Page 67 - Q01-2021 Fins Magazine

Shir Katzenell in the GOING FORWARD Branching into publishing, she plans on writing a Hebrew book will be sold only to those that present with the necessary leg

Mermaid World Aspirations of Israel becoming a mermaid empire, Shir is foused about mermaids. Enabling customers to see and read about the strength and tail swimming abilities.
history of mermaids and about mermaids in Israel.
on expanding Mermaid Israel. Having hired 5 instructors to do
the workshops and an individual for customer service, Shir is
able to focus her efforts on business development. Exhibiting a strong passion and love for mermaiding, Shir
Plans are in the works for a mermaiding course. Delayed has established a large community of mermaids steeped in
due to the onset of COVID last year, she is excited at the conservation of our seas and acceptance of yourself. Ready for
At first she thought she was crazy. What adult wanted to swim in With almost 200,000 followers on TikTok, Shir has become opportunity to bring a year long mermaiding school to Israel. the next stage of “Mermaid World”, she stated, "I'm working on
a tail? Surprisingly, she found that there are more people like a bit of an expert. Now she is teaching "business owners how expanding. I want Israel to be a mermaid Empire. I really do.
her. People that held the dream of swimming in a mermaid tail. to use TikTok to get more customers. Because that's how I got Increasing her tail options, Shir is adding Mahina monofins And I think we're on our way there. And I think it's mostly due
my customers. Most of my customers from last year came from to the fact that the community, the Israeli mermaid community
TikTok directly." with Magictails tail skins to her product offerings. An option is filled with amazing people who are very inspirational."

As popularity for her workshops grew, she began to be featured for mermaids that are advanced past the beginner stage, they
in the media. With exposure in articles, TV editorials and
newspapers, it made more people want to do it. Shir recalled
reactions of these mermaids getting the opportunity to chase
their mermaid dreams. "People really called me and they cried.
They said, 'I've always wanted to do that. I didn't know it was
possible. And I can't believe that I can live my dream now.'"

Shir was with Yuval Avrami in China at the World
Mermaid Championship in 2019.

WORLD MERMAID CHAMPIONSHIP
Attending the World Mermaid Championship (WMC) in 2019,
Shir started to look at mermaiding in a different way. Before it
was a childhood dream, now she saw how mermaiding is also a
sport. She clarified, ‘You can measure it and you can get scores.
It's something that never crossed my mind until I started to be a
part of it. And I saw how much of a sport it is.’

Individual mermaids from around the world traveled to China
to compete based on three categories: technicality, creativity
and free diving skills. Focused on physicality and artistry,
participants create and present choreographed performances to
music that are judged on the scored categories.

Similar to the Olympics in many ways, Shir commented on
mermaiding as an Olympic sport. "I think mermaiding can be
an Olympic sport. I know that mermaids were talking about
it at the mermaid championship, that there's no reason why it
shouldn't be. If pole dancing is, why not mermaiding?"
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