Shafter Stingrays  

Coach Teri Constantino

1. I learned to swim when I was 2 years old because my parents would take me to Florida and I would love to play and swim in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
2. I started competitive swimming for the Shafter Swim Team when I was 4 years old.
3. I was part of the original team that elected the Stingrays to our fold.
4. I was a Stingray until High School when I then became a Shafter General for 4 years. I was elected most valuable swimmer 2 years in a row.
5. I went to college in 1974 to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo where they did not have a woman's swim team at that time. Fortunately, I still found a way to swim by taking classes and working out at the school pool.
6. I met and married Bruce in 1978. We met while we both worked for Hall Ambulance. (I was the 1st female they hired in 1977 to drive and work as an EMT).
7. My husband and I have 2 girls. My two girls started swimming when they were very little and still in diapers. When they were 6 and 4 we joined the RBG swim team where they swam and I became a walk on coach for the little kids. Our family stayed involved for the next 10 years!
8. I was a Stockdale High School Swim coach for 3 years.
9. I became the Shafter Stingrays Head Coach in 1998 and the Shafter High Head Coach in 2001. I also coached for the year-round Aquatics Club of Bakersfield swim team.
10. I have trained with some of the best in Bakersfield. Coach Pat Skeehan of the women's CSUB swimming program and men's CSUB swimming Coach Bob Steele who won 8 NCAA II Titles.
11. My greatest joys are my grand daughter Meena and grandson Mick and being Larsen Jensen's first coach at the Shafter Aquatic Center. Larsen took 2nd in the last Olympics in the 1500.

Assistant Coach: Rebecca Dirkes

photo and bio

Coach Teri Highlights

• Stockdale High Swim coach for 3 years
•  Shafter Stingrays Head Coach in 1998 and the Shafter High Head Coach in 2001
• Coached for the Bakersfield Aquatics Club of Bakersfield for three years.
• Trained with some of the best swimming coaches in Bakersfield. Coaches Pat Skeehan and Bob Steele of CSUB who have won 8 NCAA II Titles.

A Swimmers Creed
As swimmers we share a bond that only swimmers can possess. We've put our hearts into something that we love and have the stories, memories, and experiences to prove it. We're in touch with the water in ways that only we can know. Because of that, we know ourselves and each other.