Meet the Coaches | pacificwavessynchro

Meet Our Coaches

Pacific Waves is a non-profit artistic (synchronized) swimming club that was founded in 1999 by a group of dedicated parents and swimmers in an effort to make the sport of synchronized swimming accessible to all.

Our coaches provide a supportive, welcoming atmosphere for swimmers of all ages to develop physically, mentally, and emotionally while participating in a rewarding and competitive sport that will equip each swimmer for life in and out of the water.

Natalie Montgomery (Head Coach)

Natalie began swimming at the age of eight with the Tacoma Synchronized Swim Club. Later she was part of the creation of the club that is now Pacific Waves. She finished her High School years swimming with Seattle Synchro. Natalie was a nationally ranked athlete throughout her artistic swimming career. After High School, she went on to swim for the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas for four years. During her time there, her team was ranked third in the nation while competing against all division Universities. During her tenure at UIW, she earned a BA in Communication Arts and a minor in English. Natalie was also a four-time All American athlete and competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials. After her collegiate career, Natalie auditioned for the Le Reve show in Las Vegas. Besides coaching on deck, Natalie is also involved with coordinating pool schedules, cutting music, choreographing routines, developing a curriculum and expectations for each level of our program and as well as maintaining and improving club policies. She works with the coaches, the board, and parents to create the best experience possible for each swimmer. Currently, Natalie enjoys coaching our Age Group/Juniors team.

Leslie Sims

Leslie discovered her passion for artistic swimming at age 12 with a small start-up team in Tonawanda, NY. She went on to lead her small liberal art college's synchro club. Fast-forward a decade and a move to Seattle in 1988. Leslie founded the Emerald City Aquatic Club in West Seattle. After the birth of her daughter and a career change into the world of teaching, Leslie took a very long break until a friend's Facebook post in 2015 re-sparked her interest and led her to master's synchro and PWSS. She enjoys coaching at the Novice and Intermediate team levels, judging at meets and swimming with the PWSS Masters Team.

Freja Kizis

Freja began her synchro (artistic swimming) career at age seven with Pacific Waves Synchro. She competed at her first Age Group Nationals (later renamed to Junior Olympic Championship) at age 11 in the team and solo events. As part of Pacific Waves Junior teams she has placed 5th and 4th at the Junior Olympic Championships in 2018 and 2019 and 3rd place in 2021. Freja has held the role of athlete representative for the Pacific Northwest Association, where she puts in athlete perspective to improve our association. Freja loves being involved in the development of the future of synchro (artistic swimming). She enjoys coaching all levels and on some occasions has helped out with coaching our 13-15 team, Junior extra routines, masters figures, and even our very own coach Natalie and Emma’s duet. She is currently coaching our lessons and co-coaching our novice team. She cherishes the experiences and friendships she has made through artistic swimming and hopes to have a positive impact on her swimmers.