Aukai Ferguson

Lake Oswego Water Polo (LOWPO)/water polo (Lake Oswego, Oregon)

Double-Goal Coach Award Winner

Aukai Ferguson, water polo coach at Lake Oswego Water Polo Organization, has won Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted Double-Goal Coach Award presented by TeamSnap for his positive impact on youth athletes.

Ferguson is one of 50 national recipients of the Double-Goal Coach award, named for coaches who strive to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. The award includes a $200 prize, a certificate, and mention within the websites and newsletters of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit developing Better Athletes, Better People through youth and high school sports.

“Coach Ferguson helps athletes win in and out of the pool,” said Ben Dudley, Executive Director of PCA-Portland, the local Chapter of Positive Coaching Alliance. “By creating a positive, character-building youth sports experience and serving as a Double-Goal Coach, Aukai helps youth develop into better athletes and better people.”

Ferguson’s love for the game of water polo has allowed him to spread the sport in an area where there wasn't much interest.  In a 3 year span, he went from a handful of youth athletes to a club now boasting 85 youth from 8-14 years of age. Without his passion and leadership many would not have had the opportunity to gain their own love of the sport. Part of that love comes from the enjoyment of practices with Coach Ferguson.  He has a talent for meeting each player at their own skill level and encouraging them from that point forward. He greets each child personally as they enter the pool deck with a joke or a high five and makes it fun for them to learn a new sport.

Water polo is a sport where it’s easy to play dirty, but Ferguson sets the tone for his players by teaching good sportsmanship.  If a player isn’t acting appropriately he will take them out of the pool and calmly discuss with them the proper behavior. He encourages athletes when they make good decisions and when they make a poor decision, he lets the outcome do the talking and discusses the error with the athlete at a later time to find a way to ensure they don’t experience frustration again.  

Ferguson admits he’s not always the greatest at remembering all 85 players’ names, however, he said, “I’m really good at facial cues...I can understand when a kid is frustrated, when they’re sad, when they are angry, when they need a break and when they can be encouraged. It’s one of my strongest suits as a coach because a lot of times kids feel ignored or not needed or wanted. I identify that to keep them motivated. This special attention to their moods and connection to the players makes them feel heard and valued.

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Aukai played collegiately at Chaminade University and Loyola Marymount University.  He started his water polo coaching career as an assistant coach at Chaminade University in 1991.  In 1994 he help start the first public high school water polo league in Hawaii and was head coach at Kahuku High School.  As a club sport Kahuku won five straight club titles and was undefeated in league during this period.  In 1999, he moved to Oregon and was Lake Oswego High School’s first water polo coach.  Also he coached at Forest Grove and was the head coach at Tualatin Hills for two years.  Then he returned to Hawaii in 2002 to become the Head Men’s Water Polo Coach for Brigham Young University-Hawaii.  BYU-H was consistently in the top 20 nationally and was ranked as high as 13th in the nation in the weekly coaches poll.  In 2004 Aukai resumed coaching at Kahuku High School and won five straight Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) high school girls league titles and was undefeated in league play.  In 2004 high school girls water polo was official awarded a State Championship Tournament. Kahuku finished 3rd, and runner-up three consecutive years.  Throughout this time he has coached with the regional Olympic Development Program (ODP) at all of the age group levels.

Aukai is married to the Dr. Heidi Ferguson (nee McElhaney).  She played water polo for the US National Team and participated in the 1994 World Championships in Italy.  She volunteers with the age group programs.  They have two children who both play water polo, Ella (12) and Torin (15).