SYS - About Us

	*YMCA National Champions 1979, 1981, 1982, 1991, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011*

	*Florida Age Group (Junior Olympic) Champions 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011*

Sarasota YMCA
Sharks
developing champions since 1961

2009 - 2012

about us

menu

about sys - coaches - practices - records - map - contact us

Coaches

Steve Brown - Head Swimming Coach/Senior Teams Coach

Steve is a 1993 graduate of Ball State University with a degree in Business Administration. Steve grew up in a suburb of Chicago, and swam for the Joliet YMCA as a competitive swimmer. Steve joined the Sharks staff in August of 1994 and has been with the team in one capacity or another since. He has coached every group on the team, for at least one entire season, and was awarded the Florida swim coaches Age group Coach of the year award in 1998 when the Sharks swept both the Short Course and Long Course titles. Steve has coached Sr. National and Junior National Qualifiers and finalists, YMCA All-Americans, H.S. State Champions and numerous Florida Age Group Champions of all ages. Steve has been an integral part of the success that the age group and Senior Sharks have experienced during the past 5 years. Steve is a level 4 ASCA Certified Coach, who has been married to his wife Anne since 2001. The couple has three daughters, Avery Raquel born on September 18, 2006, Mckenzie Olivia born on August 18, 2008, and Riley Corinne born on January 18, 2010. In his free time Steve enjoys watching his beloved Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears, cheering for the University of Florida, and playing racquetball.

Sherwood Watts - Competitive Swim Team Director/Head Age Group Coach

Coach Watts was born in Georgia, but raised in Sarasota. He is proud of being a product of the Sarasota YMCA. He received his start in coaching right here with the Sharks swim team, under the guidance of former head coach Tim Hill. Coach Watts later went on to coach at the Joliet YMCA in Illinois for one year in 1978, and returned to them in 1980 and continued to coach there until 1985. In 1984 he was named the Illinois Age Group Coach of the Year. In 1985, Coach Watts came back to Sarasota and again coached the Sarasota YMCA swim team. He has been named the Florida Age Group Coach of the Year seven times, in 1987, 1990, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2001 and 2002, he was named the Florida 3A High School Coach of the Year, after coaching his Sarasota High School boy's team to consecutive State Championships. He has coached the age group Sharks to nine consecutive Florida Swimming Junior Olympic titles (Spring 2006 through Spring 2010). He holds a prestigious ASCA level 5 rating in the Age Group Division. Considered one of the finest age group coaches in the country, his teams have won more state titles than can be included here. His swimmers have gone on to become top collegiate competitors, world record holders, and Olympians. Sherwood thanks former YMCA CEO Carl Weinrich, and former Shark head coach Tim Hill, for helping him to grow as a coach and as a person. He also thanks his wife and children, and former Shark coach Mike Simpson, for helping him to come to know our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Coach Watts is happily married and has three children.

Mark Matuszak - Assistant Senior 1/Junior Team Coach

Mark swam for the Sharks from 1985 to 1989 and held Shark records in the 200 and 400 Medley Relays. In 1989, he moved to Jacksonville and swam for Coaches Larry Shofe and Greg Troy at Bolles. He was a 4-time high school state finalist and was the 100 breaststroke Junior National Champion in 1989. Mark swam for the University of Maryland from 1990 to 1992. In the late 1990's Mark was an assistant coach for the Sarasota Sharks. Mark is also credited with being an integral part of the success that the Sharks have experienced over the past 5 years. Mark was married in March of 2004 and returned to the Sharks as coach of the Senior 2/Junior 2 teams in the Fall of that year. Mark and his wife are the proud parents of two young sons, Sam and Joshua.

Brent Arckey - Senior 2 Coach/Assistant Junior & Senior 1 Team Coach

Brent comes to the Sharks from Gainesville where he was a Senior Assistant Coach and Head Masters Coach with the Gator Swim Club, and a volunteer assistant coach with the University of Florida. He was the Head Coach of the Florida Swimming All-Star team in 2010, assistant Florida Zone Team coach in 2009, and assistant coach for the 2009 Florida Swimming All-Star team. He was a nationally ranked age group swimmer with Trinity Aquatic Team and Patriot Aquatics in Orlando and was a Florida High School State Champion for Winter Park. He swam for the University of Alabama and participated in the 2003 and 2004 SEC Championships. Brent graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management with a concentration in Business Administration.

Terri Leap - E.S.J. Novice/Varsity/White groups Coach

Terri offers much experience to the Sharks staff, both as a former nationally-ranked swimmer and as a coach with more than 15 years of experience. As a New Jersey age grouper and Senior, Terri was a state champion, a two-time high school swimmer of the year, and high school All American. Terri specialized in the 200 & 400 individual medleys and was also a distance freestyler. She competed in senior national championships from ages 12 to 18, and represented the Northeast as a 12 year old at the National Junior Olympics in Colorado. Terri was ranked 8th in the nation in the 1650 freestyle, On a collegiate level Terri was named an All American four times while swimming at Florida State University. Ultimately, Terri was a National Championship Finalist and a 1974 Olympic Trial qualifier in the 400 IM. Terri has been coaching with the Sharks for more than 10 years. She and her husband, Mike, have 3 daughters.

Jennifer Hart - Berlin Pre-Team/Varsity/Novice/White group Coach

Coach Hart swam for the University of Florida and joins the Sharks coaching staff with over 15 years of experience coaching in Jamaica.

Courtney Hudak - E.S.J. Assistant Age Group Coach

Courtney was an age grouper and then a national level swimmer for the Sharks in the 90's and early 2000's. She later swam for Florida State University, and has now returned to the Sharks as a coach.

Rachel Moore - E.S.J. Assistant Age Group Coach

Coach Rachel joins us from Raleigh, North Carolina. She started swimming competitively when she joined the Wave Swim Team at age 9 where she swam for 4 years, then later joined the Marlins of Raleigh at age 15 and swam for 2 more years under Coach Paul Silver. She quickly advanced to the top group on Marlins of Raleigh and made several senior championship cuts before graduating high school. She also swam at 4A ranked Apex High School and was a state qualifier in the 50 freestyle. After high school, she attended Liberty University and studied Kinesiology to learn the "ins and outs" of fitness in order to become a better coach. She coached for 3 years on a highly ranked summer league team in Raleigh and coached age groupers at Marlins of Raleigh. Now Coach Rachel joins the Sharks coaching age groupers from Novice team all the way up to Gold team. She and her husband Joshua are happily married and have a son named Hayden.

Rick Walker - Masters group Coach

Rick has been an active Masters swimmer since 1985 and started coaching after many years in business in 2002. As an ASCA Certified Masters coach, Rick has seen his program grow from 3 swimmers in September 2002 to over 100 currently. In the pool, Rick is nationally and world ranked and was recognized as All-American in 2005 in winning a national championship in the 10K Open Water NC.

^back to top

			8301 Potter Park Dr. Sarasota, FL 34238 (941) 922-9622 Web site founder: T.J. Lathrop Web site editor: Bob Clark