Head Coach and CEO of Thunder Coast Aquatics.  TCA was founded in Winter of 2020 with the help of an experienced and talented core group of coaches.  Tom has been coaching swimming for nearly 30 years, the last 25 as a USA Club coach.  During that time, Tom has coached all levels of athletes helping to reach personal goals and attain the highest level of success.  Tom is the primary Senior Gold Coach and secondary Senior Blue Coach
 

Victor has spent the last 24 years coaching Division 1 Swimming.  He led the University of Hawaii men's and women's swimming program for the last 10 seasons. Before Hawaii he had stops at SJSU, ASU, UCSB, and the University of Illinois. He also spent time coaching the Senior Group at West Coast Aquatics and DeAnza/Cupertino Aquatics. Coach Wales has produced athletes at every level of swimming success, including: multiple Olympians, NCAA All-Americans, National and U.S. Open Champions, Olympic Trials, Senior and Junior National Qualifiers.  Victor grew up in Daly City, went to S.I., and swam for UCSB. He was a 4x Junior National Champion, Senior National Qualifier, NCAA All-American, and competed at the 1988 and 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials. His wife Miniver grew up in Marin and is a teacher at Marin Montessori School. Victor and Miniver live in Novato with their 3 children: Ethan, Chloe, and Lily.

Eric Whitten has been coaching swimming in the Bay Area since 1984. Before returning to Pirates he was the head coach of the YMCA Pacific Aquatic Club (YPAC) and before that he coached Marin Academy. He was the founder and head coach of Sequoia Aquatics and in the 1990s he was the Head Coach of Indian Valley Aquatics. In those years Eric coached an Olympian and many nationally ranked swimmers, including a Pacific Swimming record holder, Far Western meet record holder and a number one ranked swimmer in the girls 11-12 200 meters and 100 meters breaststroke. He's coached North Coast Section High School Champions, Marin County Athletic League record holders, Far Western champions and winners of Division I college scholarships.  Eric grew up in San Anselmo and received a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies at Yale University. He has two Masters degrees, one in American History from the University of Rochester and one in Painting from the Academy of Art in San Francisco.  In addition to coaching he is a professional artist. He lives in Point Reyes Station with his wife Christine and their three children Audrey, Kathryn and Zachary.

Sarah has been in the aquatics field for 28 years in various postions, coaching for the past 23 years.  Sarah began her coaching career with Tom in 1999 with Rolling Hills Stingrays.  Sarah the head coach for San Marin High School as well as Novato Riptide. She has been fortunate to coach all age groups.  Sarah's full time job is with the College of Marin, as a program coodrinator. Sarah is orginally from Denver, but Marin has been her home for a long time.   Sarah's daughter Kellie gradutated from TLHS (her alma mater) in June of 2019. Kellie is loving building her life in Santa Barbara.  

Mike originally hails from Charlotte, NC.  He was a 7-time All-American at the University of Southern California, where he holds top ten times in both the 100 and 200 Fly. In fact, his USC record in the 200 Fly stood for two decades, falling only in 2015. Mike competed twice in the Olympic Trials, in 1992 and 1996.  He placed 3rd in 1992, missing an Olympic berth by just 0.02 seconds! Mike also competed and medaled at the Pan Am Games, the Pan Pacific Games, and the Summer Universiade Games. You can read more about Mike’s stellar swimming history at his  Wikipedia page. After a successful tenure in commercial real estate, Mike left the corporate world to follow his passion for swimming. Mike is the Head Coach for Lucas Valley Lightening.Mike sums up his approach this way: "I believe that having fun and keeping a good mindset will help kids swim fast.  Starting with the youngest swimmers, I want to instill great technique and the joy of swimming so they can grow to be confident and strong swimmers. I believe that the team is a big family, and will strive to instill that in every swimmer so it becomes a permanent staple for the community. Practices will be challenging, but will still be fun!"Mike is married to Erika, and they have three boys--Chase (18), Cooper (15), and Brody (12). When he is not coaching, he enjoys spending time with the family and attending Warrior games.

Sean has been swimming under Tom for 8 years.  He volunteered through TCA to teach swim lessons during the summer of 2021.  Sean graduated from San Marin and is currently majoring in Nursing at the College of Marin.  Sean coaches our Thunderbolts 3 group. 

Morgan has been a pool and open water swim coach for 15 years. She coached the Piedmont Swim Team, Berkeley High School Swim Team, UC Berkeley’s Master’s Program and created swim programs for Pixar Animation Studios and the Berkeley Tennis Club.   She has offered open water training in the Bay, and Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge swim crossings.  Morgan was part of the US National Open water team and spent 5 years on the FINA World Cup Pro Series for Open Water Marathon Swimming where she was ranked in the top 4 women.  In addition, she swam the 21mile Catalina Channel and won the 28.2mile race around Manhattan Island, NY.  Morgan grew up in the D.C. area, went to Colby College and currently lives in Petaluma with her husband Tom and their 2 girls, ages 6 and 9 who love the water.  When not coaching or parenting, she loves to surf and is soon to launch an exercise-meets-fashion swimsuit company.

Coach Richard is in his thirtieth year of coaching having developed top flight swimmers in UK ,Sweden getting a number of swimmers on junior national and senior national teams in those countries as well as D1 college placements before moving to the US in 2013. After coaching at San Domenico Coach Richard became head coach at Rolling hills club for their successful recreation league team and USA swimming team. Holding coaching qualifications in three countries and having worked alongside coaches from many countries and backgrounds he is dedicated to the engagement, fun and development of
the sport of swimming for young people. Promoting evidence based coaching as well as inclusive practices for young people of all backgrounds is his philosophy. When not on deck Coach Richard can be found looking after baby Lily or on two wheels somewhere in the north bay. Two little known facts about Coach. He speaks fluent Swedish and fluent Geordie his native tongue ( A North East English dialect from Newcastle area. )

Jeremy Engman is the Aquatics Director for Active Wellness Center, Petaluma as well as Soma Aquatics Foundation in Marin County, CA.  Jeremy comes to us with over 15 years of competitive swimming and coaching experience with USA Swimming, US Masters, Rec. Swim Leagues and USA Water polo.  He has a BA in Ethnic Studies with select studies in Chinese Medicine.  He is also an Instructor with the American Red Cross. Jeremy stays active farming, hiking and wakeboarding and non-stop shenanigans with his 2 children Jaden and Alejandro.