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Mona
Nyheim-Canales - Director of Age Group
Development.
Mona comes to this role with over
19 years of coaching experience. She has worked with swimmers of
all ages over the years serving as head age coach at the Dallas
Mustangs and in a similar role for City of Plano. She and her
husband also coached their own club before coming to the University
of Michigan. Mona has two masters degrees: one in Sport Psychology
and another in Exercise Physiology.
Raised in Bergen,
Norway, Coach Mona started swimming at the age of 7. She started
competing on an international level at the age of 13 and was on the
Norweigan National Swim Team. "Swimming gave me a
great deal as an athlete," Coach Mona says, "so it feels good to
contribute to the future of swimming by working with age group
swimmers. I really enjoy watching the growth and change in the
swimmers as they mature and reach their goals both in and out of
the pool."
Mona joined the coaching
staff in 2006, when her husband, Fernando
Canales, moved to Ann Arbor to be an
assistant coach for the University of Michigan Men’s
Swim Team. In addition to her age group coaching duties with
Club Wolverine. Mona also worked with former U-M men’s
coach Bob Bowman as an administrative assistant. Fernando and
Mona also assisted Bowman, who was the former CW High Performance
Coach, training athletes in the High Performance program leading up
to the 2008 Olympics. Many of the older swimmers, including
Michael Phelps, see Mona as a substitute mom or supportive friend
and count on her support. Age group swimmers enjoy seeing
Fernando’s framed swim cap up on the wall at Canham.
Fernando went to the Olympics in 1976, 1980 and
1984, representing Puerto Rico, and was also a swimmer at
the U-M. Both Mona and Fernando remain diehard Wolverine
fans.
Before coming to Ann Arbor, Mona was the head
coach of the Women’s Swim team at the University of
North Texas for four years. She was also an age group
coach for a club in Denton, Texas. Mona and Fernando founded
and ran that age group program for three years. Before that,
they also coached together at another age group program in Plano
Texas for three years. From the Plano program, Mona and
Fernando coached many athletes who reached high levels, including
the Olympic Trials and Senior national level competition.
Mona was also a head age group coach for three years in
Dallas, where she worked with state level and junior national level
swimmers.
As a coach over the
past 20 years, Mona has seen swimmers at all different levels reach
goals through hard work and combatting mental obstacles.
Coach Mona has an extensive background in sports psychology
and exercise physiology. She has a master’s degree in
both fields and did the lion’s share of work toward a
doctorate in sports psychology, stopping to devote more time to
taking care of her two young sons. Mona’s background in
both psychology and exercise physiology is a strong influence on
her coaching style, which has been a benefit to many CW
swimmers.
Throughout her coaching, Mona has found a way to
support and stay interested in kids at all levels of the training
continuum. In her first year with the age group program, she
worked with the Senior-level atheltes, while also coaching high
performance swimmers with Coach Bowman. But Mona has also
worked with CW’s developmental program, now called the Local
Program and age group athletes. Mona’s skills are
versatile and her spirit and enthusiasm shines
through.
One of the things Mona likes best about coaching
is working with swimmers to try something new, or master a skill
with which they struggled. The hardest part of coaching for
Mona is seeing kids who are unhappy, despite the best efforts by
parents to be supportive or coaches to help find a solution to
their frustration.
Mona lives in Ann Arbor with her husband
Fernando, who now works in the U-M athletic department. She
does not have any pets, but has two active sons, Thor and
Francisco, who both play many sports and enjoy elementary
school. Mona enjoys painting, sewing and baking. She also
appreciates good food and is a fan of Mexican dishes, smoked salmon
from Monahan’s in Kerrytown, chocolate and ice cream.
(AP Photo/Carlos
Osorio)
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