Ontario Artistic Swimming is excited to announce the coaching staff for the 2025 11-12 and Youth Provincial Team program. These coaches, representing 7 different Ontario clubs will lead our Provincial Teams to the SYNC Invitational in Alberta, Canada this July. Bios and head shots of our coaches can be found below. Let’s Go Team O!
Youth Performance Team
Lead Coach: Manny Wu
Manny has over 20 years of artistic swimming experience, both as a national level swimmer in China and a coach. She retired after participating at the 2004 Olympic Games as an athlete and started coaching in Canada in 2008. Manny is the coach of the 2014 and 2015 Canadian National Junior Team Champions, and she has experience as a head coach and assistant coach in clubs, Regional Training Centre-Ontario, Ontario Provincial Teams, and Canada 13-15 and Junior National Teams. Manny has graduated from UBC Masters of High Performance and Technical Leadership.
Assistant Coach: Julia Thornton
Julia is excited to be working with the Youth Performance team this summer. She brings more than 10 years of coaching experience, is Comp Dev certified and a provincial tech controller. Julia has been a part of Team Ontario for the past four years, leading the 12u Performance team to gold placements at the SYNC competition in both 2022 and 2023, and helped secure a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Championships.
Her expertise extends to working with Junior Team Ontario, where she contributed to the team’s third-place finish at the 2024 Pan American Championships. Julia’s coaching philosophy is rooted in trust, teamwork, and positive goal achievement. She believes coaching is not just about teaching skills and techniques—it’s about fostering meaningful relationships built on trust and mutual respect. By nurturing these relationships, Julia encourages her athletes to believe in themselves, challenge their limits, and reach new heights of performance.
Youth Development Team
Lead Coach: Sherry Riley
Sherry has been with Ignite Artistic Swimming Club since 2015, as the High Performance Lead coach working with both Provincial and National athletes. This season Sherry has also joined the coaching staff at Mississauga Artistic Swimming Club, working with Junior Provincial and Senior National soloists. Sherry’s coaching philosophy is to develop the swimmer not just as an athlete but as a well rounded individual, by balancing intense physical training with mindful mental training. She believes the more ownership an athlete has over their training the more they can take pride in their achievements and learn from the failures that must take place to achieve ultimate success. Sherry is looking forward to joining Team O, working in collaboration with the amazing coaches, staff and athletes toward a successful season.
Assistant Coach: Selina Lee
I began my coaching journey many years ago and have seen many changes within the sport of artistic swimming over the past 50+ years of my involvement in the sport. My education journey brought me to Ontario, where I stayed connected to my sport through judging and coaching but coaching brought me joy and where I continued to gravitate to.
Throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to coach all ages, coach my own daughters and meet some amazing coaches, who I feel honoured to have worked and learned from. Eight years ago I returned to coaching on a more full time basis after a 10 year hiatus. WOW what changes had happened within the sport – but the basics are the basics and technical has always been my strength. I use my in depth knowledge of science and anatomy to create unique drills to assist athletes – drills unique to them – which I find inspiring as I must really dig into the “why”. My journey has led me to surround myself with experienced coaches who I learn a “golden nugget” from every practice – I am looking forward to learning from the 2025 Team O coaching staff.
12U Performance Team
Lead Coach: Evelyn Young
Evelyn is very excited to be part of the Ontario Provincial Team program this summer to lead the Team Ontario 12U program and coach the 12U performance team. She has been involved with artistic swimming for over 15 years as an athlete and coach and is a Competition Development Certified Coach and OAS technical controller. This will be Evelyn’s fourth year on the OAS Provincial Team staff. In the past 3 years she has been assistant coach to the Junior team, 11-12 Performance Team and Youth Performance team, helping to guide Team Ontario athletes to multiple podium finishes at SYNC and Pan Am Championships. The past two seasons Evelyn assisted with the OAS T2T program coaching 12 and under athletes from across the province.
Over her coaching career Evelyn has worked with athletes across a variety of programs, age groups and levels from intro to masters. She currently coaches for Granite Artistic Swimming Club where her focus this year is on the Junior high-performance program as well as 12u extra routines. Evelyn’s goal as a coach is to create an athlete-centred environment which encourages her swimmers to develop both as athletes and individuals. She is looking forward to this summer and working with Team Ontario athletes and coaches again!
Assistant Coach: Frederique Desjardins
Freddy has coached athletes of all ages with various skill levels at Go Capital Artistic Swimming Club, over the past 6 years. She has been an artistic swimmer for the past 13 years, and currently swims at the CUASL level. Last summer, she assisted Ontario’s 11-12 performance team to a silver medal finish at the Pan Am games in Lima, Peru.
Outside of the pool deck, she studies at Carleton University, working towards a career in psychotherapy. Over the years, coaching has grown to become one of her greatest passions, striving to create a positive and uplifting experience for all. When it comes to her coaching philosophy, she believes that the only way to achieve your goals is by giving it your all, which all starts with the proper mindset and environment. Freddy is so excited to work with some of OAS’ most experienced coaches and continue to grown her coaching knowledge. She is also looking forward to help create an unforgettable experience this summer, where athletes can look forward to surpassing the goals they set for themselves while creating long lasting memories!
12U Development Team
Lead Coach: Gillian King
Gillian is so excited to be returning to the 12U development team this summer! She has been coaching for over ten years and is currently the head coach at Nepean Artistic Swim Club and over her coaching career, she has coached athletes in every age category! She has a masters degree in Mental Performance from the University of Ottawa and her coaching philosophy is that success is created by a process of hard work, including a combination of athletes giving their best every day and coaches giving the support and trust that the athletes need to grow.
This will be Gillian’s third summer with Team Ontario, previously being the assistant coach of the Youth development team and the lead coach of the 12U development team. She has also worked with Ontario’s Train to Train programs and facilitates coach courses at various levels. Gillian is excited to return to the Provincial Team program this summer and hopes it will be a challenging and positive experience for all of the athletes involved!
Assistant Coach: Hayley Waller
Hayley has been coaching for Ignite Artistic Swimming Club for the past 10 years, working with competitive and high-performance athletes of all ages and abilities. Hayley also works as Ignite’s Provincial Excellence Program Lead. Hayley’s coaching philosophy revolves around equitable athlete-centred training and ensuring all athletes are given what they need to succeed. She believes in promoting a growth mindset and taking each challenge as an opportunity for growth. Hayley is excited to join Team O and work with the 11-12 Development Team this summer.