Celine Rezvani, staff writer

Swim’s new co-head coach, Donald Graham, began his first week of coaching this week.
Graham has coached several teams before, both at the club level and at college level as head assistant coach at the University of Southern California.
In addition to coaching swimming, Graham is also a swimmer and world record holder.
“I swim competitively as a master swimmer,” Graham said. “This last year I broke the world record for butterfly swim.”
Graham was raised in Washington, where he began swimming at the age of eight. Graham continued to swim throughout college.
“I was recruited by the University of Texas where I swam on an athletic scholarship,” he said. “It’s one of the top swimming programs in the country.”
Outside of swimming, Graham is also a full-time professional photographer.
“I’ve focused on photography for a long time,” Graham said. “It’s a passion and something that I love.”
Although he just began coaching at Beverly, Graham is excited to learn and work with the team.
“It’s only my first week, so I’m just getting my feet wet,” Graham said. “I’m learning a lot from Coach Fegan and the athletic director.”
Graham hopes for each swimmer to learn the importance of commitment, as it applies to swimming and life in general.
“I want every swimmer to learn the value of commitment, and how it is the key to being successful at everything you do,” he said. “In swimming, it means times will get faster. But in life it means you learn the tools necessary to be successful at anything you apply yourself to for the rest of your life.”
Graham has learned this valuable lesson through his experience swimming.
“I’ve been successful at everything I’ve done,” he said. “Everything I’ve learned about success, I’ve learned from swimming.”