Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Winter 2011/2012 | Page 37

FEATURE
skills, training hard, and having fun while

Female Para-Swimmer of the Year in 2008. She

Stephanie had a friend who loved being an

competed with able-bodied swimmers at both

au pair and she thought it was something she

recognizing the uniqueness of each swimmer

the Canada West and Canadian Interuniversity

would like to try. She also admits that there

are the cornerstones of this competitive

championships. In 2009 at the International

are times in her life when she must appreciate

swimming program, which could not be more

Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Short Course

that her disability might affect her lifestyle.

perfect for Stephanie.

Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Stephanie

“I was curious to see if I would experience

smashed the world record in the women’s

any difficulties taking care of a child,” she

in her new role is to teach these young

S9 400m freestyle and the 100m backstroke.

says, “as one day, I hope to become a parent.”

swimmers about humility. “Part of being

Right up until the 2010 IPC Swimming World

Stephanie was looking for a short-term

successful is to know when you need help

Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands,

placement so, armed with some Spanish

and to ask for it,” says Stephanie. “People are

Stephanie participated in Paralympic and World

she had learned in school, Stephanie found

raised to believe it is a dog-eat-dog world

Championship events all over the globe and

herself a temporary job as the au pair to a

and that asking for help is a weakness. It is

you would be hard-pressed to read a story

2½ year-old girl in Spain whose parents

just the opposite – it is a strength.”

about disabled swimmers without Stephanie’s

wanted their daughter to learn more English.

name coming up and her brilliantly smiling face
beaming from the newspaper pages.
That beaming face has also become one

Like anyone going into a brand new
situation, Stephanie had trepidation. Her

One of Stephanie’s personal missions

Stephanie is also continuing to push
herself to go outside of her comfort zone.
She believes that we stop growing as soon as

biggest fears revolved around her ability to

of the symbols of Canada’s participation in

respond to an emergency. “I had the fear

Paralympics sports. In one Canadian Paralympic

that if she ran out onto the road, if I was

Committee poster, though, Stephanie is

wearing my prosthetic, I would have hands

anything but beaming. In the ad, she is seen

free to grab her, but I would not be quick

looking especially fierce and the copy reads,

to get to her. If I had my crutches, I'd be

“She doesn’t want your sympathy. But her

fast, but I would not have free hands,” she

opponents might.” When asked which is the

remembers. But it all worked out beautifully

real Stephanie — the beaming smile or the fierce

and Stephanie had a wonderful break from

expression — she admits that even under intense

the pool.

pressure, behind that serious face is a smiling
person who can’t really believe she is able to
participate in these great adventures.

Life outside of swimming...
maybe later
It was not too long before the call of the

Life outside of swimming...
yes, really

swimming pool once again became too

So, what does any red-blooded Canadian

mother moved to Whitehorse, Yukon, and

swimmer who is at the top of her game and

while Stephanie was visiting, she was asked

living life immersed in a swimming pool

by the local swim club, the Whitehorse

do next? Well, become an au pair in Spain

Glacier Bears, to work with some swimmers.

of course. For the last 15 years of her life,

As Stephanie says, she jumped in foot first,

Stephanie had seen herself as a swimmer

and has not looked back. What started as

first, second and third. “I was the centre of

a vacation has now become a new chapter

my own world for so long,” she says. “I was

in Stepha