Meet The Coaches
Patricia Larson (Patti) was born and raised in Anaheim, California. As a competitive swimmer for 11 years, she qualified for Junior Olympics and Grand Prix meets, and was chosen by her senior year in high school to represent the North American Athletic Conference for Southern California, competing with teams from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.'s west coast. Patti continued her career in college and was recruited to swim for Division I at the University of North Dakota (2012-2016). As a collegiate athlete, she received various awards, including Rookie of the Year, Coaches' Award, Varsity Letter, and Academic All-Western Athletic Conference Honors for 3 years.
Patti has a passion for swimming and enjoys working with kids. She worked as a water safety/swim instructor aide for 6 years, and also worked for one year as one of the managers for her collegiate swim team after college graduation. Patti started with the Hedingham Sharks as an Assistant Coach in 2022 and was promoted to Head Coach in 2023.
In addition to swimming, Patti graduated in 2019 with her MBA in International Business, and moved to the Raleigh area in 2020. She and her husband Luke recently moved to the Hedingham neighborhood. She is a big foodie who enjoys trying out new places to eat and loves baking desserts from scratch.
Email: [email protected]
Hi!! My name is Caroline Phillips!! I’m a college student at Appalachian State University studying Exercise Science with a minor in American Sign Language. I was born and raised in Raleigh, NC. I swam during the summer for Black Horse Run Swim Club from ages 6 to 17. I was a Junior Coach for BHR for about 5 years from ages 13 to 17 and that’s when I fell in love with coaching and working with kids. I continued my love for swimming when I went to college by joining my university’s club swim team where we have daily practices and travel for swim meets. My best stroke was always backstroke, but my favorite strokes are freestyle and breaststroke. Swimming was the only sport that I really stuck with throughout my life, and I am so happy that I did. Swim team was always my favorite part of the summer and I am so excited to jump right back into it this summer, but this time as the Assistant Coach!!
Hi! My name is Alaina Sandberg and this is my twelfth year being part of the Hedingham Sharks Swim Team. I’m a Raleigh native and have lived in Hedingham my whole life and am a junior at Sanderson High School. I started swimming when I was six years old and quickly fell in love with the challenge of learning each stroke and how competitive it was. At the age of 12 I started helping with the 6 and unders during practice and continued doing that each year. Last year I started working as a Junior Coach and am happy to be back with the team again this summer. My favorite stroke is freestyle but I have found that butterfly can be a fun challenge. When I am not at the pool, you will find me playing rugby or volleyball and working at a local coffee shop, or just hanging out with my dogs and friends. I am so excited to meet everyone and look forward to a fun summer while we become sharks in the water!
