Special Mermaids: Synchronized Swimmers With Down Syndrome

Meet the Special Mermaids, an award-winning team of synchronized swimmers with Down syndrome. ️

Transcript

00:00They have a different condition, but they are people like everyone else.

00:16Sirenas Especiales was born as a thesis project where the goal was to put together a sport

00:23as beautiful and complex as synchronized swimming and the psychological benefits that it could

00:28give a population.

00:29I searched, I found that the population of people with Down syndrome are incredibly

00:36creative, they really like music and they have a lot of flexibility.

00:42So I said, well, let's take advantage of that in a sport like this and let's work

00:47on cognitive processes such as short-term memory, learning, concentration and attention.

00:58A training of Sirenas Especiales is really very similar to a training of a regular team

01:13because the girls do water work, they do strength, they do specific work, they do routines and

01:22then they come out of the water and do floor work, they do strength and they do flexibility.

01:29They do this three to four times a week for two or three hours, depending on the number

01:36of events we have.

01:37When we have Sirenas Especiales in synchronized swimming, she has matured a lot, she has become

02:06more coordinated, she has supported her in language, independence, being totally independent,

02:19being more capable and taking care of her person.

02:23What you should know about the girls who have different abilities, such as Down syndrome,

02:31that they are too intelligent girls, they are very capable, they are everything and they can do everything.

02:46It is that intensity with which they swim, that feeling that I think has given them so many

02:52triumphs, because they want to win, but it is not that they always want to win and they

02:57go after the medal, but what they want to do, and they tell you, is that they want to

03:02swim very beautiful to show their families and friends how well they can do a routine.