Rowing Canada Aviron is pleased to announce the appointment of Allison Sheard of Toronto as Head Coach of the National Adaptive Rowing Team for 2004. Sheard will lead Canada's adaptive team at its first World Championships in Spain this year. 'This is an exciting development in the growing area of adaptive rowing,' says Rowing Canada's VP Recreation, Carolyn Taylor. Sheard, co-chair of RCA's National Adaptive Rowing Committee (with Michael Maher), has been a backbone of the adaptive rowing initiative in Canada. She founded an adaptive rowing program at the Argonaut Rowing Club in Toronto in 2001. This program has been expanded since then to offer rowing opportunities to people with a wide range of disabilities, including amputations, autism, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment and visual impairment. 'Allison has brought an immense amount of enthusiasm to play in her efforts to assist clubs across Canada to develop Adaptive Rowing programs of their own,' says Carolyn Taylor. In 2003, Sheard coached and coordinated the first-ever Adaptive crew to enter the 121st Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Ontario. The same crew brought home gold medals from the U.S. National Adaptive Championships Bayada Regatta in Philadelphia. 2004 marks the first time Canada will enter the international adaptive rowing stage at the World Rowing Championships in Banyoles, Spain, July 25 to August 1. By sending adaptive athletes to these championships, Canada is fulfilling its goal to meet the objectives of the Seville Protocol, signed in 2002. The Protocol is an agreement that encourages rowing nations to develop national Adaptive Rowing programs and support the International Rowing Federation (FISA) in its goal of achieving Paralympic status for rowing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.