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Shadow Seals is a Disability Swim Club located in the Greater Seattle area.

Our mission is to provide swimmers with a disability the competitive team environment, culture, coaching, training and competitive opportunities to achieve both athletic and personal success.

Goals and Objectives:

• Encourage swimming as a life long sport.
• Serve as a role model demonstration of the success and achievement opportunities available for swimmers with a disability.
• Serve as a resource club for swimmers with a disability at local, national and internationally levels of competition.
• Facilitate successful transitions to local able-bodied swim clubs when appropriate.
• Provide outreach and education regarding disability swimming to the able-bodied swimming community.
• Encourage and provide qualifying opportunities to swimmers with disabilities for national level competitions.
• Provide community service opportunities.

Kiko Van Zandt is the Head Coach of Shadow Seals Swimming.  Coaching the Seals is the marriage of two of her passions, besides her Faith and her Family, that have influenced who she is today.  Those passions are competitive swimming and pediatric Rehabilitation nursing.

She has been a competitive swimmer since the age of 7 and still trains with the Husky Masters Swim Team.  For the past 31 years, as a Pediatric Rehab Clinic RN at Seattle Children’s, she has advocated for her patients to reach their maximum potential physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.   As a coach with Shadow Seals Swimming for the past 19 years, her vision of creating competitive opportunities for athletes with a disability through the sport of swimming has been realized.

Kiko has successfully coached several local USA Paralympians and National Junior Disability Games champions.  She has served on the USA Paralympics Swimming coaching staff as an assistant coach at the 2004 and 2008 Paralympic Games, the 2006, 2009 and 2010 IPC World Championships, and other international swim meets.  Her expertise has been utilized as Chair, USA-Swimming Disability Swimming Committee (2005-2007) and national committee member (2003-2009).  She has been Pacific Northwest Swimming’s Disability Swimming Chair since 1995.

Kiko has been married to Charlie Van Zandt for 18 years and her hobbies include knitting and photo card making.