Our Coaches
Bearcat Masters coaches bring you years of competitive swimming and coaching experience.  They have swum and coached at the age group, collegiate, and masters levels.  They have experience with swimmers of all ages and levels, and work together with swimmers to reach team and individual goals.


Joel Abreu    
Joel began his swimming career at Bushwick High School in Brooklyn, NY.  He worked as a beach lifeguard for seven seasons at Coney Island and swam USS with the NYC Marlins from 1996-1999. Joel was a member of the NYC Marlins YWCA national team from 1997 until 1999.  Joel has experience coaching several masters and high school swim teams in New York City.  In addition to coaching Bearcat Masters, he is currently the head coach for Friends Seminary High School.  Joel holds a bachelors degree in economics with a minor in psychology from Baruch College (CUNY), where he is a current board member of the Baruch Young Alumni Network(BYAN), and works a real estate broker for a residential property management firm.

Shawn Ambrose
Shawn swam for Xavier High School in New York, NY and still holds the school record in the 100yd breaststroke.  He swam USS for Asphalt Green from 1994-1995 and NYC Marlins from 1995-1998.  Shawn graduated from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY where he swam for four years and broke eight school records throughout his career.  Shawn is a current USMS National Record Holder.  He has decided that he wanted to devote all of his time to the Bearcats and has given up on working and is currently at Fordham pursuing his MBA.  Shawn does not like SCM swimming and can not wait for the yards season to finally arrive!!

Liz Krams
Bio coming soon!


                                                                                          
Elan Blumberg

Elan Blumberg began swimming in South Africa, then moved on to Texas where he holds many state records in the 12 & under age groups. He then moved to Florida and swam for Coral Springs Aquatic Complex where he holds 7 team records dating back to 1992, swimming under the US and German Olympic coach Michael Lohberg. After high school he was a full scholarship athlete for the University of Alabama. He has coached masters teams in Florida as well as some age group coaching experience. Elan is a practicing architect in NYC.


Juan Jose Villar-Benavides
Juan Jose Villar-Benavides is a former member of the Peruvian National Swim team. He holds two records in the 400 and 1500 meters freestyle for the (13-14 ) age group in Peru. He swam in the Empire State Games 2002-2003 and he was the CUNY rookie of the year in 2003. He holds a bachelors degree in Chemistry from the College of Charleston in S.C. Juan Jose is currently in graduate school outside of NY, however, during breaks he returns to coach. His favorite workout are sometimes defined as "peruvian death pyramids".