age six and became a multi-sport athlete by age 12. During his junior high years, he trained with the Los Altos Aquatics Club. His coach, Ron Usher, noted his excellent technique and a very strong flutter kick. This kick is a swimming motion used to move through water efficiently. Krikorian eventually played for Mountain View High School and later for UCLA. At UCLA, he was a four-year letter winner and a team captain. He even helped lead the team to its first NCAA Championship in 23 years in 1995.

His coaching career followed a structured progression through the collegiate ranks. He was mentored by Guy Baker, a Hall of Fame coach at UCLA. Krikorian began as an assistant coach for the UCLA men's team in 1996. In 1997, he transitioned to head coach for the UCLA women's water polo team. This move allowed him to apply his experience to a new level of leadership. He eventually moved from college coaching to the international stage. In March 2009, he began coaching the U.S. Women's National Water Polo team. This transition allowed him to compete for titles on a global scale.

Krikorian's coaching achievements are defined by several distinct stages of success. At the collegiate level, he managed both men's and women's programs. He is tied for first among active men's coaches in NCAA championships won. He also famously led both the men's and women's teams to national titles in the same season three different times. In the international stage, he focused on the U.S. Women's National Team. This period was marked by dominance in the World Championships and the World Cup. He also led the team to gold medals in the Pan American Games.

History shows that Krikorian has consistently reached major milestones. In 2007, his UCLA women's team won the school's 100th NCAA championship. This was a historic moment because UCLA was the first school to reach that number. During the 2007–08 season, his team achieved a perfect 33–0 record. He was named the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year multiple times. Specifically, he won this honor five times in a row between 2005 and 2009. These victories established him as one of the most decorated coaches in the sport.

His Olympic success provides specific numbers that highlight his impact. At the 2012 London Olympics, his team won gold by defeating Spain 8–5. This was the first Olympic gold medal in the history of the U.S. women's water polo program. In 2016, he led the team to a second gold in Rio de Janeiro by beating Italy 12–5. His third consecutive gold medal came at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In that final, the U.S. defeated Spain with a narrow score of 15–14.

Beyond team trophies, Krikorian has developed many individual stars. He has coached five winners of the Peter J. Cutino Award. This award recognizes the most outstanding male and female collegiate water polo players each year. His coached winners include Sean Kern, Coralie Simmons, Natalie Golda, Kelly Rulon, and Courtney Mathewson. His ability to mentor elite talent connects his coaching to the broader development of the sport. By producing top-tier athletes, he has helped shape the future of water polo competition worldwide.