Sunrise Sharks

Hello Shark Families!

Sharks Parent Informational Meeting will be two days before our season officially starts on Monday, March 30st @ 6:30pm in the Rusch Park “Patio Room”. 

COACHES: Our Sharks are being led thru the water by Leslie as our Head Coach and Layla as our Head Assistant Coach. Our returning Assistant Coaches are Christian and Lexi and we are excited to introduce two new Assistant Coaches Jess and Sarah! You can read more about all of our amazing coaches here. Our practices are back-to-back, and our coaches need to give their full attention to the swimmers in the water. If you have any questions regarding your swimmers’ practice, please email Coach Leslie at [email protected]. Your head Coach Leslie will have "office hours" for you to discuss anything pool related. Those times will be announced in the weekly Shark Bytes email. Also, there is almost always a board member or veteran parent on deck and we are always happy to help.

PRACTICE: We have three practice times, depending on your swimmers age group. Please see the Sharks website for the practice schedule. There is a faded red zone around the pool, we ask that all spectators keep clear of the red zone, so as not to distract from the coaching. The bathrooms & drinking fountains on deck are open for use, along with the grass area across the pool. If you are absent from a practice, you do not need to notify anyone. If you plan to be gone for a few days, your swimmers coach would appreciate the heads up, so they don’t worry. Missing a practice does not make your swimmer ineligible for meets.

THERE IS NO PARKING in the fire lane in the front parking lot. Feel free to do a quick drop off or pick up if your swimmer is waiting, but it needs to be kept clear for emergencies, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE. 

MEETS: All swimmers are automatically signed up for all dual meets and champs.

This is very important-The coaches need to know who WILL NOT attend a meet; in other words, “decline” a meet. 

Check out this link to help if you dont know how to declare for the meet. Meet Declaration

Please make sure you are logged in the website to see declarations. The deadline to decline is the Sunday before the meet. The coaches spend a lot of time choosing which events the swimmers will enter as well as creating the relay teams. This process starts on Monday, so it is very helpful and appreciated if they know who is not going to attend before they enter the swimmer in events and relays. Swimmers will compete in three events and have an opportunity to be in up to two relays.

During meets, you typically will not see coaches in the team tent area or at the ready bench. Coaching assignments are split between coaches and often on a rotation, this includes reviewing DQ's, timing/splits, technique or block support. Please note, ONLY a coach may dispute a call, parents are not to question officials. This is typically the head coach, but with the head coach's permission, an assistant coach may also dispute a call. If you have any questions on a call made by an official, please go to your swimmer's coach.

The Meet Sheet will be emailed the night before the meet, on Fridays. It will have the location, meet schedule and various other tidbits of information from the other team for away meets. It will also have instructions on who to contact if you are going to be late. Nevertheless, please arrive on time for swimmer checkin - 6:45am!!

Check-in for all meets is at 6:45am. All swimmers must check in at the main check-in table. Please read the weekly Sharks Bytes email that is sent out every Sunday evening as it will have some “heads up” information about the upcoming swim meet.

Team Age Group Tents: After swimmer’s check-in for the meet, swimmers 12 and under must then check-in with their Team Parent at their age group tent. Swimmers 13 and up have team tents to utilize however no official team parent is monitoring. Our Clerk of the Course will be giving them their events and checking in as needed. After warm-ups, all swimmers must meet at their age group tent-EVEN IF THEY AREN'T STAYING IN THE TEAM TENT so that they can receive their heat and lane assignments; these assignments will be Sharpie’d on their right arm as well as their first name initial and last name. Sharpie is easily removed with spray sunscreen, please apply sunscreen prior to your swimmer getting their events.

The team tents are managed by Team Parents so that the kids can stay organized and prepared for the events that they will swim. Also, this is a place kids can be supervised while their parents are volunteering. If swimmers need to leave the team tent for any reason, they must notify the team parent. If the swimmer leaves the team tent for the bathroom or their family’s tent, or for any reason, it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure the swimmer is at the ready bench, on time. Please note that 6 and under swimmers will use the restroom in groups with one of their team parents.

What to Bring: sunscreen, pop up, chairs, blanket, two towels, layers of clothing, plenty of water, snacks or money for snack bar, things to keep swimmers entertained between events like coloring stuff-no crayons they melt, games, deck of cards, books, small handheld toys…don’t forget the swimsuit! Please keep in mind that you may be away from your “campsite” for periods of time, so take care of all valuables.

Champs/MOC: All swimmers who have attended at least two dual meets go to champs and swim every event in the prelims; the top 10 swimmers of each event advance to finals. Champs this year will be held at ARC on July 25th and 26th. Please note- 6 and under swimmers only swim on Saturday. This is a two-day event that includes all five teams in our conference. The events are split between the two days with prelims in the morning and early afternoon, and finals in the late afternoon. 

The Sacramento Valley Meet of Champs (MOC) is for top swimmers in the Sacramento region. Swimmers with qualifying times and all swimmers who make finals at Champs are eligible to attend MOC, but not required. MOC will be held at the Elk Grove Aquatic Complex-EGAC, on Aug 1st and 2nd. More information on both events will come later in the season.

VOLUNTEERING: Each family is required to volunteer 5 shifts throughout the season, and 2 at Champs, or 1 at Champs if you only have a 6U. Job descriptions can be found on our team website. If you only have a 6U swimmer, you will want to do set up or shift 1, as the 6U’s only swim during shift 1.

Check out this link to help if you don't know how to sign up for a job. Please make sure you are signed in to see the links on the calendar to sign up.  Volunteer Job Sign-Up

Another option for volunteering, is being a team parent. This will have you in the team age group tents, supervising the swimmers who choose to stay in the team tents, and ensuring swimmers get to the ready bench on time, with their cap and goggles. This job guarantees you a shady spot under the pop up, you’ll be with your swimmer, and get to know the other swimmers, you also get a snazzy vest. We have an amazing Head Team Parent, Peri Zamora, he’ll be there to help in any way. 

To view and sign up for volunteer positions, login to your Sharks account, tap on “2026 Calendar” on the top menu, scroll down to the meet and select “job signup”. You will see a list of meet jobs, select the one you want and then select “signup”. A confirmation box appears, you do not need to type your name again, just tap the “signup” box and you will see your name on the job list. You can only volunteer for 1 shift per meet. Then go back to the calendar and repeat the steps for five meets.

All the meet jobs are simple enough to learn for any parent who is new to swim. It does not need to be you, it could be an aunt/uncle, grandparent, older sibling, even the mail person if you’re close enough to invite them :) There are a couple jobs that can be done with babies/small children. If you need this accommodation, please let us know by April 1st and we can put you on before the jobs open to all. After that, all jobs will be open and you risk the chance of that particular job being taken. If you have any questions, or would like to sign up to be a team parent, reach out to Annie Perkins thru email, phone or text (916) 500-1308 [email protected].

HOSPITALITY: During swim meets, we provide refreshments and snacks to our volunteers. All these items are donated by our swim families. The week of a swim meet, we will have an online sign-up sheet for families to pick an item to bring to the meet. This is not mandatory but the more donated items we have, the more we can offer to you, our volunteers. Donated items are to be brought with you the morning of the swim meet and dropped off in the hospitality room, right next to our snack bar, located in the area behind the bleachers. If you have any questions about this please reach out to Hospitality at [email protected].

SWIMMER OF THE WEEK: Selected swimmers have either demonstrated the theme of the week or done something else to stand out from the rest of their group. Swimmers will be announced during meet weeks at the team cheer on meet mornings, and during the Monday meeting on non-meet weeks. During meet weeks, a boy & girl from each age group selected, and during non-meet weeks, one swimmer per age group is selected. Please understand, with multiple coaches in an age group, there are multiple canaditates being discussed between coaches. If you're swimmer wsn't selected, this does not mean they weren't doing what they were suppose to be doing. Coaches see everyone's effort, please encourage your swimmer to keep showing up and working hard.

FUNDRAISING: Our annual Shark-a-Thon fundraiser is a huge fundraising event for the team and brings in much needed funding for our team to help support the cost of running the program. Some costs include: league fees, insurance, equipment, awards and so much more. This event will be held Wednesday, May 20th, during your swimmers practice. Prizes are awarded for most laps swam and for the tiered level of monies raised. More information on this exciting event will come soon!

We are doing weekly food-raisers; every Wednesday is your night off from cooking and gives a little back to your favorite recreational swim team! The full schedule is posted on the website. We’d love your participation whenever possible; every dollar counts.

We also have sponsorship opportunities. Please reach out for more info at [email protected].

TEAM PHOTOS: Will be Friday June 19th, a sign-up sheet for time reservation will be sent out later. The $10 picture fee previously paid at registration gives every swimmer a memory mate of individual photo & team photo, as well as an individual 4x6 magnet and four wallets.

Sharks Board Meetings: Your Sharks Board has meetings every two weeks during the season and monthly during the off season. Meetings are on Thursday’s at 6:30pm, typically in Rusch Room 1. We welcome anyone to attended, especially those who are interested in being a board member or even just wanting to get their feet wet this season in an unofficial position. If you have experience with non-profit organizations, we need you…your children need you. Our board meeting schedule is on the website, we’re always around to answer any questions you may have, and you can email questions to [email protected].

Our team website www.sunrisesharks.com has all the detailed information you will need. Please check it regularly for updates, our calendar is always being updated. You will receive many emails from ‘Sunrise Sharks via SwimTopia’; we send weekly Shark Bytes every Sunday and a “Meet Sheet” the Friday before every meet. If you are not receiving our emails, check your spam/junk folder, or reach out to us so we can try to assist. We also have a Facebook and Instagram group you can join: (FB Link) (Instagram Link)

We look forward to sharktastic season with our returning and new families!