New Coaches and Athletes join Synchro Canada’s Regional Training Centre in Toronto, Ontario

The second year of Synchro Canada’s Regional Training Centre (RTC) is underway in Toronto, Ontario. The Centre, a new model in high performance development, opened last September at the Toronto Pan Am SportCentre (TPASC) pool.

Leading the coaching team for a second year as Head Coach is Jennifer Koptie. Also back for a second year is Assistant Coach Manny Wu. Katie Hammond, Julia MacLean, Maude Pelchat and Debra Thomson join this group as Support Coaches and Kristin McCoy as Manager.

“We are so excited to be into our sophomore year at the RTC,” stated Head Coach Koptie. “With an incredible coaching staff and a world class IST, the sky is the limit! Our RTC athletes had fantastic international results over the summer and we are looking forward to continued success.”

A collaborative effort between Synchro Canada, Synchro Swim Ontario (SSO) and the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO), the RTC is managed by an oversight team that includes Sheilagh Croxon, High Performance Technical Lead for SSO, and James Cunningham, the HP Athlete Development Advisor for the CSIO. RTC-Ontario provides athletes with a high performance coaching team, world class facilities as well as an enhanced daily training environment including access to Integrated Support Team (IST) services provided by sport scientists and sport medical experts.

The Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, which provides funds for the Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative (OHPSI) and the Coaches Association of Ontario (CAO), which provides salary support through Quest for Gold, are also important partners of the program.

“We are excited to move into the second year of this collaborative partnership which is so critical to our High Performance Athlete Development strategy,” said Jadine Cleary, Domestic Technical Director, Synchro Canada. “The synergy of bringing together our talented next generation of athletes at this stage in their progress with excellent coaching, facilities and support services will support developing world-class athletes who will move on to our national and international stage. This is the model that we hope to continue developing with our provincial partners across Canada.”

According to the Senior National Team Head Coach Meng Chen, the success of the first year of the program is evident. “We have already started to see a stronger technical alignment between the Regional Training Centre, and the Centre of Excellence in Montreal where our national team trains. This type of collaboration is so important to developing more athletes to compete with the best in the world at the international level.”

Twelve athletes have returned from 2015-2016, and they are joined by 5 promising athletes who will form the 17-member 2016-2017 cohort.