Karen Pratz of the Ocean City Recreation Department at the Ocean City Aquatics and Fitness Center in New Jersey runs a fantastic Special Olympics swimming program with the Stingrays.

To the best of our knowledge, Karen had the first Pool Open Water (POW) workout for Special Olympics athletes with the Stingrays yesterday.

“We had an awesome time with the POW workouts,” said Bruckner Chase of the Ocean City Swim Club who donated the turn buoys for the workout. “The athletes really did well and enjoyed themselves.” The workout consisted of a warm-up with left-shoulder turn loops and right-shoulder turn loops, went through a variety of drills and ended in relays with all the athletes feeling comfortable about open water swimming.

“What a great night,” summarized Karen. “I can’t wait to do this myself. I am always looking to do something different and the athletes absolutely loved it!.”

One of the athletes, Alison Soifer, said of the (POW Workout, “I had a great time at swimming tonight. I got the whole idea about why we were doing POW. Thanks for the ribbons.”

With the 2011 World Summer Games offering a 1.5K open water swim and athletes from numerous countries already entered and getting prepared, Karen and her crew are heading in the right direction.

For more examples, videos and information on Pool Open Water swimming (Pool Open Water), visit here.

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