About Us
our Leadership
Jerry Smith, Boys Program Director
Prior to founding Carmel Water Polo Club, Coach Smith took the helm of the Carmel High School Boys’ Water Polo Program in March of 2024. Thus far, he has led the Padres to their first Pacific Coast Athletic League Championship in a decade and their first back to back league championships in 46 years. In 2025, Coach Smith joined the Olympic Development Program’s (ODP) Cadet Team coaching staff for USA Water Polo’s Pacific Zone.
Coach Smith previously served as assistant coach for the Piedmont High School boys' program from 2015-2019, where he helped build a winning program, charting a path to the school’s first league championship in 2022 and later their first Northern California Section Championship in the school’s history in 2023.
Coach Smith began playing water polo at age 11 in Long Beach, CA, where he was coached by and played alongside several legends of the sport. He was part of Junior Olympic Championship teams at 12u, 14u, and again at 18u, where he was named tournament MVP. Coach Smith attended Servite High School, where he was three-time all-league, two-time league MVP, three-time All-County, three-time all-CIF, and three-time All-American. Smith finished his high school career with 411 goals and became Servite’s all-time leading scorer, including a school record 13 goals against perennial powerhouse Harvard Westlake. Coach Smith was a top recruit coming out of high school and was later inducted into Servite’s Hall of Fame.
At UC Berkeley, Coach Smith was a four-year varsity starter, a three-time NCAA Division I All-American, two-time team MVP, two-time team captain, and runner-up NCAA Division I Player of the Year. Smith’s eight-goal performance against Pepperdine in 2000 is tied for the most goals in a single game in the 50+ year history of Cal’s historic program.
Coach Smith played at all levels of the national team system (now ODP), including a brief stint on the Senior Men’s National Team, before making the decision to shift his focus to his career outside of the pool, in commercial real estate development and consulting.
Kendra Klein, Girls Program Director
In addition to being the inaugural Girls Program Director of Carmel Water Polo Club, Coach Klein is currently the Athletic Director and Water Polo Coach at Santa Catalina School. She previously served as assistant athletic director and head water polo coach at Louisville High School, an all-girls private Catholic school in Woodland Hills, California.
Coach Klein has spent much of her career coaching water polo and swimming at the college level, leading teams to championships at University of the Pacific and Santa Rosa Junior College. As director of the women’s water polo program at Pride Water Polo Academy, she qualified four youth teams for the 2016 Junior Olympics. She also has served as an aquatics director, physical education instructor, and Red Cross lifeguard instructor; has organized numerous camps, clinics, and tournaments; and was the team manager for the 2013 USA Women’s Junior National Water Polo Team.
Coach Klein was a talented college athlete. She was an All-American athlete in swimming and water polo at Santa Rosa Junior College and an NCAA DI All-American water polo player at CSU Northridge, where she competed on a full-ride scholarship.
She holds an associate of arts degree in general education from Santa Rosa Junior College and a B.A. in political science from CSU Northridge, and an M.A. in health exercise and sports science from University of the Pacific.