Regina's Taylor Senft - Adrenaline Regina Sports Magazine in ...

20
FOCUS ON
Synchronized Swimming
Grace, flexibility, strength,
endurance, rhythm,
coordination – an all-around athlete and a
synchronized swimmer.
For some athletes such as Emma New,
synchronized swimming has always been
part of life, as her grandmother and her
mother were also synchronized swimmers.
For others, such as Andrea Bellerieve,
synchronized swimming is a sport they
come upon and fall in love with.
“I love it,” said Emma. “You can be creative
and at the same time you’re swimming.”
“You use everything,” added Andrea. “It’s
one of the hardest sports.”
The two swimmers, aged 14 and 15, are
Tier 6 athletes with Regina Synchro.
Tier 6 are national stream athletes who
are part of the competitive program, but
Regina Synchro accommodates swimmers
ADRENALINE Regina Sports May 2010
from those just starting in the recreation
program to competitive programs.
Head coach Natalie Good described
synchronized swimming, which requires
both movement skills and dedication from
the athletes:
“It’s definitely moving towards a
combination of gymnastics and
swimming,” she said. “There’s tons of
highlights now and tumbling; there’s a lot
of gymnastic moves in the water, with the
extension of dance.”
“There’s tons of highlights now
and tumbling; there’s a lot of
gymnastic moves in the water,
with the extension of dance.”
- Natalie Good, head coach
One part of synchronized swimming is
figures, as Good explained.
“They’re progressive,” she said. “They learn
part of a figure, then all of a figure, and
continue on. All the kids wear black suits
and white caps, so they’re all anonymous.
The moves are done quite slowly for
the judges to be able to check out the
body positions. They have degrees of
difficulties.”
The other part is the team routine, in
which the swimmers will perform a
choreographed routine with required
technical elements, and will then be
scored on the technical and performance
elements. The figure scores and team
scores are combined to make up the
championship score for the team.
In Saskatchewan, Regina Synchro attends
the Marnie Eistetter Element meet in
November in rural Saskatchewan, the
Diane Lemon Invitational in Saskatoon
in January, and hosts the Sandy Roberts
Tier 6-7 Provincials in February and the
Sadie Caulder Knight Tier 1-5 Provincials
in April. The meets are named after
the synchronized swimmers in the