AcquaPole sweeps the Nation!
A pool pole dancing video went viral in the United States last Fall and as a result, the AcquaPole Italy Company began making arrangements for a USA tour for 2016 to spread the fitness craze on the East and West Coasts. In April, the Club of Los Gatos was a 2 day tour stop for Acquapole to certify new instructors and to give Bay Area aqua fitness clients a chance at trying this very unique workout.
"After I saw the video, I sent it to my orthopedic surgeon and asked if this was safe and if she would recommend it". After discussing the benefits of water with certain tools to use for strength and conditioning, Tina Boales, who is also a coach for the new synchro team, Bay Area Synchro, decided to give it a go. With old injuries of her own and her experience with aquatics therapy, she figured that it would be beneficial for the synchro athletes with disabilities. She called Coach Katie Killebrew and got her all excited. 'WOW', let's do this, Coach Katie recalls saying when she saw the video. "This is a no brainer. This is what can develop our athletes and get them ready for synchronized swimming". Plus, when she did additional research, she found that her clients at the Club in Los Gatos would not only have fun with it, but would benefit greatly because of the resistance with the water.
It's been a great success in the past month and all of Coach Katie's classes have been full. The adapted synchronized swim program has had remarkable training sessions. Athletes with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, autism, down syndrome, brachial plexus injuries, etc have all used the AcquaPole and love it. "I've seen immediate results when teaching them synchro elements" said Coach Tina. "I am happy that we found this great tool. It is a tremendous asset to our synchro training program".
Besides being the only two certified Instructors in the South Bay of Northern California, Coach Tina and Coach Katie are the only coaches using Acquapole for adapted synchro training. Even their synchro swimmers without disabilities use the pole and wish that it could be a part of every synchro swimmer's conditioning. "It's pretty cool" says one of the Bay Area Synchro swimmers. "I like that I can get good, quick warm up using the same movement I would be doing in my routines". Well, kudos to AcquaPole for catching everyone's attention. By the way, the inventors/trainers are former synchronized swimmers, with one of them an active synchro coach in Italy. She told us that she was aware that the pole provided great benefits for people with injuries and disabilities but took a 2nd look when Tina Boales asked her about training athletes with disabilities for synchro. The goal now is to introduce it as part of adapted synchro training in Brazil, where the 2016 RIO games will take place. There will be a sports science conference during the break along with a Synchro AWD symposium. Great chance for AcquaPole to spread awareness amongst a larger population of Athletes participating in Paralympic Games. For more information about AcquaPole, visit: http://www.acquapole.com/en
