Pitchfork Aquatics Coach Mona Nyheim-Canales Diagnosed with Cancer

Mona Nyheim-Canales, head age group coach of Pitchfork Aquatics in Arizona, has recently been diagnosed with metastatic cancer. 

A GoFundMe page has been created by her club team to help her family with any medical or living expenses that come up throughout her treatment. She is currently awaiting further test results for a complete diagnosis of where the cancer has spread.

Nyheim-Canales joined Pitchfork Aquatics with her husband, Fernando Canales, in 2016. The Norway native has worked at all levels of the sport, with over twenty-five years of coaching experience at the club and collegiate level. 

Collegiately, she’s worked with the University of Houston, University of Illinois, University of North Texas, Colgate University, and University of Michigan. At the age-group level. Nyheim-Canales has held positions with the Dallas Mustangs, City of Plano Swimmers, and Club Wolverine. Her work has earned her the North Texas Age Group Coach of the Year award and ASCA Age Group Coach of the Year in Michigan. 

Nyheim-Canales is also deeply involved in the sport outside of the pool at the international level. She’s been a “highly requested lecturer on the international circuit for both the International Olympic Committee and FINA”, highlighted by her time as a featured speaker at the 2016 FINA World Aquatic Convention. She has also served as the Director for High Performance in Istanbul for the Turkish Swimming Federation, and has put on international clinics for coaches. 

This year, she was nominated by her LSC for the inaugural USA Swimming’s Women Coaches in Governance program, which seeks to “unite and empower women coaches a the LSC governance level.”

Nyheim-Canales graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Arizona, where she was a four-year letter winner. She went on to earn two Master’s degrees, one in Science in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Illinois, and the other in Physical Education/Exercise Science from Houston.

Nyheim-Canales and her husband have two sons, Francisco and Thor.