Kyle Kim-E

Head Coach, Boys and Girls Water Polo

2015 – “I feel both honored and thrilled to be back at Northwood,” Kim-E said in a statement. “I love Northwood, this community, and these kids. I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead and hope to bring stability to our program.” [Read OCVarsity Article]

Kyle attended Northwood High School from 2006 – 2010, where he was a four year Varsity water polo player and swimmer. While playing at Northwood HS, Kyle played in two back to back D1 CIFSS Finals and was a CIFSS Masters State Champion. Additionally, Northwood won two Sea View League Championships and finished #10 overall his Senior year. Kyle graduated Northwood in 2010 as a 2x All-American, 2x First Team All Sea View League Player, 2x Irvine All-City Player, and Third Team All-CIFSS. He was also named to the South Orange County All-Star Team.

Kyle then signed to Vanguard University, where he played for his high school coach, Ed Carrera. After two successful seasons, including a 2nd place finish at the NAIA Championships, he transferred to Chapman University. While at Chapman, Kyle was a 2x Academic All-SCIAC athlete with Superior Honors (3.7+ GPA). Kyle completed his collegiate career as a four year starter.

Kyle earned his Bachelors degree in Strategic and Corporate Communication from Chapman University in 2014 and then completed his Masters in Teaching from Chapman University in 2019. Kyle began his teaching career at Northwood High School in 2019. In addition to coaching and teaching, he is the Founder & CEO of a non-profit company. His 501(c)3 non-profit, Wells for Wellbeing, builds water wells and distributes water filters in Cambodia.

Since 2015, Kyle has led the boys program to a number of strong CIFSS finishes, including Semifinal finishes in Division 4 (2016) and Division 3 (2019).

In 2019, the girls program made CIFSS for the first time in seven years. And in 2020, the girls made history again by winning a league championship for the first time in Northwood’s history. This was also Kyle’s first league championship as a coach. [Read OC Register Article] or [Read OC Sports Zone Article]

In the 2023-24 season, after upsetting the #1 ranked team, the girls program made history yet again with their first CIFSS Finals appearance [Read OC Sports Zone Article]. Unfortunately, the girls came up short with a 6-8 loss against private school Rosary [Read OC Register Article]. It was Kyle’s first CIFSS Finals appearance as a coach.

In the off-season, Kyle serves as North Irvine Water Polo Club’s Assistant Program Director and as a coach. He has served as the Head Coach for the 16u Boys (2021), 18u Girls (2022), 18u Boys (2023), and HS Boys (2024) programs.

Irvine Swim League 2014 Todd K. Larsen Coach of the Year
Former Northwood Player Describes His Approach to Coaching (Irvine Standard)

Boys League Championships:
Girls League Championships: 2020

Boys CIFSS: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
Girls CIFSS: 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024

2016 Boys D4 CIF-SS Semifinalist
2018 Boys D3 CIF-SS Quarterfinalist
2019 Boys D3 CIF-SS Semifinalist & State Regional Qualifier
2022 Boys D3 CIF-SS Quarterfinalist
2024 Girls D4 CIF-SS Finalist

Steve Sellwood

Assistant Coach, Boys and Girls Water Polo

Steve attended Mater Dei High School and continued his education at California State University, Fullerton where he earned his communications degree and teaching credential. Shortly after that, he began his coaching career in 1987 at Santa Margarita High School, where he also became a teacher in 1990. He brings a vast amount of coaching experience from working with student-athletes in football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and waterpolo.

His sons, Spencer and Josh, were active club athletes ever since they were young and have competed with the Northwood HS water polo program. Steve started to compete on the North Irvine Club Masters team and eventually became a Northwood HS water polo assistant coach, shortly after he became Northwood’s Video Production teacher. For the 2019-20 school year, Steve was named the FilmEd Mentor of the Year. [Watch Video]

Isabelle Comtois

Assistant Coach, Boys Water Polo

Isabelle Comtois is a Northwood Water Polo alumna and a graduate of UCLA with bachelor’s degrees in history and psychology. She earned her master’s degree in teaching from UCI and started teaching in the Social Science department at Northwood in 2018. After playing water polo for eight years, four of which as a varsity athlete at Northwood, she is excited to lend her unique perspective and share her skills as the Frosh/Soph Water Polo Head Coach. Isabelle has been part of the Wolfpack as a student, athlete, educator, and coach. She is excited to give back to the community that continues to help and support her.

Maddie Choi

Assistant Coach, Boys and Girls Water Polo

Maddie Choi is a Northwood Water Polo alumna that graduated in 2016 and has been coaching at Northwood since 2017. She played water polo and swam for Saddleback College and was a team captain for both teams. She continued playing at Ottawa University in Arizona and later transferred to Cal State Long Beach, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science. With over 10 years of water polo experience in high school, college, and masters, Maddie is excited to be Northwood’s Frosh/Soph head coach. She is enthusiastic to share her love of water polo with the team and hopes to help players find their passion for water polo.

Lauryn Bernal

Assistant Coach & Goalies Coach, Boys and Girls Water Polo

Lauryn Bernal graduated from Irvine High School in 2019 playing all four years. She coached at Dana Hills High School from 2021-2023 as an assistant coach and the goalie coach for the Girls Varsity and Boys Varsity/JV teams. She helped lead the girl’s varsity team to CIFSS Division 2 Semi-Finals (2023) and Division 3 Quarterfinals (2022). Lauryn played water polo for 18 years as a goalie, while traveling around the world playing with her club team, SOCAL. Lauryn also competed in college for Saddleback. She received two associates degrees for Arts & Public Health in social science. She is also a Registered Travel Nurse and is planning to get her BSN. Later, she plans to get her NP in education in order to become a professor. Lauryn is super excited to work with such amazing people and for the opportunity to work with spectacular athletes in order to help better their futures through water polo.