ISELIN, N.J. — Cyrus Kia slides into the last lane of a chlorine-smelling pool not far from Montgomery High School, where he is a junior, around 3 p.m. on a school day.
“Quick, quick, quick, quick!” shouts his swim coach, Fran Teetsel, from the sidelines. “Come on, Cyrus, straight ahead!” she continues, walking along the edge of the pool into the warm, airy space.
The lanky 17-year-old climbs out of the pool so Teetsel can correct his arm movement on dry land. She has autism and is also mostly nonverbal, due to his significant apraxia, but she has made progress in articulating some very common single-syllable words after years of speech therapy, his father said.
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Apraxia, which is a disorder of the brain and nervous system, is the inability to perform skilled movements, even if the person has the ability and desire to perform them. But Kia’s diagnostics do not prevent Teetsel from firmly correcting the swimmer.
“Is this clear?” she asks, dressed in a head-to-toe lime green suit, mimicking her previous movements. “No,” she replies, shaking her head a little.
“Is this clear?” he asks again, now fully extending his arms toward the ceiling in a vertical line. “Yes,” she says, nodding. She dives back into the water and begins a new lap.
This spring, Kia will swim three events for a chance to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris at the end of August. First she will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the Citi Para Swimming USA World Series on April 11-13.
Next, he plans to compete at the Bill Keating Cincinnati Para Swimming Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May. From there, he will head to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the 2024 US Paralympic Team Trials in June.
Not all swimmers are invited to tryouts in Minneapolis. Swimmers must complete minimum qualifying standards to participate, said Raman Kia, his father.
Kia received an official invitation to compete in the upcoming tests.
The path to making the United States Paralympic Team can be complicated, Raman Kia said. It is common for there to be multiple routes to earning a spot on the team, but it is also possible that swimmers can make it through the trials alone. The selection committee may also make discretionary decisions.
The competitions are a far cry from where the Somerset County teen started, when a scared 5-year-old took swimming lessons with his twin, Cameron, who was also diagnosed with autism. His parents enrolled them in swimming classes to prevent accidental drowning.
Drowning is a leading cause of death for children with autism, because many people with autism have an affinity for water, according to a Columbia University study. Children with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning compared to their neurotypical peers.
“It went from being pure terror that my son might drown, because he was so attracted to water, to, actually, I think it’s a German word,” said Jessica Kia, his mother, noting that she feels freudenfreude, the opposite. to schadenfreude. – which is joy for the joy of another person.
“As his mother, this is all a victory for me,” she continued. “After he was saved from drowning, this is pure, unbridled, absolute, unexpected joy for my son’s joy in finding something he loves.”
Raman Kia was more succinct in describing his son’s inclusion in a community and a sport he loves. He’s “amazing,” he said.
Kia didn’t always seem like a natural swimmer.
Both Kia and her twin received swimming lessons after a recommendation from their pediatric neurologist. Maximus Kia, the twins’ 14-year-old brother, also took swimming lessons as a child with Teetsel.
Kia loved the water and was naturally drawn to it – “I never met a body of water that this kid didn’t love,” as his father said – but his first swimming lesson with Teetsel was not promising at all.
“It was a brutal experience,” said Raman Kia, managing director of a consulting firm. “He grabbed and scratched Fran’s neck. “I literally think she left scars on his neck.”
That didn’t deter Teetsel.
The experience was difficult for Kia’s mother, who left the room, Raman Kia recalled. “But Fran was as poised and calm as a cucumber,” she said. “It was like it didn’t bother him at all.”
So the Kia family, who lives in the Belle Mead section of Montgomery Township, continued bringing their children to lessons, which gradually became longer for Kia.
But he didn’t get serious about swimming until the family was in Los Angeles in 2021, met a swimming instructor who works with children with autism and saw potential in him.
In the fall, when Kia was 15, she completed two days of tryouts at Montgomery High School and made the school’s varsity swim team. From there, her father tried to get him into a local US swim club as well, but she said many coaches saw his son’s autism diagnosis as a barrier.
Kia’s tryout times were fast enough for her to get into the different clubs, but she saw her invitation disappear once the coaches found out about her autism. He was “heartbreaking,” Raman Kia said.
Kia eventually landed at Scarlet Aquatics, a swim club associated with Rutgers University.
Now, Kia typically trains with coach Tom Speedling at the Piscataway Swim Club seven days a week, for nearly 16 hours a week. She also works with Teetsel four days a week, for one to two hours, at Princeton Fitness and Wellness in Montgomery.
Meanwhile, Kia also works out on dry land once a week at a nearby gym.
During practices, Teetsel uses hand signals, along with verbal instructions, to communicate with Kia. She often shows YouTube videos to demonstrate different techniques because Kia is a visual learner, she said. She also uses tools like pool noodles and water bottles.
At a recent practice, Teetsel gave a plastic water bottle to Kia, who lay on her back. She placed the bottle on her forehead and began swimming backstroke. The goal (preventing the bottle from falling into the pool) is designed to encourage Kia to rotate her body as she swims and not move her head.
“It’s not easy to do,” Teetsel said, laughing. “Katie Ledecky does this with a glass of milk,” she said, referring to the American swimmer who won seven Olympic gold medals.
Kia and her coach have worked together for so long that she considers her part of her family and the feeling is mutual. “It’s a pleasure to be here and accompany him on this journey,” Teetsel said. “I want to see him reach the top.”
Kia’s love of swimming is also clearly evident, he said.
“He’s always smiling,” she said, adding that he’s “the only person who can smile while swimming and not drown in the water.”
But not everyone has the same support and encouragement as Kia, noted her parents, who are also co-founders of a towel company.
It shouldn’t be an “extraordinary” request for parents to want their neurodivergent children to be safe in the water, said Jessica Kia, who previously oversaw Ralph Lauren’s marketing strategy for the 2012 Olympics.
Kia is an example for other young swimmers with autism who aspire to achieve what he has achieved, he said.
“We want little kids like Cyrus to look at people like Cyrus and say, I can do that, and they’re making space for people like me,” Jessica Kia said. “It’s okay for him to use headphones because he has sound sensitivity like me. It’s okay for him to flutter out of the pool, because when he gets in the pool, he’s a rocket and I can be like that.”
“We need the Michael Phelps of autism,” he continued, “so people can see themselves.”
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