About — Capital Water Polo

Coaches

Miras Jelic - Head Coach / Club Director

Miras has been the head coach of Capital Water Polo since 2017. You can read more about him here and here.

Ben Hoffschneider - Club Assistant Director

Ben Hoffschneider is Capital’s Assistant Director and Team Administrator. Trained as a goalie, Ben started playing at Gonzaga College High School in DC, where he played three years of Varsity and participated in training trips to Croatia and Montenegro. A graduate of the University of the District of Columbia, he began coaching at Gonzaga in August 2019 and moved to Capital in December 2019.

Ben has been involved with the Olympic Development Program since 2022, and has been Head Coach for the NEZ’s Development age group from 2023-present. He has coached multiple USAWP camps, including two NTSCs and ODP Holiday Camp. He served as an assistant coach for the Youth Academy team at the April 2025 Brown Invitational Tournament, and served as Youth Assistant on the 2025 Regional Futures trip to Belgrade, Serbia. During the day, Ben works as a non-profit fundraiser and professional communications coach.

José Magro

José has been playing water polo since age 12 and played in the First and Honor divisions of the Spanish leave from ages 16 - 26. He’s also currently a professor of Sociolinguistics and Spanish at the University of Maryland.

Kristóf Kovács

Kristóf has been playing water polo for more than twenty years, growing up in the “golden years” of Hungary (Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Gold 2000-2008).

After his first year in the sport, he found his place as a goalie. Being a goalie means that he fully understands the fundamentals of a successful waterpolo game: building a team’s performance on different strong defensive tactics while taking advantage of the opponent’s flaws to win.

He played ten years in the Hungarian National 2nd league with his hometown club Pápai SE, and attended several regional, national and international tournaments while he also coached 16u and 18u teams.

From 2015 to 2017, Kristóf has been the managing director of his hometown club and successfully led it out of bankruptcy, by securing funds from municipality, government, and businesses.

Having lived in the Netherlands from 2017 to 2022 he had the opportunity to become a champion in the South-Netherlands regional 2nd league where he’s also coached 15u and 17u teams.

He is a communications professional and lives in DC with his wife Vanessa.

Rachel Vlietstra

Rachel Vlietstra’s water polo experience started in 2010 in Newbury Park, California playing for South Coast Aquatics Club. During her club career she competed in the 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 Junior Olympics with top 10 Platinum division finishes. She was a 4x Varsity starter for Newbury Park High School, being named to numerous CIF and league teams during her 4 years.
She was recruited to play water polo for Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania from 2020-2024. She was the starting center defender for the team all four years, earning a spot on the Conference All-Freshman team and the WWPA Newcomer of the Year award after her freshman season in 2021. During her final year at Mercyhurst she captained the team, earning Second Team All-Conference and was ranked 7th in the NCAA for total number of steals in a season. Rachel graduated from Mercyhurst University in 2024 Summa Cum Laude.
Outside of water polo, Rachel is a graduate student at George Washington University, where she is earning her Master’s in Forensic Psychology.

Khloe Riordan

Khloe started playing water polo at age 12 and played throughout middle school and high school. She played club water polo at Florida State University where she led her team to their first ever regional championship in school history and trip to nationals, followed by two more years of championships and a top 10 finish at Nationals. She was named all American 3 times, and Southeast MVP twice while at FSU.
Khloe has coached girls 16u and 18u with her hometown club, Team Orlando out of Orlando, FL.

Greg Porter

Greg Porter has a strong background in competitive water polo, having played NCAA Division I for the University of California, Irvine, where he was recognized as an Academic All-American. He also earned CIF Central Section First Team and Conference First Team honors during high school, demonstrating leadership and high performance throughout his athletic career.

Professionally, Greg is an environmental policy specialist with expertise in climate resilience, clean energy financing, and marine ecosystem health. He holds an MPA in Environmental Science & Policy from Columbia University and dual BAs in English and Film & Media Studies from UC Irvine, graduating summa cum laude and earning Phi Beta Kappa honors. His work spans local government, nonprofits, and environmental finance organizations, managing sustainability and climate adaptation projects.