Burlington swim coaches Colleen Bent and Cody Bradt are helping potential paralympians make waves across Ontario and the world.
In September, the duo were honoured by Swim Ontario as coach of the year for male para athletes, and individually they won world class coach awards, given to coaches in Olympic and Paralympic stream – putting them in the top five globally for swim coaches.
“It was quite the event, it was quite the honour to receive those awards,” Bent said. “We had a great year.”
The two coaches work with swimmer Charlie Giammichele, a triplet born at 26 weeks and weighing only two pounds. As members of the Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club, the group trains in Burlington regularly. Giammichele got his start in the pool at Aldershot High School as well.
Giammichele also had a hemorrhage in his brain which led to hydrocephalus, a condition that has caused physical developmental delays.
“Colleen was my first coach,” Giammichele said. “We found out about para swimming when I was 12.”
Giammichele joined Bent and Bradt at Swim Ontario’s event, taking home the male para swimmer of the year award.
In usual athlete fashion, Giammichele found out he won on his way to practice.
“Just knowing all the work I’ve put in has paid off, I was really pleased with the results from throughout the year,” he said.
The pair of coaches and swimmer have been working towards Paralympic qualification, barely missing out on a spot at Paris 2024, but now have their eyes set on Los Angeles 2028.
At that time, Giammichele will be 22. He’s hoping to compete in butterfly and individual medley.
Para swimming is set into different classifications for the athletes, with Giammichele being classified as S7.
“This is different from some other athletes,” Bradt said. “For context, a lower limb amputee may swim in a sport class for freestyle and backstroke or butterfly, but for breaststroke, they can’t do that propulsion so it’s an uneven balance, they may be in a different class for breaststroke.”
Giammichele and Bent just returned from Australia, where they participated in a next generation camp for the Paralympics.
They spent five days training outside on the Sunshine Coast, near Brisbane. The pair trained twice a day, a bit more than the usual once per day the team is used to in Canada.
Up next, is the 2024 Ken Demchuck International Invitational in Markham, where Bradt will be a lead coach.