Design of a Swim Bench for the Penguins Can Fly Swim Club

The Penguins Can Fly Swim Club was started at the Kingston YMCA by Vicki Keith, a former marathon swimmer. The Penguins Can Fly Aquatic Club is a team for children with physical disabilities and their able-bodied siblings. Since its inception in 2001, the Kingston Y Penguins have grown to over 30 swimmers, all who began as non- swimmers and have now developed to the competitive level. In 2003, The Y Penguins had their 1st athlete qualify at the Provincial level. Since then, the Y Penguins have had 4 athletes qualify and compete at a number of Provincial and National level meets.

The purpose of this project is to design a swim bench for the Kingston Penguins Can Fly Aquatic Team. A swim bench is a piece of training equipment used by swimmers to improve their stroke and increase their strength, endurance and power. There are many commercial swim benches available; however they are quite expensive and fairly generic. Furthermore, current swim benches do not accommodate young athletes with physical disabilities.  Students completing this project were responsible for designing a portable, adaptable swim bench fit for the needs of the members of the Penguins Can Fly Swim Club.  Some teams built upon the previous term’s design.

Here are links to posters students created during the project:

Group 152 #1

Group 152 B