Under the leadership of Kester Edwards and coaches like Penny McDowall of the Cayman Islands and Rudsel Maria of Curaçao, the aquatic discipline of open water swimming is growing worldwide in the Special Olympics community.

Rudsel Maria is exemplary, guiding his athletes for local Special Olympics open water swimming events and international competitions from Curacao to Greece. McDowall has been taking her local swimmers and doing the same.

“We have identified 266 Special Olympics athletes worldwide from 40 countries who have done local open water swims,” explained Edwards. “And we have only begun to scratch the surface of all the Special Olympics athletes who do open water swims at the local and regional levels. We know our athletes are doing open water swims, but they have yet to be identified. New coaches and athletes are beginning to ask questions. We have a comprehensive, interactive online coaching manual that is very well-received.”

Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source