Sheilagh Croxon never set out to become a world-renowned synchronized swimming coach and advocate for female participation in coaching programs.

Growing up in Scarborough as the middle child between two brothers, Sheilagh was the original “water baby”. By the time she was ten she switched from speed swimming to synchronized swimming, where she discovered a passion that would last a lifetime!

Sheilagh’s synchro career began with the Aquamaids in Leaside, but really took off when she started training at Etobicoke’s Olympium. By the time she was 18, Sheilagh had discovered that training other people was more fulfilling to her than competing. She began to coach at Olympium, working with girls just a few years younger than she was while continuing her university studies.

In just a short time, Sheilagh’s swimmers began to win national titles. After formalizing her coaches training through the Coaching Association of Canada, Sheilagh returned to Olympium to help build its synchro program into one of national prominence.

There was no stopping her…in her mid-twenties, Sheilagh was appointed the head coach of Canada’s National Junior Team. And in 1996, Sheilagh coached the Canadian Olympic synchro team to a silver medal finish in Atlanta. Four years later, Sheilagh became coach and choreographer for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where her swimmers captured a bronze medal.

By then, Sheilagh was also synchronized with her home team, including her husband Jean Constantin, son Nicolas and daughter Natalie. She stepped down as a coach in 2002 after the birth of daughter Marley, now seven and in Grade 2 at Etobicoke’s Millwood Public School.

In 2007, Sheilagh returned to coaching at the grassroots level, and in her two years at the helm of the Granite Club Synchro team, she has led the club to unprecedented provincial and national success.

Today, Sheilagh’s coaching expertise is sought by synchro organizations and clubs all over the world. She is a passionate advocate for female participation in the coaching profession and currently acts as a consultant to the Coaching Association of Canada, working to increase the number of women coaches in Canada.