Coralie Simmons

Coralie Denise Simmons (born March 1, 1977) is an American water polo player, who competed for UCLA and won the silver medal in Women's Water Polo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In 2001, she won the Peter J. Cutino Award, presented annually to the top American collegiate water polo player. Since graduating UCLA in 2001, she has played professional water polo in Greece, and coached Water Polo at the University of California Berkeley in 2015, and Sonoma State.

Simmons was born in Hemet, California on March 1, 1977 to her father and Debbie Simmons, her future soccer coach. At Hemet High School, Simmons was girls' water polo team captain and Outstanding Defensive Player for her senior year in 1994. In addition to her outstanding play in Water Polo, she lettered four years in varsity swimming, where she was a four-time team MVP and two-time league champion. In 1995, Simmons set a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) record in 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle, and was recognized as CIF Outstanding Female Swimmer. She played three years of soccer with her mother as coach.

2000 Sydney Olympic Silver Simmons helped the U.S. National Team qualify for the Olympic Games in the World Women's Olympic Qualification Tournament in Italy, scoring a team-leading eight goals. At the 2000 Olympic Women's Water Polo Team competition, where she was led by Olympic coaches Guy Baker and Adam Krikorian, she had a tie for top scorer with nine goals in Olympic play.

Simmons joined other UCLA Bruins, Natalie Golda (2005), Kelly Rulon (2007), and Courtney Mathewson (2008), as the school's four woman Peter J. Cutino Award winners, all coached by Adam Krikorian.

International highlights While still in high school, Simmons was chosen to join the U.S. Senior National team. She redshirted the 1999 and 2000 seasons at UCLA to play on the U.S. Women's National Team, helping the team qualify for the Olympic Games in the qualification tournament in Sicily. The US women won silver medals at the Pan-American Games in 1999, and in 2001 Simmons capture a silver medal at the 2001 FINA World Water Polo Cup where she led the team in scoring.

Coaching career After graduating from UCLA in 2001, Simmons spent four years playing water polo as a professional in Athens, Greece. Before coaching at the University of Hawaii as an Assistant coach from 2005-2006, she coached at the Punahou School. In 2013, Simmons served as an Assistant Coach in Water Polo at her alma mater UCLA.

UCLA Career Scoring Year Goals Attempts Percentage 1996 60 68 88 1997 60 91 66 1998 74* 115 64 2001 41 62 66 Totals 235* 336 70 (*school record)