Meet Matty Mitchell: Leading Aqualand’s Homeschool Ocean & Pool Programs

If your child has spent time at Aqualand, you’ve probably heard his name before you’ve even met him.

“Hi Matty!”

He’s usually the one gathering the group, making the kids laugh, and getting everyone ready for what comes next. But behind that easy connection with kids is a serious background in ocean lifeguarding, collegiate aquatics, and coaching.

As Aqualand’s homeschool enrichment programs grow, Matty leads our ocean and pool instruction, bringing that experience to students learning to surf, building water confidence, and discovering water polo.

The Experience Behind the Fun

Matty grew up in the Long Beach aquatic community, where swimming, water polo, and time in the ocean were part of everyday life. His athletic background includes swimming and water polo at UCLA, followed by coaching experience with Harvard-Westlake, Long Beach Wilson High School, and Shore Aquatics.

He also spent decades working as an LA County and Long Beach Ocean Lifeguard, including time teaching Junior Guards. As an LA County Ocean Lifeguard, he competed at the national level and was part of a National Championship team.

Those experiences bring different strengths to his teaching. Coaching means knowing how to explain a skill, recognize what a student needs, and keep a group working together. Ocean lifeguarding means paying attention to the environment, anticipating problems, and making decisions based on conditions rather than sticking to a plan simply because it was on the schedule.

At Aqualand, both matter.

How Surfing and Enrichment Fit Together

We want parents to understand exactly how this part of the day works:

All homeschool surfing is led and supervised by Matty before students separate into their age-based enrichment groups.

During the surf portion, Matty leads instruction with support from Aqualand’s instructors. Students work on ocean awareness, board handling, paddling, catching waves, and developing confidence appropriate to their experience and ability.

After surfing, students transition to their assigned instructors for age-appropriate enrichment, including readiness work for older students.

This allows us to keep Matty’s experience at the center of surf instruction while giving different ages the attention, activities, and level of challenge they need during the rest of the day.

Ocean Safety Is Part of the Lesson

Learning to surf is not just learning to stand on a board.

It is learning to pay attention to the water, follow directions, stay with your group, manage your equipment, and recognize when you need help. Those habits are part of instruction, not something we rush through to get to the fun.

Matty’s lifeguarding background shapes how he approaches the ocean with children. Conditions and student readiness guide the activity. Building confidence does not mean pushing every child into the same challenge or treating hesitation as something to ignore.

The goal is for students to become more capable in the water while developing respect for it.

Bringing His Coaching Background to the Pool

Matty also leads our homeschool pool instruction, including Water Polo Development: Aquatic Skills & Physical Education.

His experience at UCLA and coaching with Harvard-Westlake, Wilson, and Shore Aquatics gives him a strong foundation for teaching swimming, movement in the water, and water polo fundamentals. At Aqualand, he applies that background to an introductory instructional setting, not a competitive team tryout.

Students develop swimming technique and endurance, learn treading-water and eggbeater skills, and practice passing, catching, shooting, positioning, and teamwork.

The class gives children a chance to learn the sport without immediately taking on a club schedule. It also gives them something useful beyond water polo: more practice moving confidently and purposefully in the water.

Still the Matty Your Kids Know

The résumé matters to parents. The relationship matters to kids.

Matty knows how to make a group want to listen. He can turn repetition into a game, help a nervous student take the next step, and make room for a laugh without losing track of the lesson.

That is what we want our homeschool programs to offer: real instruction from experienced adults, with enough play and connection that children look forward to coming back.

Whether your child is catching a wave or learning their first water polo pass, Matty brings the same priorities: pay attention, build good habits, look out for each other, and enjoy being in the water.

And yes, there will still be plenty of “Hi Matty!”