Forty-four-year coaching veteran Donald Watkinds leads his swimmers to Olympic gold medals, participation ribbons and everything in between. Swimmers can find Watkinds all around town, from Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he coaches as part of the Wounded Warriors program, to the Plunge at Belmont Park, where he instructs swimmers from 5 to 41. If there is a pool, chances are he’ll be there. Watkinds also coaches beach-area swimmers at the Plunge on a team named The Wave. Among that group are 5- and 6-year-olds who are beginning to learn their way around a pool. “Some are fantastic little swimmers, looking like little mini swimmers,” said Lisa Duffy, a former Watkinds pupil turned swim mom. “Others are still trying to learn their strokes, trying to keep up with the more ‘accomplished’ kids. They all have much heart and perseverance.” For Watkinds, the most rewarding part of coaching the young swimmers is that they are eager to try new things. “They are so willing to do anything, and they are willing to try in a new environment,” he said. His goals for this group are simple: “To learn to have fun in the water; to feel comfortable in the water; and to get them to want to learn the basic strokes.” Try they did at a scheduled Feb. 28 Novice Fun Event at the Mission Valley YMCA, where each youngster was met with a ribbon after swimming the length of the pool. “It’s all for the fun of swimming,” Watkinds said. “All the ribbons are the same.” Watkind’s stamp on the local and national swimming world is undeniable. An Imperial County native, Watkinds began coaching after he tagged along with his swim coach cousin and her husband as a child. Watkinds carved his own way into the coaching world by the age of 15. He eventually found his niche in unpaved territory. He held the first-ever USA swimming camp for disabled swimmers. Decades later, Watkinds holds a seat on the Disability Swimming Committee for the U.S. Swim Team and boasts a decorated coaching history with the U.S. Paralympics Swimming Team, which includes local success stories. Out of the 20 men who made the team for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, three of them were San Diego-raised and Watkinds-coached. Count Bishop’s High School alum Roy Perkins as one of them. Perkins, who now attends Stanford, earned a gold medal in the 50-meter butterfly and a bronze medal in the 100-meter freestyle. Locals Kendall Bailey and Mike DeMarco also competed in Beijing. Although neither of them brought home medals, each holds national records. DeMarco holds a bronze medal from Athens in 2004.