Our Team
WHO are we?
We are an artistic swimming team, previously known as 'synchronized swimming'. Established in 2015 in San Jose, California, we train youth with cognitive and physical disabilities in our sport. Operating as a private team during the school year, we currently coach up to 15 swimmers, subject to the availability of our coaching staff every season. We are a very small inclusive team. Sometimes, swimmers wait as long as 2 to 3yrs to join our team. We look forward to expanding in the future.
WHAT do we do?
Our team is dedicated to inclusivity, welcoming youth athletes aged 6 and older with cognitive or physical disabilities. We provide coaching for transition from basic swimming to artistic swimming, but do not offer initial swim instruction. Applicants must possess fundamental swimming skills, be comfortable in deep water, and have an understanding of pool safety. Additionally, they should not exhibit uncontrolled behavioral issues that could be hazardous in or around the pool. Our training focuses on advanced swimming techniques for artistic swimming competition. We offer a beginner program which caters to younger swimmers who are new to artistic swimming, serving as a pre-competition, preparatory transition. The beginner program does allow for those wishing to compete in local, national and even international competitions, when they are capable. We offer six levels (TIERS) of artistic swimming progression tailored for athletes with disabilities, with long-term training development designed to excel at advanced levels. Our objective is to empower our swimmers to fulfill their aspirations of competing at higher-level competitions, including regional, state, national, and international competitions. Participation in local novice/intermediate competitions is part of our coaching for all swimmers, while long-term aspirations guide the selection of swimmers who wish to continue with our team each season and progress through the levels (TIERS 1 through 6). We occasionally accept non-disabled swimmers who wish to swim in a duet (mixed ability) category at competitions. The non-disabled swimmers have experience from another team or swim team and must be willing to train with an athlete with a disability.
WHY we DO what we do...
Over the years, it has been observed that swimmers with disabilities and impairments have fewer opportunities with community swim teams and other mainstream sports. Athletes with disabilities/impairments often struggle to progress in sports unless they already possess advanced skills, such as speed swimming, water polo, etc. Our focus is on artistic swimming, and we have seen our long-term athletes successfully join high school and collegiate water polo and competitive swim teams, with some moving on to Paralympic Swimming. We are committed to helping young swimmers who wish to incorporate artistic swimming or other water sports into their lifelong physical activities. While not every swimmer will reach professional levels—approximately 5% of non-disabled athletes do, and even fewer athletes with disabilities achieve this—so we take pride in making a difference in the lives of young people with disabilities/impairments by teaching them with skills that benefit their daily lives through our team program. Currently, we do not provide masters training, but we do coach young adult swimmers with disabilities/impairments, with certain exceptions. Older adults with disabilities may find opportunities with artistic swim teams that offer Masters programs. For more information on Masters swimming, please visit the USA Artistic Swimming website at: www.usaartisticswim.org
