Local swimmer Mark Cox has his eyes on the Olympics

By Tanner Nickalls

At just 15 years old, Huntsville High School (HHS) student, Mark Cox, is showing great promise in competitive swimming.

“The sense of achievement and the opportunities that swimming can create for me in the future are probably the most rewarding aspects of competing,” says the young athlete. “My biggest goal is to try and make it to the Olympics one day, because that represents everything I have worked towards.”

Cox is much closer to that goal than many would believe possible for someone his age. In his latest national event, he ranked within the top ten in his age group for all of Canada, in multiple events.

He began swimming with the Rocky Island Swim Club at seven years of age, where he not only found an enjoyable and challenging sport, but also a new group of friends and a sense of belonging.

Cox continued swimming with the Muskoka Aquatic Club (MUSAC), which practices using a mix of long-distance and intense swimming workouts, uses various equipment, and even has a dryland training portion, all of which helped him get to where he is today.

MUSAC played a major role in getting Cox further involved in swimming, and offered him many resources and assistance during his application process to the Ontario Swim Academy (OSA). He attends the elite training program — which is focused on “identifying and developing international podium potential” — part-time, spending every other week at HHS. In order to attend this prestigious specialty school, an athlete must have achieved OSA consideration times, and successfully pass an interview and trial process. The academy is a government-funded initiative, and offers physicians, tutors, individual coaching, and balanced nutrition plans for the elite young athletes. “It’s pretty crazy that I’m swimming this much, let alone going to a completely different school for it,” says Cox.

His advice to anyone looking to become involved in competitive swimming, or any sport for that matter: “get as involved as you possibly can and really commit yourself completely.”

A strong practitioner of his own advice, Mark continues to train daily and hopes to one day represent not only Huntsville, but all of Canada in the Olympics.

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