Our Head Coaches
Coach Ray Willie 2010 Metropolitan Swimming Coach of the year
Junior Team Coach and TVSC alumni Ray Willie Coach Ray started his swimming career at age 7 right here on Three Village Swim Club. He holds an undergraduate degree from University at Buffalo and a masters degree from Stony Brook University both in applied mathematics. He is currently a High School math teacher at East Islip High School.
Coach Ray was a 14 time All American for the University at Buffalo. He was two time MVP for the University, Freshman of the Year in 1989 and Upper New York State Swimmer of the Year in 1989. In 2004 he was honored by University at Buffalo by being named in the Athlete Hall of Fame.
He began his coaching career in 1992 as assistant coach for Canisius College Men’s and Women’s Division I swimming program. His tenure has included Head Junior Coach Cheektowaga Stingrays, Head Junior Coach Three Village Swim Club, and Head Coach Hauppauge Swim Club.
Coach Ray has coached several Top 16, Zone, Sectional and National qualifiers. He has been published in splash magazine twice for drill techniques on both Breaststroke and competitive dives. He has also worked closely with Coach Bud Termin of TeamTermin sports performance, on interval training using finis tempo trainers and its affect on age group swimming technique. He is currently working with Olympic Swimmers and Swimchampions.com to help promote age group swimming throughout the country with their fitter and faster tour.
He has been published twice in "Splash Magazine" for drill techniques in breaststroke and competitive dives.
Coach Peter Cabral:
is a certified ASCA Level III swim coach and has over twenty-eight years of swim coaching experience including head coach of the Sachem Swim Club for sixteen years. He was invited to work with the US Olympic swim coaches at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He coached numerous national qualifiers and high school state finalists. Many of his swimmers went on to compete in Division I, II, and III collegiate swimming programs. He is the co-founder of the Long Island Premiere Swimming Camp that offers a swim camp experience for hundreds of swimmers. He was the head coach of the Sachem Boy’s Varsity team that won three Suffolk County swimming championships and five League I swimming titles. He was voted the Suffolk County High School Swim Coach of the year in1986. Peter graduated from Springfield College with a B.S. degree in Physical Education and a M.S. degree from Long Island University in School Counseling. Peter’s experience as a school counselor and coach has enabled him to guide hundreds of student athletes and their families through the college recruiting process including the NCAA eligibility.
Mike Smit
Michael joined TVSC as an athlete in 1999 when the Smit family moved to New York. After 4 years on the the team, he went on to study engineering and business at Cornell University where he swam for four years. Michael qualified for division one NCAAs in multiple events both his junior and senior years, and achieved NCAA All-American status in the 200 freestyle.
After graduating from Cornell in 2007, Michael moved to North Carolina to train for 2008 Olympic Trials at one of the first USA Swimming Centers of Excellence under world renowned and former Auburn coach David Marsh. He swam along side multiple Olympians, four of which made the Olympic Team in 2008. During this year he also coached, learning from one of the best coaches in the world. Michael swam the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle as well as the 100 and 200 butterfly with a best finish of 26th in the 100 free.
At the end of 2008, Michael took a break from swimming, but continued his coaching career back on Long Island at TVSC. After one year, he moved to New York City to take a full time coaching job at AGUA under USA swimming coach of the year Brian Brown. Michael mentored and worked closely with future Olympian Lia Neal, and also revitalized his swimming career under coach Brown.
He continued to coach with and swim for Brian Brown in New York until 2010 when he followed Coach Brown to Southern California and FAST swim team. At FAST, Michael continued to coach for Brian while training with one of the most decorated coaches in the history of swimming, Jon Urbanchek. Michael trained along side current and former Olympians and world record holders while preparing for 2012 Olympic Trials. At trials he swam the 100, 200, and 400 freestyle with a best finish of 15th place in the 200.
Michael returned to coach at TVSC in 2012, eager to share is diverse swimming knowledge and experience, and is currently studying to obtain his Masters degree in Secondary Math Education at Hofstra University.