Cesar Henderson

About Cesar Henderson

Cesar Henderson became a diving coach in his native country of the Dominican Republic in 1976 and started coaching full-time in 1978. In 1985, he became head coach of the Dominican Republic’s national team. He then came to Canada in 1987 and became head coach of Edmonton’s Kinsman Diving Club. He then joined CAMO as an assistant coach and still works there to this day. He works out of the Institut national du Sport in Montreal since 2015 and currently resides in Brossard, Québec. He was invited to join the Canadian team at the 2000 Games in Sydney and was named to the national coaching staff at the four following Games: Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. He has also been a stalwart with the national steam at every World Championships since 2003. He has been named Canadian Coach of the Year almost 20 times.

Born in Santo Domingo, Henderson was a high-level athlete in the Dominican Republic and named Aquatics Athlete of the Century in 2001 by the Dominican Republic Olympic Committee. His biggest achievement was his win at the Central America and Caribbean Aquatics Championships by age group in Santo Domingo in 1977. He also represented his country at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the 1979 PanAm Games in Puerto Rico and 1983 Games in Venezuela as well as the 1982 World Aquatics Championships in Ecuador.

He began diving when he was recruited for a training camp held at the pool where he was swimming. It was at the request of his baseball coach that he had learned to swim, for safety reasons, since the members of the baseball team would cool off in the streams and ocean in their spare time when they traveled.