Posted: 4/14/04

Synchronized swimming, itís a contact sport

Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

After being part of the first synchronized swimming team at Forest Lake High School, Laura Walker has returned to coach.

Walker was part of the inaugural synchronized swimming team six years ago at Forest Lake High School. Walker then went on to swim one year at the University of Iowa where she graduated last May with a degree in art education.

The long term substitute teacher at Century Junior High, Walker took over as the head coach for her first season of coaching.

Being her first season with the team as a coach, Walker is still finding out what kind of team she has, but being an alum of the team she does know how it did last season and what they lost to graduation.
ìWe had some key seniors leave, but we have a very strong team this year,î Walker said. ìWe have a lot of depth and a lot of girls that came back and are leading the team.î

Hannah McKenzie, Jenna Gorka, and Alyse Howie, the top three swimmers from last seasonís team are back. Gorka and Katie Prudhomme are this seasonís captains. The remainder of the team includes Ashley Tackes, Carrie Peterson and Frances Van Sloun.

The synchronized swimming season consists of two parts, the first focusing on a single skill and the second focusing on entire routines. In the first part of the season the swimmers perform in front of judges and are judged on how well they perform a specific skill. In the second half of the season the team performs an entire routine that they often times choreograph themselves.

Synchronized swimming is a lot like gymnastics, but in the water and the swimmers cannot touch the bottom of the pool. While performing, the swimmers often times bump into each other or kick each other as they try to stay in unison. This contact inspired the swimmers to create T-shirts that say, ìSyncro, itís a contact sport.î

ìItís a lot harder than it looks,î Walker said. ìThe goal is to make it look easy though.î

Goals

With it being Walkerís first year as head coach she already has her sights set on the state competition.

ìOur goal is to take as many routines as possible to state,î Walker said. ìI just want to bring the team back to a family status where weíre working toward the same goals.î

To get the swimmers in shape and prepared for the season, they have been swimming laps to increase their endurance. The swimmers have also been working on breathing control because they may spend an extended period of time with their head under water.

The other goal Walker has is not one for simply this season, but a long term goal. She wants to help build the synchronized swimming program into a strong one.

The team grew from 34 swimmers last season to 44 despite graduating a number of seniors. Walker says that some of the new swimmers are also competitive swimmers who want to stay in shape and continue to swim.

ìA lot of girls from the competitive swim season are encouraged to come out for synchronized swimming,î Walker said. ìI love when we have a competitive swimmer because it helps them with their swim stroke and vice versa, competitive swimming helps the synchronized swimming strokes.î

The other thing that has attributed to the growth in synchronized swimming is a camp that is held through the swimming lessons program.

Competition

Since every school doesnít have a synchronized swimming team, Forest Lake competes against the normal Suburban East Conference teams with Stillwater as a perennial state champion.

In section competition, Forest Lakeís toughest competition will be Greenway, Grand Rapids, Stillwater, Richfield. Once at the state competition, Forest Lake will have to contend with power houses St. Louis Park, Wayzata and Hopkins.

In the early part of the season, Forest Lake is off to a 2-0 start after defeating Columbia Heights 29-0 and Maple Grove 27-7. The next meet is today, Thursday, at Stillwater at 4 p.m.

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