Last night (at the Manitoba Championships) swimming said good bye to one of its long standing members. Iga Ziendalski was on the competitive pool deck for the last time as a professional swim coach.
Iga started her swimming career in her native Poland where she graduated from the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw as a physical education teacher with a major as a swimming coach.
She started her club coaching in 1968 while a varsity swimmer for the Academy of Physical Education. Iga graduated in 1971 with master degree title and became a high school teacher while continuing to coach at the club level. In 1974 she accepted a position of the women's Head Coach at the University of Warsaw where she continued until her defection to Canada in 1981.
Initially living in Vancouver Iga and her family moved to Saskatoon in 1988 where she started to coach with the Saskatoon Goldfins. In 1994 Iga moved to Manitoba where she coached with four different swim clubs. Her stay in Winnipeg started with the Manta Swim Club and after her first year she coached for the Manitoba Marlins for over 8 years. From the Marlins Iga took on the Head Coaching position with the Flying Tigers for four years prior to her final stop at the University of Manitoba.
Eight years ago Iga was instrumental in the start of the University of Manitoba Bisons program where two of her young portages are now competing on the international junior stage. She has had a great impact on the swim coaching community by developing fast young swimmers as well as impacting them in a positive way as people…some of whom have already joined the coaching ranks.
Iga's passion and love of swimming will not only be missed by the Bisons but by the whole Canadian and Manitoba swim community. Iga thank you very much for your commitment to the sport of swimming and may your retirement be as stress free as you imagined.