OAS is pleased to announce the 3 coaches who will be the High Performance Provincial Coaches for the 2022-23 season. Lola Shnayder Mazour, Julia Thornton and Brooke Whitney are bringing their skills and experience to leading the in-pool programming for the HP Academy Program this season, as well as leading the Provincial Teams. These coaches were a key part of the success of the 2022 Provincial Team program, leading Ontario to capturing gold in 9 of 10 routine events and winning both figure events at the 2022 SYNC Invitational.
The continuity of leadership between the HP Academy and Provincial Team programs is a key part of OAS’ high performance strategy as we look to identify, develop and support Ontario athletes throughout the high performance pathway. We look forward to a great season with Lola, Julia and Brooke supporting our athletes. Bios for each of these coaches are below.
JULIA THORNTON
Julia is a NCCP Competition Development certified coach and has coached both provincially and nationally over the years. Currently, Julia works as a coach of the Durham Artistic Swimming Club 13-15 and Junior teams. In addition, she has acted as a technical expert within the L2T programs in the past. Julia was the Head Coach of the 11-12 Provincial Team which won gold in the team event at the 2022 SYNC Invitational in Edmonton, AB.
Aside from coaching, Julia is also involved in aquatics and is finishing her degree in psychology. Julia’s coaching philosophy is building and guiding her athletes to reach their highest potential, in and out of the pool. She strives to have a well balanced and structured training environment, full with positive goal achievements and happy athletes. She also believes in teamwork, amongst coaches and athletes.
LOLA SHNAYDER MAZOUR
Lola has been coaching Artistic Swimming for more than 20 years. Lola began her synchro career in Ukraine, former Soviet Union and competed to the Junior National Level. After her studies for Bachelor of Physical Education and Sport Science at the Wingate Institute, she established Synchro Club which became over the years one of the largest and most successful clubs in the country. Over the next 15 years, she was Head Coach of Ashdod Synchro Club and served as Israel National Team Coach at the Junior and Age Group levels.
Lola has been coaching at Olympium Artistic Swimming Club since 2016, in both High Performance and Competitive programs with Senior, Junior, 13-15’s, 12U athletes and Masters. Lola was the 2022 13-15 Provincial Team Assistant Coach, helping to guide Team Ontario to gold medals in solo, duet and team at the 2022 SYNC Invitational, as well as representing Canada at the 2022 FINA Youth World Championships. Lola is LEN(European) Judge certified since 1999, and FINA Judge certified since 2011. Her coaching philosophy is: “Aim high, Work smart”.
BROOKE WHITNEY
Brooke Whitney is a Competition Development NCCP Certified Coach, and currently works with GO Capital Artistic Swimming as the Lead Competitive coach, in addition to coaching their 13-15 High Performance program. Brooke has worked with Ontario Artistic Swimming’s T2T and L2T programs as a guest expert coach since 2016. She was involved in Ontario’s Provincial Teams program as an Assistant Coach in 2014 (10&Under) and 2016 (13-15). In the summer of 2016, she coached the Ontario-Quebec combined Combo that took home silver at UANA in Puerto Rico. In 2017, Brooke was the Head Coach of the 11-12 Provincial Team which won gold in Team, Duet and Solo at the SYNC Invitational in Edmonton.
In 2018 she was the Head Coach of the 13-15 Provincial Team which won gold in Team and Duet at the SYNC Invitational in Toronto, and also attended UANA in Riverside California. Brooke was the Head Coach of the 11-12 HP Team in 2019, winning gold in team and duet at the 2019 SYNC Invitational, and the silver medal in team at UANA. This past summer, Brooke was the Head Coach of the Junior Provincial Team which won gold in Technical Solo, Duet and Team and Free Solo and Team at the 2022 SYNC Invitational in Edmonton, AB.