The past few months have been very exciting for me in synchronized swimming. It began last winter when Synchro Canada received a letter from Japan Synchro requesting to have me give a performance at their 15 th Annual Synchronize Swimming Festival for Athletes with Disabilities in Kyoto , Japan . Members of Japan Synchro had been ...

to Canada earlier in the year to learn about our synchro program for disabled athletes, at which time I had demonstrated my routine for them and they were pleased with what they saw. So in May I was off to Japan to be part of their festival. I discovered that their program for disabled athletes was huge – with over 300 athletes participating in the festival, half of whom had a disability. Their approach to synchro for athletes with disabilities was much more integrated and recreation based. It was a wonderful learning experience as we learnt how we might get more disabled athletes involved here in Canada , and they learnt how they might make their program more competitive in Japan . Their hospitality was unimaginable and I left with many amazing memories of Japan and its people.

Upon our return home, with a grant from the Millennium Foundation and the Stacy Levitt Women in Sports Scholarship, I worked with Synchro Canada over the summer to promote synchro for athletes with disabilities here in Ontario. We put together a 3 minute video highlighting the possibilities for disabled athletes and sent off information packages to over a dozen children's rehab centers in Ontario and Quebec . We hope that this increase in awareness will soon start to mean a higher number of disabled athletes joining synchro. As a result of our participation in the Japanese festival, we have recently heard from synchro officials in Italy , inviting us to their event in June 2007. This is definitely an exciting time for athletes with disabilities in synchro and I am so happy to be back swimming with Markham Synchro this year where I know we can put together a great routine!

Markham is proud to offer synchronized swimming programs for athletes with both cognitive and physical disabilities.  Please contact us for further information!