Now, POW has spread to the West Coast under the leadership of Christine Wilson, Director of Special Events, Special Olympics Northern California.
“Yesterday, we held a Pool Open Water swim at the Special Olympics practice in Marin County. I worked with a wonderful coach, Richard Ellis who is the coach of Tiburon Milers Sam Silver and Jeffrey Peterman, and Glenda Carroll, chair person for Open Water Swimming for Pacific Masters Swimming, to set up the POW workout.”
“I could not be happier with how the athletes took to POW. Sam and Jeffrey were thrilled with being able to show off their skills.
The other athletes wanted to try it out and did fantastic. All were very excited to try something new and had a great time.”
“We were limited to space, but we set up the two buoys in the deep end of the pool at a diagonal so the athletes were not far from the wall in case they tired. But the athletes just kept going and did not want to stop until we had them take a break. We had the athletes go around the buoys on both sides so they could get the most out of the exercise.”
Richard was equally happy with the first POW workout for Special Olympics athletes west of the Rockies, “I know everyone who participated really enjoyed it. I was amazed at the endurance and enthusiasm of our swimmers.”
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.