Our Club
Sudbury Synchro Swim Club - Our History
The Sudbury Synchro Swim Club (SSSC) came into existence in September 2003. Prior to that time, the Club operated under the name of Sudbury Y Synchro. The YMCA ran a recreational Synchro program with the assistance of some of our coaches and the competitive program swam out of the Dow Pool in Copper Cliff. When the City closed the Dow Pool, the Club was forced to look at other deep water pool alternatives. Club members met with Laurentian University officials and arrangements were made at that time to create a new Club which would offer both recreational and competitive programming out of LU’s Jeno Thihanyi Olympic Gold Pool.
In our first year, coaches were organized and advertising began for recreational swimmers. By the end of the year we had a total five recreational teams that ran through either our fall, winter or spring session, one Tier 4 team, 1 Tier 5 duet and 1 Tier 9 AWD (Athlete with Disability) in our competitive program. In our very first year, our Tier 5 Duet of Lindsay Wandziak and Stephanie Westphal won gold at the Ontario Winter Games. We were a small Club compared to southern Ontario standards but our will to succeed and spirit proved stronger than most. SSSC continued to place extremely well at both Regional and provincial level competitions.
In September 2004 our recreational swimmers began to move up and new swimmers joined in to create our first Tier 1 team and the recreational program was revamped to include a full-year pre-competitive option. By 2006 the Club continued to grow and all started to take notice of Sudbury as the medals began to roll in at both Synchro Ontario’s Regional and Provincial Competitions; SSSC Tier 1 team comprised of eight girls under the age of 12 (Emmah Cacciotti, Jenny Fenton, Sarah Helms, Ruthie Nkut, Nikhita Mathur, Jenna Nicholls, Kayla Wandziak and Dana Yawney) placed first in the Region and again in the Province; Soloist Irina Cividino captured silver in Tier 6 at provincials and bronze in figures, Lindsay Wandziak and sister Chelsea captured silver in their Tier 6 Duet category with Lindsay receiving the 2006 Synchro Ontario figure championship trophy, Krystyn Derks took bronze for her Tier 9 (Athletes with Disabilities) solo performance and received gold in figures. Overall, Sudbury placed 6th out of more than 25 Ontario clubs at the final Provincial competition.
Long-time “Synchro parent”, Kim Wandziak noted at the time that keeping afloat with some of the much bigger clubs had a lot to do with the coaching, especially head coach Carrie Wilson. Wilson, a national-level coach, had been in charge since 2003 when she moved to Sudbury from Toronto. Coach Wilson noted that the 2006-2007 season marked the most success the club had seen since she joined. The Club had grown from seven competitive swimmers to 30, with 30 recreational swimmers during her tenure.
Today, our local Synchro club continues Sudbury’s tradition of producing top notch swimmers and offers young girls such amazing opportunities. “It is really quite incredible that we have such a win-win situation in Sudbury for our current and future Synchro athletes,” notes one amazed parent. “Not only are we blessed with the best possible type of deep-water facility to call home, but we continue to have access to great nationally and provincially ranked coaching staff. Our coaches and athletes are extremely well regarded in both provincial and National circles.”
While Carrie Wilson retired as Head Coach in 2010 she continues to reside in Sudbury, swims with SSSC Masters team and supports the Club in a consulting/mentoring capacity. Refer to Our Coaches’ section @ www.sudburysynchro.com for a list of our current coaches.
Synchronized swimming consists of fitness and strength challenges, beautiful choreography, music, exacting teamwork and is a whole lot of fun. Like any competitive sport the athletes require strong will to succeed, determination and commitment. This in turn produces young responsible members of society that know what it takes to succeed at whatever it is they take on in the future.
Current Club President marvels at how much potential the Club has. “We have the great coaches, we have the facility and we have a strong and committed Parent Advisory Group ready to grow this Club for the benefit of all our very lucky Sudbury and area girls.”