Synchronized Swimming
People don't really know much about synchronized swimming. Some people consider it a sport, and some consider it as a form of dance or art. Synchronized swimming is probably a lot more difficult ( physically ) than many other sports out there. Though most people don't realise it, it doesn't only consist of waving your arms and legs up in the air. At practice, we swim laps, work on flexibility ( splits, back arches...), weights, abs, cardio, holding of the breath, agility, grace, and over all body strength. It has been proven, believe it or not, that synchronized swimmers are some of the fittest athletes!
Basically, in synchronized swimming, you make up a routine to a certain music, or different parts of a song having to do with a theme or an idea. You can present a routine in a team of eight. You could do it by yourself, which is called a "solo". You could do it with a partner, which we call a "duet". In a routine, you can do three main things, you can do arm movements, figures and boosts. Arm movements are basically movements that you do with your arms using egg beater, or "treading water" to keep yourself up. Figures are movements that you do with your legs while the rest of your body is under the water. They are series of body positions to determine the swimmers ability to control and demonstrate balance, extension, flexibility, strength, etc... And last there are boosts. A boost is an element that you usually do as a team. It's when you lift one of your team mates out of the water, using another one of your team mates as a platform.
Probably, the hardest thing that you would have to do if you took up synchro as a hobby, would be holding your breath. A routine is usually around three and a half to four or five minutes long. You end up holding your breath for quite a long time. When you're under the water during a figure, you may not come up for another thirty to fifty seconds! It does sound like along time but you're concentrating on being on time with the rest of your team, that you don't really notice that you're under for such a long time. People often ask me how an entire team stays so synchronised Well that's simple. Like in dance or ballet, synchronised swimmers follow counts. Generally, we count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. And we put the moves on the counts. Everyone memorises the routine.
Like in any other sport, synchronized swimmers and teams, go to many competitions. There are two different kinds of competitions, figures and routine. The scoring is based on the level of difficulty, and the skills. For a routine competition, the swimmers have a choice of their music and their choreography. There are two sets of scores given. One for technical merit, and the other for artistic impression. The technical merit score, is based on extension, the ability of the swimmers, the synchronization, and the degree of difficulty of the overall routine. The artistic impression mark, is based on the music, the choreography etc. As I said before, figures are to determine the swimmers ability and control. Hope you learned more than you knew before. To test yourself, try my quiz!