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Coaches

Ira Klein - Head Swim Coach

Ira Klein was born and raised in New York, growing up near the beach, swimming was always part of his life. A graduate of Queens College in New York City, he swam and played water polo for QC. He continued playing polo during graduate school at UMass in Amherst. Undergraduate study was teaching and Physical education, graduate study was in Exercise Science.

His coaching career began in 1975 at a YMCA in New York. After five years he moved to the Joliet YMCA where he first combined with Sherwood Watts to develop one of the powerhouse programs in Illinois and YMCA Swimming. In that first year, the Joliet team scored only 5 points at Y Nationals, in their third year they finished second as a team. Soon after Joliet, Ira and Sherwood reunited with the Sarasota Sharks program. In five years at Sarasota, the women and men combined for a total of 8 second place finishes and several dozen Individual National titles and records. They were also conquering the local Florida club scene with several JO team titles as well. In 1988, the Sharks sent three high school aged swimmers to the Olympic Trials. Sixteen year old Trippi Schwenk finished fourth that year but later went on to swim in two Olympics and set an American Record. That year Coach Klein was named the first ever YMCA National Coach of the Year. Coach Klein left Sarasota in 1990 for the Las Vegas Gold Swim Team, again growing a team in both size and competitive level. In Las Vegas, he coached Melvin Stewart who went on to be a 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist. Five other swimmers from the Gold finished in the top eight at those Trials. An offer from Dave Marsh pulled Coach Klein to Auburn University for two years. During those years Coach Marsh and Coach Klein brought AU to their first ever SEC title, winning several individual and relay NCAA titles and a second place NCAA finish. Three members from that team made it to the Olympics. It did not take long though for Coach Klein to realize that his passion was in club coaching, watching and participating in the development of young athletes at all levels. An opportunity in Santa Barbara put him back into club coaching. In Santa Barbara, he took a team of 100 swimmers and tripled its size. At the same time, he doubled the size of the Masters program. In 1996, he brought the youngest scoring male to that year’s trials - today Mark Warkentin is poised to be an Olympian in open water swimming for the USA.

In 2004 Coach Klein was recruited to USA Swimming headquarters in Colorado Springs. He took charge of a new department called Field Services, supervising a dozen consultants who work with clubs around the country. He also helped develop several new programs such as Club Excellence and Club Recognition. But the bug for coaching never left, Coach Klein volunteered with a local High School and for over a year he coached Sheila Toarmina for the swimming part of Modern Pentathlon. Sheila who was a 1996 USA Swimming relay gold medalist, competed for the US in Triathlon in 2000 & 2004 and has now made history by being the only person to ever qualify for three different sports at the Olympic level. On the National scene, Coach Klein has been privileged to coach Olympic Festival and National teams five times. It has taken him to places such as Japan, England, and Russia. He is often asked to speak at clinics in the states and has also lectured internationally, including in the Philippines and Romania. Ira has always been involved in the sport as a volunteer working to make swimming better. He has sat on numerous committees for USA Swimming and has been privileged among the many roles he has taken to have been the President of the YMCA Coaches Association, President of the American Swim Coaches Association, and also Vice President of USA Swimming. What these points fail to point out is that the ultimate desire is to create an environment that lends itself to all athletes, of all ages and all levels. A complete program that teaches the important values in life, as well as competition.

Ira is married to Cindy - they met at a YMCA picnic on Siesta Key. This January they will celebrate their twentieth anniversary. Their only companion in life is "Charly Brown", a Daschund Chihuahua mix who rules their home.

Sherwood Watts - Competitive Swim Team Director

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 five times, in 1987, 1990, 2004, 2006, and 2007. 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 five consecutive Florida Swimming Junior Olympic titles (Spring 2006 through Spring 2008). 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 the YMCA's Carl Weinrich, and former Shark head coaches Tim Hill and Ira Klein, 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.

Steve Brown - Senior Assistant Coach/ Junior 1 Group 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 4 years. Steve is a level 4 ASCA Certified Coach, who has been married to his wife Anne since 2001. The couple received their first child, a girl, Avery Raquel Brown on September 18, 2006. In his free time Steve enjoys watching his beloved Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears, cheering for the University of Florida, and playing racquetball.

Mark Matuszak - Senior 2/Junior 2 Team Coach

Mark swam for the Sharks from 1985 to 1989 and currently holds 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 few 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 their young son, Sam.

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.

Courtney Lewandrowski - E.S.J. Pre-Team group Coach

Courtney has lived in Sarasota since 1975 and has been a Shark since 1984, starting as an age-group swimmer and later becoming a coach. She also swam for and graduated from Riverview High School. From there she went to Florida State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Human Sciences. In adition to her coaching responsibilities with the Sharks, Courtney is an adjunct professor for child development at Manatee Community College and an academic advisor at the University of South Florida. She and her husband, Greg, have two daughters, Paige and Payton, and a Seminole dog named Tally.

Bob Voege - E.S.J. Pre-Team group Coach

Coach Bob comes to us from Hawaii, where he coached with Olympian and world record-holder Rowdy Gaines at the Oahu Club and swam in international meets as a Masters sprinter. A teacher and coach in the Honolulu School District, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the House of Representatives in 1998, and was the state's decathlon winner in Masters track and field. Before leaving for Hawaii during the early 1980s he spent twenty years as Head Coach of the Baldwin-Whitehall and Brentwood Barracudas Swim Teams in the Pittsburgh, Pa. area. Bob is a retired FBI Agent, US Navy combat veteran, and former teacher and coach at Colgate University. He earned a PhD at Pitt's School of Education and its Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. A 1964 Olympic qualifier in judo, he is nationally ranked in USA Masters Track and Field, and stays in shape by coaching the Sarasota County Special Olympics Track and Field Team. In the recently released USA Masters Track & Field National Rankings for 2007, Coach Bob ranked in the top 5 events indoors and four events outdoors. He finished in the top ten in twelve events. His Florida Athletic Club won the national championship in 2007, and Bob was named an All-American in six events. he has two individual national records pending. Bob has been married to his wife Fran for 55+ years, and has five children, 14 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.

Nicole Maglich - Berlin Pre-Team/Novice/White/Varsity groups Coach

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

John Bruenning - Venice YMCA - Head Swim Coach

Coach Bruenning is a 1998 graduate of The University of South Carolina with a degree in Business and Sport Administration. While competing in the Southeastern Conference, he was named captain his senior year, team MVP three times in four years and still ranks in the top ten in school history in the 200 Free, 500 Free, 200 Back, and 400 IM. John grew up swimming in Sarasota for Coach Watts at age 7 and competed for the Sharks through high school. While training with the Sharks, John was a high school All-American, and multi-event finalist at Junior and Senior Nationals. He currently holds Shark team records in the 10 & Under 200 Free, 500 Free and Senior 400 IM. John returns to the Sharks from George Washington University where he was head assistant coach for five years. During his time in Washington DC, John coached his swimmers to multiple individual conference titles. In five years with the Colonials, his swimmers earned Conference MVP and “Rookie of the Year” honors, and twelve school records were broken. Coach Bruenning’s goal is to coach someone that will break his own team records.

Dawn Hall - Englewood YMCA - Swim Coach

Coach Hall grew up in Venice and swam there as an age grouper until high school graduation. She then was accepted into the United States Military Academy at West Point and attended school there while participating on the varsity swim team for two years. She graduated from West Point as a 2nd Lieutenant and spent the next 6 years as a Military Police Officer. After leaving the military, she moved back to Venice and became a deputy and also got back into swimming by helping to coach at Lemon Bay High School in 2001. She has assisted in leading the girls' team to 2 district titles and 4 county titles in just the last four years. She became part of the SYS coaching staff in 2007 and hopes to build the Englewood program into a program that the Sharks team can be proud of with her fellow teacher and coach, Kelly Librizzi. Coach Hall wishes to thank her father and mother for all the support and coaching "guidance" she got as a young swimmer. She believes there is no other sport that can teach you more about life than swimming.

Kelly Librizzi - Englewood YMCA - Swim Coach

Coach Librizzi grew up in Vermont and graduated from the University of Vermont in 2004 with a degree in Secondary Education. She was a captain of the UVM Women's Swim Team her Junior and Senior years, earning the Les Leggett Award for leadership, loyalty, humility and sportsmanship her Sophomore and Senior years. She was also an Academic All-American all four years. After college she moved to Florida to pursue a teaching profession and has also committed her time to coaching the Lemon Bay High School Swim Team. In the four years she has coached she has helped lead the girl's team to two district titles, four county titles, and a second place finish in the state by a 200 Freestyle Relay Team. She became a part of the Sharks Swim Team in 2007 and her goal is to help build the program and get more young athletes involved in swimming in the Englewood area with fellow coach, Dawn Hall.

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.

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