Coaches Dave Pickford and Nic Maes

Position: Buchanan Varsity Boys Water Polo Co-Head Coaches

Dave Pickford:

Playing/Coaching Experience:

Dave played high school water polo at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, CA for four years and played two years at Golden West College in HB. He swam with the Huntington Beach Aquatic Club for seven years.

Dave started coaching the boys team at Marina High in Huntington Beach in 1976 and eventually re-established the program as a power in the Sunset League and Southern California for much of the 1980s. Six league championships; best year was 1989 when Marina made it to the CIF Division II Semi-Finals. Dave coached sixteen All-American polo players in that span. He was the Head Coach of the Huntington Beach Aquatic Club for six years and later Head Coach for the Golden West Swim Club making the GWSC one of the four top teams in SoCal from 1986-1992.

Pickford moved to Clovis in 1993 to become Head Coach for Swimming at Buchanan. He was Assistant Boys Coach for three years and then moved to take over the Girls program in 98. With the retirement of the original boys’ polo coach at Buchanan, Scott Schiller, Pickford took over the boys’ program in 2005 and has been the head coach ever since.  Nic Maes came in the program in 2007 and since 2011 has been the co-Head Coach with Pickford. Buchanan has made it to the Valley Championship game 12 of the past 15 years with the exceptions being 2010 (semi-final overtime loss), 2014 (semi-final overtime loss), and 2015 (semi-final loss), earning championships in 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2017. Buchanan has a record of 67-3 in the TRAC the last seven years, winning 6 Conference Championships and the program has had 26 All-Americans since 2005.

Family Contributions to Water Polo:

Coach Pickford has two sons, Brian and Garrett, who went through the Buchanan program, both of whom earned All-Valley status in both swimming and water polo and went onto successful aquatic careers at the college level. Brian graduated from UC Irvine in 2013 and was a four-year letterman in water polo and started for the #5 Anteaters his junior year. Garrett helped Golden West win a State water polo championship in 2011 and a State championship in swimming in 2013.  Garrett then played for Fresno Pacific for three seasons (2014-2017).

Why you enjoy coaching at Buchanan every year:

"Since I have moved here, I have been involved with the Clovis Swim Club as well as helping to establish the feeder program that supplies Buchanan with a strong base of swimmers for a highly successful swim/polo program at BHS."

"People always wonder if I go home but I assure you I am not here unless there is someone else in the pool. Most of my friends have swimmers/players in the program so the pool is also a social outlet for me." Pickford adds, "I take a lot of pride in contributing, along with many others, to the strong aquatic tradition that has arisen here at Buchanan. I was not here from the very first day but I was here before they had our pool in. It has been a lot of fun throughout the years."

Position: Buchanan Varsity Co-Head Coach of Boys Water Polo

Playing/Coaching Experience: 

Began playing water polo in 7th at Alta Sierra.  Graduated from Buchanan in 2002.  3-year Varsity letter winner for Water Polo.  Member of 1999 CIF Championship team.  All-City, All-League, and All-CIF selection.  Team Captain and MVP.  4 year Varsity letter winner, Team Captain, and Bear Award winner for Swimming.

Played 2 years at Grossmont College in San Diego.  The team finished 1st in the Pacific Coast Conference, 3rd in Socal, and 4th in the State both years.  All-Conference, All-Socal, and All-American selection.

Currently playing Masters Water Polo with Central Valley Water Polo.  3-time 20 and up Masters All-American.

Head Coach Boys Water Polo, Girls Water Polo, and Swimming at Steele Canyon High School in San Diego Fall 2004-Spring 2007.  2005 Grossmont South League Boys Water Polo Coach of the Year.  Took club water polo team to Croatia for 2 weeks of training summer of 2006.  Coached Boys Water Polo and Swimming at Buchanan since Summer 2007.

From 2007-2010, Maes held the dual role of Head JV Coach and Assistant Varsity Coach.  His JV teams were 40-0 in TRAC, winning 4 Championships. Overall the JV team was 117-1, finishing with 3 consecutive undefeated seasons.  In that same 4-year span the varsity team was 29-11 in TRAC, winning a TRAC Championship in 2007, and won the Valley Championship in 2009.  The Bears also had Valley Runner-Up finishes in 2007 and 2008.

In 2011, Maes was named Co-Director of Sport/Head Coach for the Varsity team.  

Family Contributions to Water Polo:

Nic's Grandfather was a CIF Champion in Water Polo at Whittier High School.  Nic's brother Karl was a member of Buchanan's 2003 CIF Championship team and an All-American at Grossmont College.  Nic's brother David was a member of Buchanan's 2006 CIF Championship team and was a 4-year starter and 2-time NCAA All-American at Fresno Pacific (2013-2016).  David is the career record holder at FPU for assists, and steals, and is number two for career goals.  He is also the single-season record holder in goals.

Garrett first started playing water polo in the 4th grade when his older brother Brian started his season in the 7th grade and has loved it ever since. Garrett graduated from Buchanan in 2011. While there, he participated in both water polo and swimming participating in seven varsity seasons in his four years. For polo, he was apart of one Valley Championship team (2010)  and one Runner-up (2009). From there, he went to Golden West College to play for coach Scott Taylor. While there, he and his teammates won two CCCAA State Championships in water polo as well as two more in swimming. After that, Garrett returned home to coach at Buchanan JV for one year before deciding to return to the sport as a player at Fresno Pacific University under Coach Bryan Suhovy. During his senior year, he was unanimously voted team captain by his fellow teammates.

In addition to playing the sport for 14 years, Garrett has been coaching at the 14u age group for three years at the local club, Royal 559. After the inaugural season coaching alongside his father, Dave Pickford, Garrett took over the 14u team and has been head coach for the last two years.

This year Garrett will return to his alma mater, Buchanan to be the head coach for the Junior Varsity boys water polo team.  Welcome back, “G. Pick!”

Wyatt is a Central Valley native and is a 2015 graduate of Buchanan High School.  He was a goalie and played on The Buchanan High School 2013 Valley Championship water polo team. Wyatt is currently attending Fresno State and studying Criminology.