By Rita Mingo

After 25 years as a Canadian swimming official, Cynthia Pincott feels she’s finally arrived.

“This award for me is the pinnacle of recognition,” said Pincott, winner of Swimming Canada’s 2023 Ken Filippelli Award for Excellence in Officiating. Pincott was nominated and selected by a group of her officiating peers.

“I was an international official, which was a wonderful recognition, but this is the cherry on the top. Is there more to come? I think I’ve moved into a new area; I’m starting to get known as a mentor in this area and it’s really great for me.

Pincott began on this path with the Equipe de Natation de Cowansville in her native Quebec, an affiliation that began as a swimmer herself. Her parents were officials and the positive experience they enjoyed transferred to her.

“A sense of belonging and a sense of community,” she explained, “that when my children started swimming, it was an obvious step for me to do. My parents are 91 years old, still volunteering; so volunteering runs deep in my family.”

Because of the overwhelming desire to keep contributing, Pincott continued to officiate even as her four children stopped competing in the pool.

“For me, it’s being involved with something I love, being part of a project,” said Pincott. “I’m not one to sit back and watch everyone else do.

“It just seemed natural to continue moving forward, to improve and get better. I wouldn’t say I’m an overachiever, I wouldn’t say I’m a perfectionist … but I’m a bit of both.”

Domestically, she has officiated at all levels. Her international resume includes being on the FINA (World Aquatics) officials list for two terms as well as on the Pan Am Aquatics list. These designations took her to the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii in 2014, the Pan Am Games in Toronto in 2015, and world championships in 2019 (Korea) and 2022 (Australia).

But where she derives the most pleasure these days is serving as mentor, coming full circle as someone who learned so much from others.

“I experienced an awful lot of mentorship; I was mentored by an awful lot of really great officials through my career. I’ve always looked up to them and their achievements, because they made it seem that it was possible for me to move to the national scene, the international scene,” Pincott says.

“I’ve had some great opportunities to do some great mentorship in the last few months. People have said, ‘Please come out and mentor this official,’ and it’s been so rewarding to me. It reminded me so much of why I do this and I want to infuse that passion in other people, or at least the pleasure of doing it.”

Among those whom she credits for her growth are Louise Leblanc, Bill Hogan and Carole Thomas.

“I have known and worked with Cynthia for many years as a technical official for Swimming Canada competitions at provincial, regional, national, as well as international events,” said Hogan, one of Canada’s top officials and vice-chair of the Officials, Competitions and Rules Committee.

“There are very few swimming competitions over the past 20-25 years that Cynthia has not attended, both in her native province of Quebec or nationally. She is a tireless worker, a friendly and very knowledgeable swimming technical official, who is known and respected by all in the swimming community.”

To be in the conversation with some of the finest on Canada’s pool decks is more than Pincott could ever have imagined.

“For me, there were lots of times in my life of self-doubt, you’re raising kids, ‘Am I doing this right?’ And you have a job and some days you have bad days,” she says. “But I always felt when I got on the pool deck, I knew what I was doing. I felt confident. It’s my best place, it’s my happy place.

“Swimming gave me so much growing up that I felt I owed something to swimming. It was my way of paying back.”

Pincott lives in Ottawa and tries to get in at least one swimming event a month.

“It’s not as busy,” she said, “but I’m getting just as much pleasure as ever.”