BIO

Kelly Doherty hails from Fullerton, California, a suburb of North Orange County. She comes to Channel Cats with a wealth of experience as both a player and a coach. At 12 years old, Kelly’s water polo journey began like many others- as a swimmer looking for more fun and excitement. Her first major milestone as a player came at 15 years old when her family relocated to Barcelona, Spain for 2 years, where she competed at CN Rubí and CN Catalunya, which her to the highest level of international play styles and deepened her understanding of the global water polo community.

From there, Kelly was recruited to UC Berkeley, where she trained for one year before coming home to play at Fullerton College and began her coaching career. Kelly led the team to their second ever CCCAA State Championship title, earning First-Team All-Conference, All-State, and All-American designations.

In 2018, Kelly began coaching water polo part-time, and by 2019 was coaching full time. Her coaching experience includes:

• 2 combined years at Huntington Beach HS: 2018- Sunset League Champions, 2023- CIF DI playoff appearance

• 1 year at Mater Dei HS

• 2 years at Fullerton College

• 5 years at Vanguard Aquatics: 2022- JO Gold Medal (12u girls), JO Silver Medal (14u girls), 2023- JO Silver Medal (16u girls)

As our Technical Director, Kelly hopes to continue to inspire and lead, ensuring that Nashville Channel Cats upholds its mission and upward growth.