Dave “Buster” Calder played for the Grossmont Griffins in 1984 & ’85 under the iconic head coach Greg Ormsby. The Griffins had a 10-0 undefeated season in ‘84 to capture the Pacific Coast Conference Title. He was an east SD county high school aquatic athlete at Monte Vista.

 

Buster transferred to UCSD in 1987, a varsity starter in the ‘87 & ’88 campaigns led by long time legendary coach Denny Harper. He led the team in goals scored both seasons and remains in the record books with a .532 shooting percentage.

 

Dave raised a family in Poway, CA and became a Varsity boys assistant coach at Poway High School from 2015 – 2018. He also coached and was Board President (2016-18) of the Poway Valley Water Polo Club. He was awarded the USWP Barbara Kalbus Volunteer Award for the zone in 2018.

 

Buster continues to compete for Sunset Water Polo club at the Masters level. In addition to several national titles at the 40+ & 50+ age groups, he gained All-American honors in 2008 and the Zone USWP Bryan Weaver Male Masters athlete of the year in 2014.

 

Coach Dave recently retired from the City of San Diego as a ocean lifeguard and harbor patrol officer for 30 years. He is very excited to be a part of the Griffin Water Polo program again. He really enjoys the opportunity to mentor young athletes to become better stewards of the game and learning life lessons from those experiences.