Coaches

U19 Girls Head Coach – Jon DiMauro
U19 Girls Assistant Coach – Mary Ann Joves
U19 Girls Assistant Coach – Emily Tao

U16 Boys Head Coach – Drew Reimers
U16 Boys Assistant Coach – Bo Nedbaillo
U16 Boys Assistant Coach – Chris Davis

U12 Boys Head Coach – Desiree Leaupepe
U12 Boys Assistant Coach – Jeff Brown
U12 Boys Assistant Coach – Brett Reeves

Francis Mariner

Club and U19 Boys Head Coach
After watching his brothers play rugby, Francis decided to play competitive rugby in his last year of high school.  Where there was a game, there he was, as a spectator or a player, in the States or overseas.  Francis played for the Santa Barbara Grunion Rugby Club before he was enlisted to coach youth rugby.  Francis wants to give back to the sport by sharing the game with the youth.  Francis has been coaching youth rugby for several years.

Contact:
U19BHC@OrcaYouthRugby.org

Jon DiMauro

U19 Girls Head Coach
Jon (aka “Moose”) started playing rugby in Naples, Italy for the NATO team.  He played there for 4 years.  While in Naples, he also played for the all NAVY team.  When he transferred for the military to Sicily, he started to play for the Division 1 Amatori Catania team.  He played for the Base team at Camp Smith in Hawaii while stationed there as well.  He now enjoys coaching the Orca Rugby teams and watching his kids play rugby.  Once a Prop always a Prop!!!

Contact:
U19GHC@orcayouthrugby.org

Drew Reimers

U16 Boys Head Coach
Drew played six years of rugby both for military (Ft. Polk, Ft. Rucker) and adult clubs (Tempe Old Boys and San Fernando Rugby Club). The highlight of his rugby career was starting as the hooker for the Ft. Polk team that placed 3rd in the US Military Championships.

Contact:
U16BHC@OrcaYouthRugby.org

Bo Nedbaillo

U16 Boys Assistant Coach

Bo Nedbailo’s accidental introduction to rugby occurred as a freshman at the University at Buffalo (UB) in 1977. It happened on a road trip with a friend to “watch” the UB team play, but showed up two players short. Enter the new #15. After this unplanned recruitment, he played throughout his four years at UB and made the pilgrimage back to Buffalo for several years to participate in the annual UB alumni game. Bo continued as a member of the Touring UB Alumni Side (TUBAS) in tournaments ranging from Saranac Lake NY to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, as well as the annual Thanksgiving 7s tournament in NYC. His final game was as a guest member of the Philadelphia-Whitemarsh RFC at the 2005 Fort Lauderdale rugby tournament. This is his second year coaching youth rugby.

Tim Hoffman

U14 Boys Head Coach
Tim played rugby for the University of San Diego during college (some matches against Coach Michael!) and continued playing club rugby about 15 years. Tim founded Orca Rugby (then known as Channel Islands YRFC) and was the primary force that kept Orca Rugby moving forward its first seven years. This is Tim’s tenth year coaching youth rugby with Orca Rugby.
Contact:
U14BHC@OrcaYouthRugby.org
Mobile: (805) 797-3221

Danny Benjamin

U14 Boys Assistant Coach

Coach Danny began playing rugby in a youth league at age 15 while living in South America. At age 17 while in his senior year in high school he played for Santa Monica Rugby Club men’s Divisions I and II. At 18, during his freshmen year, he played for USC, but returned to Santa Monica Rugby the following year in the quest for more competitive playing. In 1984, after 8 years of non-stop playing, Coach Danny stepped off the pitch to pursue other interests. In 2009, 25 years after his last game, Coach Danny joined the Ventura County Rugby Club Outlaws (for fun). He ended up playing a few games (albeit, a bit slower than before) and still enjoying it. In 2011, he stepped in to coach Orca U12.

Desiree Leaupepe

U12 Boys Head Coach

Desiree Leaupepe has played with the Channel Islands Rugby Club (not Orca Youth Rugby) for the past six years.  She played for the Griffins Womens All-Star team as their Scrum Half. She has also played for the Griffins U-19 Girls National Team for the past 2 years, as their Center and Winger.  She assistant coached for the U19 Orca Girls backline during their 2010 season, which was her last and final season with the Orca Team as a player. She has two older brothers Alex and Mychal, who also have played for the Channel Islands Rugby Club. Her cousin Francis Mariner, Orca Youth Rugby’s Head Coach, has been coaching the Orcas for as long as she can remember.

Contact:
Email Desiree Leaupepe