Talk the Talk

In most sports, there are technical terms that describe specific plays or movements that are well understood between the coach and athletes. Synchro is no exception. If you are not aware of the terminology while watching an event, you may feel like you are listening to a foreign language. Luckily for you, I am fluent in synchronized swimming!

Let's start with the basics:

Team

-       The main event where eight girls swim together in a technical or free routine.


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Technical Routine
-       A short routine that must include specific elements that are executed in a specific order and perfectly synchronized among all swimmers on the team.


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Free Routine
-       A longer routine that will showcase the team's strengths, and artistic theme.


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Combo
-       An event where ten girls swim together in a combination of changing numbers.


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Duet
-       An event where two girls swim together.


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Solo
-       An event where one swimmer performs alone.


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Deck work
-       The beginning of the routine that starts on land.


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Eggbeater
-       The technique used to tread water while moving their arms above the surface.


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Sculling
-       The movements swimmers make with their arms to support their legs being out of the water in inverted positions.


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Body boost
-       A quick vertical jump out of the water.


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Flyer
-       A girl on the team who gets lifted or thrown in the air and performs an acrobatic movement(s).


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Highlight
-       An impressive element in a routine where the team throws “the flyer” high up in the air and she performs an acrobatic movement.


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Figure
-       A sequence performed under water where the body is inverted and the legs are moving above the water.

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Cadence
-       A choreographed part of the routine where each swimmer quickly performs the same movements one at a time.


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Artistic Impression Score
-       A category of scoring which amounts to 40% of the final score. The judges responsible for this mark look for clear interpretation of the music and creative choreography portraying the theme.


Technical Merit Score 
-       A category of scoring which amounts to 40% of the final score. The judges responsible for this mark look for synchronization, height out of the water, and precision of movements. In the case of a technical routine, these judges will look for the required technical elements as well.


Difficulty Score
-       A category of scoring which amounts to 20% of the final score. The judges responsible for this mark look for the over-all energy of the swimmers from the beginning to the end of the routine as well as the difficulty of the choreography and the high or low risks moves in the performance.


Total Score
-       The total routine score for the free or technical routine. This is the weighted combination of the free, technical and difficulty scores.


Championship Score
-       The total score for the free and technical routine scores combined. After this score is compiled, all teams are ranked in order from the highest to the lowest to determine the winner of the event.


Of course, there are hundreds of more terms to learn, but these are the most important to know. Now
you will be able to watch a synchronized swimming event and recognize what is happening in the
pool as well as understand what the commentator is explaining during a performance!

Test how much you have learned by checking out Team Canada’s amazing performance at the 2012
London Olympic games!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G5y8C0zM4I - 32:00

True or False

When I tell people I am a synchronized swimming coach, they usually have a lot of questions. Below I have compiled a list of some of the most common questions and misunderstood facts about synchronized swimming!


Synchronized swimmers push off the bottom of the pool.

Synchronized swimmers are not allowed to touch the bottom or the side of the pool, otherwise a 2 point penalty is awarded. Even if a swimmer touched by accident!

Synchronized swimmers can hear their music underwater.

Synchronized swimmers use special underwater speakers to allow them to stay synchronized when they are upside down!

Synchronized swimmers have their bathing suits customized.

Synchronized swimmers have their suits specially designed and hand sewn by a talented seamstress for each routine. Suits are never reused and cost on average between $250 - $350!

Synchronized swimmers spend next to no time training because the sport is so easy.

Top level synchronized swimmers spend an average of 30 hours per week training. They also train 5 other sports to make them exceptional at their own. These other sports include competitive swimming, diving, ballet, water polo and gymnastics.

Only females can be synchronized swimming.

Up until the last few years only females could compete in synchronized swimming. Although men are still not allowed to compete at the olympics, there is a new event called 'Mixed Duet' which is recognized by FINA (the governing body of all water sports) allowing men to compete in the sport.

Synchronized swimming is always one of the first sports to sell out at the Olympics.

Are you even surprised? Because it is such an artistic sport, you don't need to know much about the rules to enjoy it!

Synchronized swimmers are part dolphin so they can breath under water.

It is true that synchronized swimmers can hold their breath for long periods of time. On average a high level synchronized swimmer can hold their breath for 90 seconds while moving their legs high out of the water. They can also swim 3 laps of the pool (75m) without coming up for air! But they are definitely not part dolphin!

Synchronized swimming is a contact sport.

Despite its elegant outer appearance, synchronized swimming IS a contact sport. Because of how close together the girls swim in their routine, it is very common for them to kick and scratch one another. Sometimes even when girls are thrown out of the water, if it is not executed perfectly, the flyer could land on top of one of her teammates which could result in concussions and in some cases broken bones!

The History Behind the Sport of Synchronized Swimming

Synchronized swimming. A sport most people are not overly familiar with or in some cases are completely unaware of its existence. So lets start from the very beginning shall we?

Who invented the sport of synchronized swimming?

It is not known who the first person to come up with the concept of synchronized swimming was, but it is believed that Benjamin Franklin could have started the first spark! Growing up in Boston, Massachusetts, Franklin enjoyed spending much of his time swimming in the ocean. He experimented with non-traditional swimming exercises and tried to connect it to possible health benefits. He called this ‘ornamental swimming’. Maybe it was because he was such an influence figure, or because of his continuous advocacy for the sport, swimming became increasingly popular to the general public in the early eighteenth century.

Ornamental Swimming to Water Ballet

            More than a century after Franklin started this new swimming trend, clubs started forming around the world performing this unique style of swimming. It was not longer referred to as ornamental swimming but became more formally known as water ballet. Fast-forwarding into the 1900s, an Australian woman named Annette Kellerman moved to America. Kellerman was a talented actor, distance swimmer, diver and ballerina. Naturally she found herself to be a perfect candidate for water ballet! She soon became famous, not through her athletic achievements, but by wearing a one-piece bathing suit that fully revealed her arms and legs! In 1907 she swam an underwater routine with her revealing bathing suit in a large glass tank in New York City. This performance generated even more intrigue and interest surrounding water ballet. A noticeable number of clubs began to form in aquatic centres. Colleges all over the country started to build teams of their own where its increasing popularity started gaining the interest of larger audiences. Water ballet was shown off at the World Fair in Chicago, 1934 by a group of women who were known as The Modern Mermaids. Their performance was called ‘A Combination of strokes, tricks and Floating Formations’. The show was given raving reviews, including one by a commentator who unintentionally renamed the sport by calling the performance ‘Synchronized swimming’.

        Annette Kellerman (1905)

Synchronized Swimming in the Cinemas

In 1952 Synchronized swimming made an appearance on the big screen. Esther Williams, an American swimming champion and bathing suit beauty was casted to be the lead character of a movie called ‘Million Dollar Mermaid’. The movie is a musical, romantic drama, which tells the story of the influential Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman. The movie is full of extravagant synchronized swimming scenes, which presents elaborate sets, lights and fountains exaggerating the elements of its natural theatrical performance. To this day Esther Williams is one of the most iconic figures in synchronized swimming history!

But of course Hollywood couldn’t help but make a mockery of synchronized swimming in 1999 when it became the opening scene of a rather well known movie, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. During the opening credits, the film directors recreated a scene from Esther Williams’s film, Million Dollar Mermaid. In addition to the ridiculous demonstration and false representation of the original scene, the directors added flower caps and images of the swimmers standing on the bottom of the pool, which further illegitimated synchronized swimming’s image. This short scene in the Austin Powers movie changed the way people began to think of synchronized swimming. From what was previously known as a beautiful and elegant performance was turned into a lasting joke, losing its respect as a sport in many general opinions with lasting effects today.

Setting Sights on the Olympics

Most sports are showcased through professional competition. Perhaps one of the most sought after is the Olympic Games. In 1951 Synchronized Swimming began its quest to achieve recognition as a sport and be granted permission to compete in the Olympics. The first attempt was made at the Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina where Team Canada and Team USA demonstrated the athletic demand and physical skills that were needed to perform the sport. It was not until the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City, Mexico when Synchronized Swimming was competed as an official sport for the first time. Despite its continental recognition, the Olympic committee was not yet convinced it was qualified to be an Olympic sport. It took another 20 years of demonstrations as well as fine-tuning its rules and regulations before it was approved to compete in the Olympic Games. Synchronized Swimming made its Olympic debut at the 1984 games in Los Angeles, USA. At this time, the Solo and Duet events were the only two completed. The Olympic rules changed in 1996 to allow only the Team event to compete at the games. The Duet event was added back to the sport in 2000, but Solo has not again made an appearance on the Olympic stage.

Today

Synchronized swimming has evolved enormously over the last 30 years. The sport has grown its international recognition and today more than 85 countries have synchronized swimming programs! The speed and difficulty of the sport has reached a level that was once thought impossible. Swimmers keep pushing their limits and raising the bar. Although despite its achievements, it still struggles to remain recognized as a sport. In 2015 the Olympic committee questioned whether or not synchronized swimming should remain in the Olympics due to its subjective inclination and its mocked image. FINA, the governing body of water sports has made changes to the rules such as not allowing unnatural or dramatic make up, and creating strict limits on how much skin can be showing in costumes, in hopes the public will recognize synchronized swimming as a disciplined sport that deserves respect the same as any other. It will talk time and persistence to change so many negative opinions, but it will be worth the fight!

For more information please visit http://synchroswim.isport.com/synchronized-swimming-guides/history-of-synchronized-swimming