Head Youth Coach

Coach Ben is a former swimmer and Memphis native. He has been coaching water polo since 2015, winning multiple TN state titles and coaching numerous athletes to 1st and 2nd All State team recognitions. Ben also helped co-found the TIWPA to help grow the sport in high schools across Tennessee; serving previously as Western Region Director and currently as President. 

Coach Ben began coaching as the inaugural head coach for the MHEA Eagles in 2015. As head coach, he helped lead the program to back to back state championships in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, MHEA and St. George's partnered programs due to numbers. Ben moved to assistant coach and tallied a third state championship. Ben joined the BCWP staff in 2016 as an assistant under club founders Kevin Heinrich and Jonathon Dobkins and took over as the youth club director in 2021. Ever since his first game, Coach Ben has been voracious for water polo knowledge and has attended and observed water polo camps at USC, Navy, and the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. Coach Ben has also hosted camps in Memphis for Olympians Tony Azevedo and Genai Kerr. 

Coach Ben is an honors graduate from the University of Alabama and received his doctorate of dental surgery from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry. Coach Ben and his wonderful wife, Anna, met coaching water polo for BCWP, and have been happily married since 2019.

Youth Coach

Joseph is a Memphis native who started playing water polo in the 8th grade. He competed on BCWP’s age group team since its start in 2015 and school team during high school. He was one of the first Tennessee water polo athletes to play varsity water polo in college. He played one season at Monmouth College before transferring to Augustana College for his junior year. He finished his career at Augustana as top 3 in program goals, steals, and assists; he has also racked up over 150 goals in his career. He is a well-decorated high school and collegiate athlete earning high school state MVP and state champion from 2017-2019. He is a first-team Academic All-American and a three-time DIII All-American along with other collegiate awards and honors. Joseph has served as a BCWP youth coach for the past two summers and serves as the Briarcrest assistant water polo coach.

Youth Coach

Coach Zach Alford is a Northern California native who played water polo at the varsity and collegiate level. Zach was on the varsity team at The King’s Academy all 4 years of his high school career, 2 of those years as team captain as well as MVP. Zach was the all-time leading scorer for 3 consecutive years and currently holds the record for most goals scored in a season. Zach also competed on several different club teams throughout his high school career such as West Valley Water Polo, Northern California Aquatics, and San Jose Premier. Zach even had the opportunity to travel to Hungary to compete against teams in Budapest and Csongrád. Zach finished his varsity water polo career at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. Zach still competes with the Bluff City masters team and coaches the varsity team at Collierville High School.