The first drop in the bucket for what would become Para Swim Iowa happened when Isaiah Picard started swimming lessons at age 3. It wasn’t long before he wanted to start competing on a swim team like his four older siblings. Isaiah swam on the Knoxville Stingrays recreational swim team from seven years old until he started high school. Born with spina bifida, Isaiah was the only swimmer on the recreational team that used a wheelchair for mobility. Although he was able to participate in the meets throughout the season, he was not able to participate in the state meet, because he was unable to swim fast enough to meet the qualifying state times. Frustrated with not being able to qualify to compete at the state meet despite his hard work, he talked to his coach about starting a para swimming division, so that athletes with disabilities would be able to qualify for and attend the Greater Iowa Swim League (GISL) state meet. In 2020, the Knoxville Stingrays coach petitioned GISL to allow para swimmers to participate in the state meet, even if their times were not as fast as those of the qualifying non para swimmers in the league. In response, GISL created a para division, and he attended the state meets in the springs of 2020 and 2021.

During the summers of 2014, 2016, and 2017, Isaiah participated in Adaptive Sports USA’s Junior National swim meets. Although there were swimmers from across the country, he was the only swimmer from Iowa to participate in the meets. 

In the fall of 2021, Isaiah joined the Indianola High School swim team. Isaiah and his parents talked to Bobby Shepherd, Indianola’s boys’ swim team coach at the time, about starting a para division at the high school level. Shepherd, in turn, talked to Indianola’s athletic director, who then about petitioned the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) to form a para division in high school boys swimming. Two weeks into Isaiah’s freshman season, IHSAA announced that a para division had been formed.

Isaiah was the only para swimmer that first year, but his sophomore year there was one other swimmer in the para division, and the following year there were three other para swimmers at the IHSAA state swim meet. Isaiah has won five gold medals, one silver medal, and two championship trophies at the IHSAA state meet.

Inspired to see more athletes with disabilities participate in high school swimming, Isaiah decided to create Para Swim Iowa and organize events where kids with disabilities of all ages could learn about the opportunities they now have to participate in swimming events, and can be taught how to swim in a way that suits them and their particular circumstance.