NEW! Synchro Classes for swimmers of all abilities/special needs!
We are now offering exclusive synchronized swimming class for people (ages 8 and older) with disabilities and special needs, offered in the United States. The classes will be conducted in Northern (Los Gatos/San Jose areas) AND Southern California (LA and San Diego). Non disabled swimmers are welcomed and there will be a monthly tuition fee assessed for all swimmers. There may be limited scholarship/grant opportunities available.
The goal is to ultimately start a synchronized swim team just for athletes with disabilities. However, anyone (even non disabled) can join and in fact, the hope for next year would be to have full service teams adding (disabled/non disabled youth to adults) novice, intermediate, age group, masters and a water ballet troupe! The SS~AWD organization has agreed to host the team, 'Bay Area Synchro' (BAY) which will be a special coach driven team of soloists, duets and trios in the Northern California Bay area and Southern California. Over time, development of team routines may be practical.
In anticipation of introducing synchronized swimming as a Paralympic sport in 2018, the SS-AWD Board Chair Tina Boales, tells us, 'It would be great to train our own swimmers we find and identify, who would like to enjoy a life long, fun and exciting sport and train for paralympic games. Right now, there is no such club that can offer or will provide that long term. We will be the only and first one in the United States and hope that others will follow, just like Canada has established'. Tina says she is hopeful that there will be enough eager swimmers with disabilities who want something more exciting and challenging in a sport such as synchronized swimming. 'It would be great to have swimmers in mid America, and on the west/east coasts, incorporated in many existing synchro clubs or teams. The value of diversity and athletes with disabilities and special needs is just tremendous and a great, positive impact for any team or club. This is not new and many clubs have had or currently have synchro swimmers with disabilities/special needs. What is new is being able to train the swimmers specifically for regional, state, national, international competitions, disability exhibitions, and hopefully Paralympic Games, where at elite levels they can compete against like minded swimmers and abilities'.
The SS-AWD group has been speaking with other Northern and Southern California Synchro clubs to start up programs within their club/team structures, whether it be recreational or at a novice level to include the AWD synchro swimmers in their regular programs. We also encourage respite care, service clubs, etc with available pools and membership who have people with disabilities to host synchronized swimming camps and short sessions. The SS-AWD group is also looking for passionate people to become AWD Reps and/or Coaches in their respective States or areas so that we can expand the idea of training synchro swimmers with disabilities. This is all part of a grass roots efforts movement and the SS-AWD group has the support of the USA Synchronized Swimming Federation. We hope that we can find generous donors and grants so that we can ULTIMATLEY provide a FREE program for our athletes with disabilities/special needs. Monies donated would pay for the training, equipment and pool usage fees. If you can help in anyway, please let us know or donate on our website at www.synchroswimawd.org.
If you have any questions or interested in the classes, camps, or coaching, please send an email to: awdsynchro@gmail.com
Classes now starting for Northern California in the South Bay are on:
Tues/Tues, 4pm to 6pm OR
Sat or Sun, 1130am-230pm at local Los Gatos, Saratoga and San Jose Pools.
