Alessa Darby doesn’t let obstacles stand in the way of her goals.
The 13-year-old from Midhurst was one of more than 700 athletes across 11 sports who competed in the Ontario Parasport Games in Niagara Falls earlier this month. And, despite her modesty, she swam her way to the top of the podium.
“I did pretty good. I got a couple of medals,” she told BarrieToday. “I got a first-place medal in 50(-metre) freestyle, and second place in 50(-metre) backstroke, and I got another first-place medal in relay."
A Grade 7 student in the French immersion program at Forest Hill Public School, Alessa has been swimming for most of her life, but began doing so competitively about five years ago after her parents signed her up for the Tiny Trojans program.
“She just liked it, and she said she wanted to do it competitively,” said her mom, Sarah. “It took her two tries to make the team, and once she made the team she started progressing.”
Born with cerebral palsy — specifically right-sided hemiplegia — which causes weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, as well as epilepsy, Alessa has refused to let her disability stop her from performing at a high level.
“I don’t really know my limitations. I usually just push through it and maybe modify it if I have to,” she said.
Alessa has hemiplegia, meaning she has low muscle tone on the right side of her body, which affects everything from her head to her toes, explained her mom.
“There is no cure for it and it is something she will have for her whole life. She needs to do constant therapy, which is why she started swimming in the first place,” Sarah said. “It was one thing for her to do therapy while having fun.”
Though she competes regularly and trains up to eight hours a week, swimming is still something that is fun. And being in the water simply makes Alessa happy.
“The swimming community is just always really nice and really encouraging. And, it’s really fun,” she said, telling BarrieToday her favourite style of swimming is front crawl while her least favourite is the butterfly.
Since starting with the Barrie Trojan Swim Club, Alessa and her family have been learning as much as they can about what it takes to swim in the parasport world.
Sarah told BarrieToday that as they learned what Alessa needed to compete as a para-athlete, they began obtaining appropriate classifications.
This recent event in Niagara Falls was also the first time in approximately two decades that swimming has been included as an event in the Ontario Parasport Games.
Although it was not a sanctioned meet — meaning it’s not a meet that counts toward Alessa’s overall performance — she now has qualifying times that will allow her to compete at this August’s Canadian Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.
Alessa will obtain her Classification Three prior to the event, which confirms she has a disability and allows her to compete at various levels, including internationally.
Making it to this next level of competition is a big deal, the mother and daughter acknowledged.
“It means a lot, especially since I have put so much work over the years into getting to these meets. It’s pretty cool,” said Alessa.
With her current times, Alessa is only two seconds away from being able to participate in Paralympic trials, and since her sights are already set on making it to the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, she has no plans on resting on her laurels any time soon.
“There is a lot to be able to get there. She needs to compete more internationally, make the team, but she is committed,” said Sarah.
Seeing everything her daughter has already accomplished has left her with nothing but a sense of pride, she added.
“When they gave us the diagnosis, the doctors here in Canada told us to not have high expectations for her, to not speak in Spanish or French to her. That she might go to a special school and that she’d never be able to ride a bike or run … and she has exceeded every expectation there is,” said her mom.
“When they told us that, and then we saw her running and that she was interested in doing so many different things, we decided she was going to set her own limits. We were not going to limit her … and we can’t wait to see what else she does.”