Head Coach: Dennis E. Piccolotto
HEAD COACH – Dennis Piccolotto (Pic)
This will be Coach Pic’s nineteenth year coaching water polo at Curtis High School. Coach Pic was a member of the CHS water polo and swim teams when he attended Curtis. During the 1997-1998 school year, Denny represented the Vikings at both the Washington Water Polo State Tournament and the Washington State Swim Meet. After graduating from Curtis in 1998, Coach Pic furthered his education at Central Washington University studying education and graduated in 2002 with endorsements in elementary education and health and fitness education. This will be Coach Pic’s nineteenth year teaching in the University Place School District and 8th year teaching swimming at the Curtis Pool.
Under Coach Pic’s leadership, the Curtis High School Boys’ Water Polo Team has had much success. The varsity team has reached the Washington State Water Polo Championship Game fifteen of the last seventeen seasons and have won the state championship title nine times: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. The Curtis Vikings are currently the Washington State Water Polo defending state champions after a 13-6 win vs Roosevelt in the 2019 state championship game. The junior varsity squad has also been impressive finishing first or second at the “J.V. End of the Season Tournament” the last several years and is regularly one of the largest J.V. programs in the area.
In addition to CHS Boy’s Water Polo, Coach Pic has other coaching experiences. He coached girls’ water polo at Foss in 2004 and Mount Tahoma in 2008 – 2011. Pic became the head coach of the Curtis Girls Water Polo Team in 2012, and helped lead the Lady Viks to the state championship game seven of eight years including winning state titles in 2012, 2018 and 2019. Pic is also currently a head coach of the Puget Sound Water Polo Club. This past summer Coach Pic brought athletes to Croatia as the team participated in a Croatian Water Polo Cruise!
In addition to coaching water polo, Dennis Piccolotto has also coached numerous swim teams, and this winter will also be his nineteenth season coaching the Curtis Boy’s Swim Team.
ASSISTANT COACH – Josh Newman
Josh Graduated from Curtis High School in 1993, after stints with wrestling, football and track, he swam and played polo his senior year for Curtis then went on to play club polo while attending the University of Oregon.
Once Josh returned to the Puget Sound area he quickly got back into polo at the masters level and began coaching at Wilson High School in 1998. Coaching both Boys and Girls programs at Wilson from 1998 to 2012, Josh’s teams never missed a state tournament and won 6 overall titles, 3 boys and three girls. During his tenure at Wilson Josh also coached Club Water Polo with Puget Sound Polo and Tsunami Water Polo, coaching numerous Junior Olympic teams and representing the Pacific Northwest Zone as Development Chair.
From fall 2012 to spring 2019 Josh has officiated high school polo in Washington, including multiple State Title games.
This fall will be Josh’s third season as assistant coach of the CHS Boys Water Polo Team. Josh is excited to get back on the pool deck at the coaching level and work with the Curtis Athletes to help them meet their potential.
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