Natalie Benson joins the Senior National Team staff after serving in various roles throughout the national team pipeline since her retirement from playing in 2008.

As a coach within USA Water Polo, Benson has served as both an assistant and head coach for the Development, Cadet, and Junior National teams throughout the past two decades.

Benson started the women's program at Fresno State, after being hired in 2016. In just nine years of competition, the Fresno State program has gone from non-existence to a top-ten NCAA ranked team, which includes four Golden Coast Conference championships and four NCAA tournament appearances. Prior to Fresno State, Benson coached the Red Foxes of Marist University from 2013-2016. Benson's coaching career began in 2006, serving as an undergraduate assistant coach at UCLA where she helped lead the Bruins to their fourth national championship in six years. After completing her international playing career in 2008, Benson began coaching at Huntington Beach Water Polo Club out of Huntington Beach, Calif. She led the 18-and-under girl's teams to a gold medal at the 2011 Junior Olympics and a silver medal in 2012 and 2013.

As a player, Benson (then Golda) joined the Senior National Team in the midst of a dominant college career that landed her a spot on the Pac-12 All-Century Women's Water Polo Team. In her four seasons playing at UCLA, she guided the Bruins to three NCAA championships, was a three-time All-America selection, and ended her career by earning the Peter J Cutino Award in 2005. Benson was a Class of 2016 inductee into the UCLA Hall of Fame.

Benson was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame on May 30, 2015. An integral part of two Olympic medal-winning squads for Team USA at the 2004 (Bronze) and 2008 (Silver) Olympic Games, Benson also led the United States to three FINA World Championship medals (2003, 2005, 2007), including two gold medals. The 2003 FINA World Championship followed a 2001 FINA Junior World Championship title, both which were firsts in program history.

In 2007, along with her 2004 Olympic teammates Nicolle Payne and Heather Moody, Benson was inducted into the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) Hall of Fame. The trio became the first female inductees into the NYAC Hall of Fame, which at the time had 121 members since its first induction in 1981.

Benson graduated from UCLA with a degree in History in 2006, and earned her master's degree in Public Administration at Marist University in 2017.

She and her husband, Eric, have two daughters, Elise and Claire, and currently reside in Clovis, CA.