Jim Willis was glued to the Olympic swimming trials on television last Sunday, but he wasn’t watching merely as a fan.

Willis, the former Canoe City Swim Club skipper and University of Maine standout who currently leads the Virgin Islands national team, is now an Olympic coach.

Willis found out last week – courtesy of a telephone call during his honeymoon in Canada – that he’ll be attending the Summer Games with George Gleason, a Virgin Islands national who swims for Yale University in the winter.

Gleason and Willis leave for Sydney around Sept. 9.

“It’s something you dream about. I’ve been coaching for 17 years and for the first 14 years I never thought of about [coaching in the Olympics], not until three years ago,” said Willis, who was in Maine for his wedding in Lucerne – scheduled in early August in case he had to be in Sydney in September.

Willis, a four-year letterman for the Black Bears and a Brockton, Mass. native, moved from the Bangor area to the Virgin Islands in 1998 to coach the St. Croix Dolphins, the largest swimming team in the chain of islands. Willis became the national team coach in 1999 and took the V.I. team to the prestigious Pan American Games last summer.

“I used to have a little experience at that level,” said Willis, who has also coached teams at YMCA national meets. “Now I guess I’ll have a lot more.”

Gleason was seventh in the 100-meter freestyle consolation heat at that meet, and Willis said he has steadily improved while swimming with the Elis.

Gleason has made the Olympic B cut – the required standard for countries that send one swimmer to the Games – in three events. He’ll swim the 100 free (his qualifying time is 51.70 seconds), 200-meter freestyle (1:54.70) and the 200 Individual Medley (2:09.00), but based on the top times around the world, the V.I. contingent would be satisfied if Gleason made it to the semifinals.

“If he made it through the prelims, we’d be extremely happy,” Willis said.

With Gleason not expected to reach the finals, Willis said he only has official duties during the morning preliminaries. That leaves the evenings free to see Sydney and possibly do some traveling.

Each country is allowed to send two swimmers, one male and one female, to the Games. Gleason is the only V.I. swimmer going – Willis said the only girls who are even close to qualifying are all 14 years old or younger, and he’d rather wait until they are more seasoned.

Willis said over the past year he’s seen the St. Croix team’s membership jump from 35 to about 60. He’s also hoping that a certain former Dolphin will make a monetary donation to the team.

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan swam for the Dolphins when he was a child living in St. Croix. When Hurricane Hugo blew through in 1989 and destroyed the team’s pool, Duncan and the rest of the squad were without a swimming program.

“We asked him for something last year but even though he was making all of that money [his advisors said] he didn’t have a lot.”