Denise Peaslee is in her second season as a member of the water polo and swimming coaching staffs. She brings nearly 20 years of experience to the staff, which includes time as the assistant and associate head coach at Cypress College for nearly 20 years. During her time as an aquatic coach, she has helped coach multiple All-Americans, Orange Empire Conference Champions, and CCCAA State qualifiers and champions.

In 2011, Peaslee was chosen as the strength and conditioning coach for Olympic Gold Medalist, Janet Evans during her 2012 Olympic trial run. Peaslee worked with top level conditioning coaches from the Olympic Training Committee in Colorado to develop a swim specific weight training program to aid in athlete development. She has also worked with Olympic Coach Mark Schubert at the Schubert Swim Camps where she focused on swim technique training.

In addition to her swim coaching experience, Peaslee was the assistant coach for the Charger water polo team for six years (2008-2014) and has been the head coach of the Cerritos College cheer team since 2018.

Coach Peaslee received her associate degree from Cypress College in 2002, her bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies with an emphasis in Campus Recreation from California State University, Long Beach in 2004, and her master’s degree in Kinesiology from Azusa Pacific University in 2007.

Peaslee has taught numerous fitness, health and wellness classes at various community and state colleges for nearly 20 years and continually strives for excellence in the classroom, which earned her a nomination as Orange County Teacher of the Year.