Susan Gardiner Auvinen or Sue as she’s known to all has had the richest of Water Polo Careers as a two time Olympian playing at the 2000 & 2004 games in Sydney, Australia and Athens, Greece respectively.

Sue is a B.C. home grown water polo athlete getting her start in the sport in North Vancouver with the Cruisers and the North Vancouver Water Polo Club before playing with Pacific Storm for a number of years.

Sue was a member of the Canadian Women’s Junior National Team from 1996 to 1999 and the Women’s Senior National Team from 1999-2007. From 2002-2003, Sue played professionally in Italy for the Women’s A1 League Mediterraneo Corona.

Sue is the recipient of numerous awards including being named MVP at the 2002 Senior Nationals; the three time winner of the B.C. Premier Sport Award; the “See you in Athens Fund”; the Rona Growing with our Athlete’s Fund; and last but not least named to the top 5 center forwards in the WORLD by the Water Polo Around the Globe magazine.

Sue has 5 years of coaching experience and currently has her NCCP Water Polo Level 1 accreditation as well as being a NCCP Special Olympics trained coach.  She has coached both boys and girls at the North Vancouver Water Polo Club & Titans in addition to being Pacific Storm’s 18U/16U Women's Head Coach for 2009-2010 & Assistant Coach in 2008-2009.

Sue hopes to be a resource for our young athletes in terms of sharing what it takes to become a National Team athlete coupled with the challenges of being a Western athlete and is committed to passing on her knowledge of the sport.

Sue has undergraduate degrees in Biology & Phscyology & is pursuing her Master's in Physiotherapy at UBC. In her spare time, Sue likes to spend her time with her husband Eric jogging, hiking, doing yoga and reading.  While Sue's studies will be taking up most of her time, she is committed to continuing her involvement with Storm through mentoring our coaches & working with athletes as much as she can.