2026 Turtle Rock Sharks Coaches

HEAD COACH – Michelle Sperling

We are very excited to welcome back Michelle Sperling as Head Coach for the Turtle Rock Sharks. Michelle enjoyed her time as a Turtle Rock Shark from 2021 to the present. She was named the 2024 ISL Coach of the Year amongst a league with 22 teams.  Prior to coaching at Turtle Rock, she spent 17 years (2004-2021) as the Head Coach of the Newport Hills Swim team in Port Streets. During her time as head coach for the NHST Killer Whales, she led the team to 6 championships and was named “dual meet champions” for 8 years. Before coaching at Newport Hills, she was the head coach for the Turtle Rock Sharks from 2000 to 2003; she loved being back at the neighborhood pool, where she began her summer league coaching. In addition, Michelle swam for the UC Irvine women’s swim team on an athletic scholarship from 1995 to 1999. Michelle was also Assistant Head Swim Coach for the UC Irvine Men’s and Women’s Swim Team from 2002 to 2007. She recently had a former UCI swimmer inducted into the UC Irvine Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2021. Michelle has been a classroom teacher for 16 years and was named the 2022 Teacher of the Year for the Newport Mesa Unified School District. Currently, she is an Elementary Math Coach in the Tustin Unified School District and has been a teacher for the last 19 years. Michelle has two wonderful boys, Matteo, age 15, and Marco, Age 13. Michelle will be celebrating 21 years of marriage with her husband, Michael. Some of Michelle’s collegiate highlights include the athletic scholarship for all four years, the Dean’s List, the Big West Conference Scholar-Athlete, the Most Valuable Freshman, and the Team Captain and Most Valuable Player in her senior year. Michelle was named Most Inspirational Coach in 2016 by Maddie Musselman, a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2016 & 2021) in Women’s Water Polo. Michelle emphasizes stroke technique and implements a workout program that provides per-stroke technical instruction. Coach Michelle is looking forward to having another fun and exciting Turtle Rock Season!!

ASSISTANT COACH – Audrey Light

Coach Audrey is so excited to be a part of the Turtle Rock Shark team this season. She developed her love of swimming in the ISL with the Northpark Riptide, joining the team when it was first founded and becoming part of the ISL family in 2003. She enjoyed it so much that she chose to swim year-round in her age group at Irvine Novaquatics until she switched to playing water polo in high school at Mater Dei High School. Audrey has always maintained her love of swimming and water polo by coaching and playing in the masters throughout college. She started volunteering as a coach for the Newport Hills Killer Whales under Coach Michelle in high school, then transitioned to assistant coaching for the 12-14 pre-senior swim group at SOCAL Aquatics. Audrey attended UC Berkeley, where she continued to train and play competitively in water polo for Cal's Club Water Polo team. She also continued to coach and teach swim instruction at the YMCA of Downtown Berkeley during free time on campus. Post-graduation, Audrey found joy in open-water swimming while working in San Francisco, often swimming in the Bay and even swimming from Alcatraz! Currently, Audrey is earning her Masters in Teaching and Credential in Social Science and English at UC Irvine and is excited for a professional career that is better aligned with her passions and this new chapter back in her hometown. Coach Audrey cannot wait to have fun and swim fast with the sharks this summer!!! 

ASSISTANT COACH- David Zhou

Coach David's swimming journey began at age 10 with the JCC Waves, leading him to swim varsity for University High School from 2020 to 2024, with his favorite events being the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle. He brings two years of coaching experience to the team, including his time with the Sharks in 2022. David is currently a rising Junior at Emory University in Georgia, where he's studying nursing and is also an EMT, actively seeking summer opportunities in the medical field. Outside of work, David enjoys photography, basketball with friends, and cooking up random recipes!

ASSISTANT COACH -  Alex Brunell

Alex is a credentialed secondary English teacher. She graduated from UCLA and just recently got her master's at UCI. Throughout her childhood, she swam competitively and eventually used her skills to play water polo throughout high school and college. Alex has been playing water sports for as long as she can remember and loves swimming. Her favorite stroke is freestyle, but she secretly loves breaststroke. Alex was on the varsity swim team and was the water polo team captain during high school. She is super excited to work with the Sharks this year and looks forward to growing swimmer drive and confidence in the water. She loves to teach and wants all students to know the value they add to the Sharks Swim Team!

ASSISTANT COACH -  Jacob Shabanie

Jacob Shabanie has coached for three years, starting at the South Irvine Dolphins. He has swam since the age of six, is a three-year varsity letterman for the University High School Swim team, and has played water polo at both the club and high school level for six years. As a water polo player, Jacob was the top goal scorer for the University High School Trojans, racking up an impressive 86 goals throughout the high school season. Currently, Jacob has just wrapped up his senior year of high school at University High School and will be studying Pre-Mathematics and Economics at UCLA next year.