Coronado is no stranger to water polo. Coronado High School's water polo coach, Randy Burgess, has coached more than a few athletes to greatness. Among those is Layne Beaubien who has had quite an exceptional water polo career spanning over the last two decades. Beaubien is one of the sport's top center defenders boasting one of the strongest shooting arms. He has emerged as one of the top all-around players in the world today. At 36, Beaubien most recently competed with his team at the London 2012 Olympics.

Water polo is arguably one of the hardest sports in the world. It comprises swimming, basketball, and football into one game. Lifting weights and training hours on end in the pool, water polo players have to be incredible athletes just even to compete. Water polo is played in 20 feet of water, where the players, when not swimming are staying afloat by egg beating (kicking their legs in the motion of an egg-beater) and they toss the play around.  

Beaubien chose to play water polo in high school because it was the school's most successful sport. The team won three championships in his four years at Coronado High School with Beaubien being Student Athlete of the Year in 1994. He went on to play water polo at Stanford University taking a year break in the middle of his college career to travel and experience the world.

After graduating Stanford, he became the first American ever to play on the Hungarian water polo team. "Being the first and only American, other team players came at me with a vengeance," said Beaubien. Beaubien has played professionally all over the world and has completed in the last three Olympics - winning the silver medal in 2008.  

These days, Beaubien is back in Coronado, focused on his family's business at Crown Island Insurance. "At 17, I couldn't wait to get out of Coronado and explore the world. Now, I find myself happy to be back. I guess you could say I have gone full circle," said Beaubien.

Come hear Layne Beaubien share more of his story of commitment and perseverance at The Gensler Group's next Wealth Management Symposium on January 8th, 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the Coronado Library, Winn Room. For more information call Jadi at 554-1300 or email jadi@genslergroup.com.