John Stockdale grew up in North Burnaby playing soccer and swimming but made his mark playing for SFU’s water polo club team as well as coaching it until 1981.

In addition to 11 national titles as a coach, he became BC Water Polo’s executive director in 1986-87, co-authored technical manuals, was a course conductor and coordinator, and developed a high performance camp for women athletes in 2010 that he still runs from which more than 40 athletes have secured NCAA scholarships.

He’s also been a big part of the Burnaby Barracudas water polo program for decades dating back to the days when the club was based at Deer Lake instead of the Central Park Pool. Considered by many as “The Godfather of B.C. Water Polo,” Stockdale has twice been named Water Polo Canada’s volunteer of the year and is a two-time winner of the Sport BC President’s Award.