The first women's water polo coach in VMI history, Anna Phelps arrived at the Institute on May 5, 2010 after a stint at Lincoln High School in Portland, Ore. At Lincoln, she served as head women's water polo coach and assistant men's water polo coach.
Phelps, a graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy, where she was given the leadership award in a peer vote, officially assumed her duties at VMI early in the summer of 2010 and used the academic term to build the program and recruit several of the top players in the country in preparation for the inaugural season of competition in the spring of 2012.
While at Lincoln, Phelps turned a winless program around in just three seasons and guided her squad to a first place finish in the Metro League last year while compiling a 59-27-2 record over the three-year period. Phelps was named 2009 Metro League Coach of the Year and has developed several academic and All-America candidates at Lincoln while three of her athletes earned athletic scholarship offers.
Phelps has also devoted her energies to developing and implementing a week-long off-site training site in Central Oregon for her squad. Phelps guided all fundraising, recruiting, and team administration of the Lincoln program and built the roster from seven athletes her first year to over 25 student-athletes currently.
"I am extremely pleased to announce Anna Phelps as our women's water polo coach," said White. "Anna and her husband, Jeff, have been devoted to the sport of water polo for many years. We were pleased to find a number of good water polo coaching candidates, but Anna Phelps was at the top of our list. She has a proven track record of building a successful women's water polo program from the ground up, and we look forward to her experience as we launch our team. I am confident that she will develop a competitive women's program at VMI."
"I am honored to accept the position of the Women's Water Polo Coach at VMI," said Phelps. "Water polo has been a part of my life for the last 25 years; both as a player and a coach, and it is a dream come true to start a program at such a prestigious institution. I think the decision made by VMI to add women's water polo is extremely progressive and I look forward to recruiting the best possible talent to build a program where young women will receive an amazing education and also achieve great athletic success."
In the program’s first season, the Keydets wasted no time collecting their first win, knocking off Salem International University 22-6 in the historic moment. That win was the first of two for VMI in the program’s first year, helping VMI remain undefeated at home along with a 20-10 win on Senior Day over Salem International.
So far in her young intercollegiate career, Phelps has already landed one all-conference honoree in Molly Andoe, who was named second team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Andoe was the second leading scorer in 2012, tallying 61 markers behind Mackenzie Perkins’ 64.
There was no sophomore slump for the program in 2013 as the team went on to win a program record 12 games. Not only did the team win a record number of games, but they beat a school from California for the first time in program history, Occidental (3/9). For the first time in program history, VMI hosted the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's weekend, bringing every team in the league to Lexington. The Keydets collected their first-ever MAAC win that weekend, besting St. Francis Brooklyn 10-9 at Clark King Pool.
During the second season, the team set the record for most goals (275), most goals per game (8.59), while also shoring up the defense and allowing 20 fewer opponent goals in 2013. VMI's potent offense was paced by Celine Lazzaro, who put away a single-season record 93 goals in her first season of action for VMI.
A predominantly west coast sport, Phelps has melded players from both coasts on the team, combining four Californians and one Oregonian with five east coasters and one player from Ohio on the team’s first roster.
In addition to her duties at VMI, Phelps also works with the Cadet National Team, part of the feeder system for the Olympic Team, gauged for 9th and 10th grade students, and prior to the 2013-14 season, became an assistant with the VMI swimming and diving program.
In just three years, Phelps graduated in 1997 from Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. where she was a water polo academic and athletic All-America honoree from 1995-1997 and two-time Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. Prior to her collegiate career, Phelps was a high school All-American (1993-94) at Newberg High School in Newberg, Ore. and junior national team member from 1991 through 1993.
In the fall of 2011, Phelps was inducted to the Scripps College Athletic Hall of Fame following her outstanding career with the Athenas. She became the first women’s water polo player inducted into that particular Hall of Honor.
Phelps began her collegiate coaching career at Claremont (Ca.) Colleges in 1998, where she led her squad to a SCIAC second place finish while directing the program's recruiting, training and administrative efforts.
Phelps also served as men's and women's water polo coach of the Iron Mountain Water Polo Club in Lake Oswego, Ore. in 1996.
While building the Keydet women's water polo program, Phelps will start coaching the "Born 1996 Girl's ODP Zone Team" for the Northeast Region. The team is part of the Olympic Development Program that helps identify and train potential future talent who are then filtered into the Junior and Senior National Teams.
She and her husband, assistant coach Jeff Phelps, welcomed their first child into the world, Sterling Hewitt Phelps, on April 2011. The couple resides in Lexington.
