Tusky Valley grad is Special Olympics Swimmer of the Year
Danzy beams as he dances with 2022 Tusky Valley Prom Queen Leaha McMullin when Prom King Dylan Burke passed the crown to the person he felt truly deserved to wear it.
Malik Danzy, a 2022 graduate of Tusky Valley, was chosen to receive the 2022 Elizabeth Geiselman Memorial Special Olympics Swimmer of the Year from the Greater Canton Aquatics Association. He is the son of Charles and Trina Danzy of East Sparta.
The award is given annually to a swimmer who achieves goals well beyond the limitations of the disability as judged by the Special Olympic coach, parents, volunteers and the association’s board of trustees. The award was presented to Danzy during a ceremony at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Canton.
Danzy has competed for the past two years at the Special Olympics with the Stark Sharks, a swim team formed by a group of mothers who wanted to nurture their special-need children’s love for swimming.
Being born with Down syndrome could have been a setback for the now 18-year-old, but Trina Danzy was an experienced social worker at the time. “I knew how to get him the resources he needed and started lining things up before he was even born,” she said.
The Towpath Trail YMCA in Navarre was where Malik Danzy first got his feet wet. His mother enrolled both of them in parent-child swim classes when he was just 6 months old. It was there he also learned how to be part of a swim team.
At the age of 14, Malik Danzy started swimming as part of the Special Olympics team, excelling in the butterfly, although he said he also enjoys the breaststroke technique and the freestyle event.
A man of many interests and talents
While swimming is certainly a major focus in Malik Danzy’s life, it is far from his only talent and just one of many pastimes he enjoys. With a flair for music, he has picked up the bass guitar and is a self-taught drummer. While he plays both, he said he prefers playing the electronic drums to the standard drum kit.
Malik Danzy said he also enjoys shooting hoops with his friend Chelsey Campbell and playing video games, becoming particularly skilled at Super Mario Brothers. He also has taken on an active role at the Northwest Church of Christ in Canton, serving as an usher and a lector and reading scriptures during services.
The multi-talented young man also is taking courses at Buckeye Career Center, where he is taking cooking and other courses as part of the hospitality services program. He has already gained hotel experience working at the Carlisle Inn in Sugarcreek and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in New Philadelphia.
If he doesn’t end up pursuing a career in hospitality, he is just fine with that. “I’d also like to work at Big Lots or in an airport luggage claim department,” he said.
A crowning achievement
In addition to his Swimmer of the Year award, Danzy received another honor this past April when he was nominated to the Tusky Valley prom court. The night of the big event, he watched as classmates Leaha McMullin and Dylan Burke were crowned king and queen.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, Burke lost no time in abdicating the throne and giving Danzy his crown, saying, “I’m not the prom king. Malik is.”
Plunging ahead
Not content to simply tread water, Danzy will compete in January in a qualifying meet, hoping to advance to the Special Olympics state competition, which will be held at Bowling Green State University in March. Given his record, he is bound to make a splash.