Meet the Bearcat Masters Coaching Staff

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 - Level 2 ASCA Certified Coach (American Swimming Coaches Association)   
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 started his coaching career in 1999 and has experience coaching several masters and high school swim teams in New York City.  Joel holds a bachelors degree in economics with a minor in psychology from Baruch College (CUNY), where he was a founding member of the college swim team and is currently a board member of the Baruch Young Alumni Network (BYAN). Outside of the pool Joel works a real estate broker, for LandSeAir Real Estate Group, Inc., a boutique residential real estate 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 1993-1995 and NYC Marlins from 1995-1998.  He was the 1997 YWCA National Champion in the 200 breaststroke.  Shawn graduated from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY where he swam for four years and broke eight school records throughout his career and is a current USMS National Record Holder.  He recently graduated from Fordham University with an MBA in Finance and Marketing.  

Christine Hyjek
Chrsitine grew up swimming and teaching swim lessons in Southern California. She attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High school where she was a four time MVP winner and Junior Olympic champion. She went on to swim at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where she earned a BA in Psychology. As team captain at UCSD, she helped lead her team to back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005 and was a was a 400IM NCAA DII finalist in 2004. In 2005, she began coaching the freshman team at Scripps Ranch High School. Later that year, Christine moved on to coach the Wagner College swim team for two seasons, where she focused on the mid-distance free and stroke groups. While at Wagner, she earned an MBA. Christine has linked her passion with physical fitness and Wellness to her career trajectory. She currently lives and works in New York City working for a Corporate Wellness company and continues to swim and coach.

Liz Krams - Level 2 ASCA Certified Coach (American Swimming Coaches Association) 
Bio coming soon!

Angie Piguave - Level 2 ASCA Certified Coach (American Swimming Coaches Association)
Bio coming soon!

Elan Blumberg - Bio coming soon!

Igor Shoukhardin - Igor Shoukhardin, Ph.D. - Level 4 International ASCA Certified Coach (American Swimming Coaches Association)
Igor swam for the former USSR National Team from 1963 to 1966. Right after finishing his own competitive swimming and accomplishing Post-Graduate School of World’s oldest State Physical Education Institute n.a. P.F. Lesgaft (former Leningrad) in 1970 he started his coaching career.
As an Associate Professor of that Institute Igor kept coaching uninterrupted.
His students won 11 Olympic medals from Montreal-76, Moscow-80, and Barcelona-92. On top of that many medals were grabbed from World and European Championships and University games. In 1992 Igor was given the title of Honored Coach of the Russian Federation.
Since 1994 Igor continues coaching in New York. Twelve Towns YMCA (Brooklyn), Asphalt Green -1994-2005. In 2005 he founded the Swimming School and Team on Roosevelt Island (NY) which is still growing up, its young athletes successfully compete in Metro USS Meets.
As a Masters Coach Igor’s began his work in Asphalt Green. Further came Vanderbilt YMCA, Hydras, BearCats…
Igor lives in Brooklyn, has daughter - Anastassia,35 – grad of Baruch College and son -Ivan,19 – student of Stony Brook.
Bio coming soon!