Grade Levels – FAQ with Head Coach Leah Pinette

Competition season is underway!  But this year, synchronized swimming athletes across the country are practicing more than just figures and routines.  They are also practicing skills for Grade Level testing because all 13-15 Age Group and Junior/Senior athletes wishing to compete at the US National Championships in Arizona this April must pass USA Synchro’s new Grade Levels 1 through 3.

ANA Synchro Head Coach
Leah Pinette

To help athletes and their parents understand Grade Levels, we have prepared a two-part series for our blog.  In this first part, ANA Synchro Head CoachLeah Pinette answers many practical questions about Grade Levels.  In the second part to follow, we will turn to John Ortiz to give us some higher-level insight into why we’re doing Grade Levels and what USA Synchro hopes to accomplish with them.

Both John and Leah have been working with other coaches and officials around the country as part of USA Synchro’s Athlete Skill Development Coordinating Board (ASDCB).  Together, this committee has developed an important and exciting initiative for our sport – the new Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) program.  The goal of the LTAD program is to enable more athletes from more clubs across the country to reach their full potential - and therefore to also increase the number and skill of athletes that represent the U.S. at the Olympics and other international competitions.  

Grade Levels are an important foundation component of the LTAD program because they help guide coaches in developing sensible, effective, and consistent training plans for all ages.  And they help athletes measure their progress and set appropriate goals.

ANA Synchro:   First, can you please confirm who has to take the Grade Level tests this year?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  All athletes who want to compete at US Nationals in Arizona this April must pass Grade Levels 1, 2, and 3.  That means all Junior/Senior athletes and 13-15 Age Group athletes who qualify for US Nationals at their zone championships.

ANA Synchro:   Why are Grade Levels 1-3 required for US Nationals this year but not for Junior Olympics?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Grade Levels are new for this year, and USA Synchro is rolling them out in phases.  USA Synchro wanted to give the Junior Olympics athletes enough time to train for the Grade Level testing and enough time for their coaches to weave the training into practice plans.  At the same time, USA Synchro felt it was appropriate to challenge the athletes who are able to qualify for US Nationals with the additional training and testing needed to pass the first three levels this year.

ANA Synchro:  You said that Grade Levels will be phased in.  Do we know what the requirements will be next year?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  For 2016-2017, all Age Group athletes who want to compete at Junior Olympics will have to pass Grade Levels 1 through 3.  And, the current plan is that all 13-15 Age Group and Jr/Sr athletes who want to compete at the US National Championships in the spring will have to pass Grade Levels 4, 5, and 6.

With the help of USA Synchro's Grade Level Manual,
coaches can help athletes execute the skills properly.

ANA Synchro:   How many Grade Levels are there?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  There are a total of 10 Grade Levels.  You can think of Level 10, the highest level, as being for our senior national team athletes.

ANA Synchro:   Is Grade Level testing only for Age Group athletes?  Will Intermediate and Novice athletes ever have to do it?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Eventually yes.  Grade Levels 1 through 3 are designed for the grassroots teams around our country – that is, teams that train girls from the very youngest of ages.  Our committee at USA Synchro is still working out the details of how and when to roll the Grade Levels out to Intermediate and Novice athletes.  In the meantime, coaches have the option to incorporate the Grade Level skills into their regular Intermediate and Novice training anyway.  After all, having these basic skills gives you a strong synchro foundation, whether you have to pass a Grade Level test or not.

ANA Synchro:   Can you describe the testing for us?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Grade Level testing is much like doing figures at a meet in that every athlete will perform a single skill, by themselves, in front of a panel of assessors.  Typically there will be 3 assessors.  Some of the skills will be on land, and some will be in the water.  For land skills, the athletes will wear their black suits or black tank tops with black shorts.  For water skills, the athletes will wear their black suits and white caps.   For Levels 1-3, there are two or three skills in each of the following categories:  flexibility, conditioning, acrobatics, speed swimming, figures, and synchro routine swimming.  Levels 1 and 2 have a total of 13 skills, and Level 3 has a total of 14 skills.  Athletes will know at the end of the session whether they pass the level or not.

ANA Synchro:   How do the athletes know what the skills are?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Here at ANA Synchro, we have been working on the skills in practice since the beginning of the season.  All of us coaches have a Grade Level manual, which describes in great detail how the skills are to be performed and how the points will be awarded during the testing.  Many of the skills can be practiced at home, and I have encouraged all my athletes to develop a habit of practicing at home to reinforce what we do together.  More information about LTAD and Grade Levels can be found in the Members-Only area of the USA Synchro website under “Resources”.

Every Grade Level has two or three skills in each of the
following categories:  flexibility, conditioning, acrobatics,
speed swimming, figures, and synchro routine swimming.
Headstand is a Level 3 Acrobatics skill.

ANA Synchro:   How does an athlete pass?  Will they have to perform everything perfectly?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Athletes have to get 80% of the total points available for all skills in order to pass.  That means they can be strong in certain areas, weaker in others, and still pass.

ANA Synchro:   Do you get do-over’s?  If you mess up on a skill, do you get to try again?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  No.  Athletes have to concentrate and be prepared to perform the Grade Level skills just once for the assessors.  

ANA Synchro:   Do the Grade Levels have to be passed in order:  Level 1 first, then Level 2, then Level 3?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes, they do have to be passed in sequence.  But ultimately athletes will only work on achieving one level at a time.  It is only in these first couple of years, when we are just implementing the Grade Levels, that athletes have to pass multiple levels in the same season.  This will change as Grade Levels become a standard part of our season and a standard part of an athlete’s development.

ANA Synchro:   Once an athlete passes a Grade Level, will they ever have to go back and pass it again?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  No.  Once you pass a Grade Level, you pass it for life.

ANA Synchro:   What happens if you don’t pass Level 3 this year?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Athletes who do not pass Level 3 this year will unfortunately not be able to participate in US Nationals in Arizona, even if they qualified at their zone meet.  However, they would still be able to compete at Junior Olympics.

ANA Synchro:   If an athlete does not pass the Grade Levels, will they be asked to change to a different practice group?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  That will be up to individual teams and coaches.  Here at ANA Synchro, the answer is no.  You will stay with your practice group regardless of whether you pass a specific Grade Level.  The Grade Level test results just show you what you need to work on.  When I was competing, I liked to challenge myself to continually improve.  So I appreciated knowing what I should be working on.  As a coach, I really like this aspect of the Grade Levels – they give athletes concrete feedback and goals to strive toward.

ANA Synchro:   What are your suggestions for athletes who want to pass?

Assessors will be following a strict method to award points,
so it's important athletes understand all the details involved
with the individual skills.

Head Coach Leah Pinette:   First, study up on how the skills are to be performed and how the points will be awarded.  John Ortiz and the entire USA Synchro committee spent many months to put a very detailed manual together.  All the information athletes and coaches need is in there. 

Next, I would highly recommend supplementing your regular practice time with some sessions at home.  There are plenty of skills that can even be practiced while watching TV!

Finally, on the day of test, try to relax and concentrate, just like you do for figures.  All of us coaches have seen athletes fail to pass a level because they just didn’t take the whole thing seriously enough.  Or because they thought they wouldn’t really be judged on all the details from the manual.

The assessors have a very strict method they must follow to award points.  If you study the skills, do extra practice at home, and execute the details on the day of the test, you should be in a good position to pass the Grade Level test. 

ANA Synchro:   Do the Grade Levels signal that there are other changes coming to the Age Group, Intermediate, and Novice competition structure we are all familiar with?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  No.  The Grade Levels, along with the Long-Term Athlete Development program, represent a general framework for training and developing athletes.  The competition structure as we know it will remain the same.  We will still have Novice, Intermediate, and Age Group meets.  We will still have zone meets, Junior Olympics and the US National Championships.

ANA Synchro:   Does any of this mean that the skills of the Grade Levels will become the focus of practice?  In other words, should athletes and their parents expect more skills and less synchro?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I know everyone loves to swim routines!  But before you can swim a routine, you have to be able to swim the figures that make up the routine.  And before you can swim a figure, you have to be able to execute the skills that make up the figure.  At ANA Synchro, we spend the better part of the fall working on general conditioning, skills, and figures.  I have seen how this results in better figures scores and better routine performances.  It’s always a balance to work on the basics versus turning on the music and working on routines, which is certainly more fun.  So, the direct answer to your question is no – the new Grade Levels do not mean that we will spend less time on routines.  But it does mean that the time we spend on basics will be better organized and more effective.  If it ever feels like we’re spending more time on skills, it’s not because of Grade Levels.  It’s because we need stronger fundamentals to do our best figures and routines.

Figures are included in each Grade Level.
"Tower"' is a Level 3 skill.

ANA Synchro:   Is there still a place in synchro for girls who love synchro, but don’t necessarily strive to be a Level 10 / National Team athlete? 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes!  Absolutely!  Synchro is a great sport, regardless of your individual goals.  It’s one of the few sports that requires such total body development in cardio, strength, and flexibility – along with the artistry, creativity, and teamwork of performing to music.  Grade Levels are simply a new way to teach and learn the fundamentals.  And just like tennis or golf or any other sport, the basics are important to enjoy the sport recreationally or to strive for the Olympics.

Goal Setting

Mary Killman (right) with
ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette

 2012 Olympian; four-time USA Synchro Athlete of the Year; three-time U.S. Collegiate National Champion; four-time U.S. National Champion.  These are just some of the accolades and achievements earned by Mary Killman, currently a senior at Lindenwood University and captain of their synchronized swimming team.

How does one get so good at synchronized swimming, or anything for that matter?  Surely, the complete answer could fill up a years’ worth of blog entries, but, for this article, we wanted to start at the very beginning of all pursuits – with the setting of a goal. 

ANA Synchro was fortunate to have Mary Killman deliver a seminar on goal setting at one of our recent summer camps.  Goal setting is particularly relevant now because ANA Synchro is gearing up for another busy season of competition.  Athletes here and around the nation are working hard toward a range of goals they set at the beginning of the year.  Some want to make national teams; some want to improve their figure scores; and some want to be a good friend and teammate.  These are all great goals, and they all start with an important decision to just go for it.

Please read on as we ask Mary Killman to share what she has learned about setting and achieving goals. 

Mary:  When Leah asked me to speak about goal setting, I thought “how do I make this fun?”  It was the first day of camp, and I figured the girls would either have a ton of energy or be shy and not say anything.  I gave them all a sheet of paper which basically had a little cross on it, and in each of the four boxes, there was a question.  One was “What is your goal?”  The overall thing I was trying to get across with them was that they should be setting a goal for themselves.  They shouldn’t be looking around to other people’s papers and copying what someone else wrote because it sounded good.  And they shouldn’t be setting a goal that their coach or parent or somebody else told them they should do.  It has to be their own goal.  They have to want it. 

ANA Synchro:  It’s great that you emphasize that a goal should come from the athlete.  It’s easy to see how athletes in any sport could easily repeat what their coaches or parents say and want them to do.

Mary:  A coach is not there to tell you how to think.  Your coach can give you feedback on your goals, but they can’t set your goals for you.  Once you set a goal for yourself, the coach will be there to guide you in the direction of where you want to be in the end.  But it starts with you.  You have to make a conscious decision that you want to aim higher.  I knew that I wanted to go to the Olympics.  I had some issues in figuring out the exact steps of how to do it, but the coaches helped me with that part of it.  But the original goal was mine.

ANA Synchro:  What were the other three questions?

Mary:  “Why do you want to accomplish your goal?”  If you have no idea why you want to do something, then it probably wasn’t your idea.  “What will you do to accomplish it?” Write it down!  You may or may not like it at the time, but seeing the steps helps you know what it will take to reach your goal.  Finally, “What should you avoid?”  If you don’t know what to avoid, you’re not going to get anywhere.  Thinking it through like this works on anything from synchro to life in general.

ANA Synchro:  What happened to the goal worksheets after the seminar?

Mary:  After we made sure everything on the paper was coming from them and in their own words, I had them all sign it at the bottom.  I told them now it shouldn’t be a paper that you just put in your bag and never see again.  I suggested putting their goal sheet somewhere they would see it, where it will remind them why it’s there.  For example, if you want your timing to be better in synchro, then put your goal sheet on your mirror to remind yourself to land drill.  If you want to be a happier person, then put it next to your bed or on your ceiling so it’s the first thing you see.  If your goal is to go to the gym more often, put it on your door so you see it every time you leave the house. 

ANA Synchro:  It’s not like anyone else is checking whether you have your goal sheet hanging up or not.

Mary:  Right, it’s all your decision.  I stress constantly that you can keep your goal sheet in a prominent spot, or you can throw it away.  It’s your decision to learn and pull things away from this or any other seminar; I was going to be there talking anyway.  Likewise, it’s your decision to listen to and learn from your coach during practice time; the coaches will be on deck no matter what.  The bottom line is it’s your decision to get better or not; your decision to work toward your goals or not.

ANA Synchro:  Goal setting can be a scary thing – it’s a ton of work to go after something, especially if it’s a big something; plus it stinks if you don’t achieve your goal.

Mary:  One of my dad’s favorite quotes to this day is by Henry Ford:  Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.  In other words, if you think you can’t do something, then you probably won’t achieve it.  How you think about things makes a huge difference.  If you doubt yourself, it hurts your performance.  Nobody is 100% confident and positive all the time, but if you decide to do something and think you can do it, then you’ll work harder and have a much better chance of achieving your goal.  I’ve grown up with this, and my dad was right.  Your brain is telling you so many things that you can either pay attention to, or you can just ignore.  When you make a goal, make yourself a promise that it’s OK, it’s what you’re going to do, and then go for it.

Mary Killman (third from left) with ANA Synchro athletes
at last year's US Nationals.  The girls appreciated learning
about setting goals and working toward them from such
an accomplished athlete as Mary.

ANA Synchro:  And when it gets hard?

Mary:  My advice is to learn to want to learn.  Understand that you don’t know everything.  Learn to want to be coached.  You never know what’s going to work for you unless you open up and want to learn about other people’s ways of looking at things.  Of course, you can’t be afraid to look like an absolute idiot sometimes!  This has been a challenge for me, and I can be my own worst enemy when learning new things.  Even though I’ve been to the Olympics and I’m at this crazy-high elite level, there are times when I’m going to be below my knee in a vertical because of something I did wrong before.  I’m still learning to be OK with learning new things, even when I’m not good at them.  Now I say I’m just not good at them yet.

Olympic Champion Reflects on Synchronized Swimming as a Unique Training Ground for Life

Becky Dyroen-Lancer

Olympic Gold Medal….World Champion ….International Swimming Hall of Fame Honoree….  These are just some of the amazing accomplishments of Becky Dyroen-Lancer, one of synchronized swimming’s most decorated athletes. 

We could easily fill up an entire year’s worth of blog posts conveying all that Becky knows and wants to share with the world about synchronized swimming.  But for this blog post, as we head into this season’s final championship meet, we’ve simply asked Becky to reflect on synchronized swimming as a sport of choice for young girls and what they can expect to get out of it.

We caught up with Becky at the 2014 Age Group National Championships in Seattle, WA.  Although she retired shortly thereafter as Head Coach for Synchro Gainesville Gaviatas, she continues to work with them as a consultant, and she coaches clinics around the country.  Interested athletes can train with her this summer at the 2015 East Coast Synchro Camp, July 19-24, at the Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, VA.  Click here for more information, and click here to register.

ANA Synchro:  What do girls get out of synchronized swimming as a sport? 

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  I grew up in San Jose, CA and swam for Santa Clara.  We trained to win everything.  I was raised that way, and you just do it.  Coaching a grass roots team today, however, has given me an interesting perspective.  I realize there are lots of different pathways and different types of synchronized swimmers.  I feel like synchronized swimming is a training ground for life.  That’s how I approach it with my swimmers. 

ANA Synchro: How is it a training ground for life, given that few athletes will work in the sport after high school and college?

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  Synchronized swimming takes dedication and a lot of multitasking.  It is just one of many things they’re doing in their successful lives – high academics, synchronized swimming, band, drama, volunteering – all the different things that fill up their transcript for college.  And many young people don’t get put into high stress situations like a big meet in their regular lives.  School doesn’t really create an equivalent unless you are in really high academics.  But even if you have to prepare for and give a big speech, or present a paper, it’s different than preparing for a competition and performing in the spotlight. 

Synchronized Swimming - the ultimate team sport!

ANA Synchro: Synchronized swimming is often called “the ultimate team sport,” so teamwork has to be on the list of life lessons as well.

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  The biggest thing in terms of training for life is how to become unified with the multiple personalities that a team brings.  Having to work in a team for synchronized swimming is different than getting a partner for a science fair.  You have to figure out how to really work with people, not just who’s going to do the most work on the science fair project to get the better grade.  You have to figure out how to play to different strengths and how to get along with different personalities. 

ANA Synchro:  How does the added stress from a competition play into the teamwork aspect?

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  Different years and different seasons will bring different personalities to the team, and you have to figure out how to deal with that.  And how do you deal with that when it’s all on the line at a competition?  Some girls handle this naturally, and others don’t.  Learning from the experiences at a meet can really give the girls perspective and different life qualities that they can bring as they move forward and become successful young women.

Amazing friendships and connections are made possible
through synchronized swimming.

ANA Synchro:  Synchronized swimming is mostly female.  How does that affect the overall life experience the athletes will have?

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  Being a mostly female sport does give it a different kind of dynamic than multi-gender sports.  You have to really focus in a different way and enjoy having all your female friends and teammates.  It’s different than the distraction of what I see in other sports.  Some of the friends I made when I was going through the age group program, I am still super good friends with so many years later.  And I still keep in touch with them every week.  So these are my lifelong friends.  There is just something about having that support of girls. 

I see it more now with my coach’s eyes – this sport brings together girls, especially in middle school and high school, who may not have naturally become friends.  No matter how much you try to avoid it, there’s always going to be different groups and cliques, and juniors aren’t necessarily going to hang out with seniors.  What synchro does is bring all these girls together that have a similar strain of personality, or likes or interests, and they’re able to make a really amazing connection – a connection which they may not have made in regular high school or middle school life.  And I think that’s great!

ANA Synchro:  Do you have any final words for girls who are considering synchro as a sport or parents whose daughters have chosen this sport?

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  What I’ve found is that the people who get involved with this sport are the ones who are very intelligent.  We tend to get a very intelligent batch of girls!  I don’t know if it’s the multitasking or the different elements that are involved with synchronized swimming, why it draws this type of person, but it draws a very intelligent group.  It draws highly creative group as well.  It’s funny because some girls are creative in an artsy way, but other girls are very detail oriented.  Synchro can bring out the natural abilities that all these girls have.   

ANA Synchro:  It must be a challenge then as a coach, to help the girls balance the sport with their academics.

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  Nowadays, it feels like it is so important to be fully successful in every area that you go into, and I don’t remember that so much during my era.  Today, it’s like you need to be successful at synchro and all the other clubs and sports you’re in to get into the university you want.  So, I do find it tricky to keep the girls in the sport after sophomore year.  So many high schoolers don’t think they can do a sport and academics at the same time, and I totally disagree.  I believe sports help the academics.  I see people who have left synchro and aren’t necessarily getting better grades.  They might have more time to study, but they’re not necessarily a healthier person.  I believe most swimmers could do both if they really have the desire to do it.

ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette surrounded by
athletes she is leading on the journey to build
amazing life qualities and experiences through synchro.

ANA Synchro:  And, as you pointed out, there are lots of different pathways and different types of synchronized swimmers.

Becky Dyroen-Lancer:  It’s nice to be able to see that there are multiple ways that you can be successful in this sport.  Just because you didn’t get a gold medal at a meet doesn’t mean you’re not a success.  If you finish up this sport with some really amazing life qualities and experiences, then that’s a successful journey.

A Year Abroad for Study & Synchro!

High school Junior Gates Bryan is one of approximately 1,100 American teenagers studying abroad this year with American Field Service(AFS-USA).  But Gates, a long-time member (since 5^th grade!) of ANA Synchro, didn’t want to just study abroad, she wanted to swim synchro too!  So, with the help ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette, Gates found a host family in the south of France who was involved with synchronized swimming as well! 

Gates, third from right, poses with her new French
friends and teammates after a recent competition.

We checked in with Gates shortly after her French team’s first competition.  Read on to find out how she’s getting along with swimming synchro in France:

ANA Synchro:  What’s the name of your team?

Gates:  My team is Nautil Club Boucain.  Our colors are lime green and black, which is pretty nice. You look kind of intimidating when you wear it. <she smiles>  It’s a big team – just under 100 people.  I don't really know everybody on the team because I don't practice with everybody at the same time. 

ANA Synchro:  Does France have the same age groupings as we do in the US?  Are you a “16 – 19 Age Group” athlete over there?

Gates:  No. Here, they have Novice, they have “Espoirs,” which translates to “hope,” and they have Junior and Senior. I’m a Junior.  “Senior” functions as a masters team because Senior is for everyone above the age of 18. My coach, for example, is on the Senior team.  I would say Espoirs is in-between what we know as Intermediate and Age Group.  Here in France, you also have to pass tests to move up levels.  I had to pass the gold test to be able to swim as a Junior in France.  It really wasn't too hard, but I was still stressed about it because, if I didn’t pass, I wouldn't have been able to compete.

ANA Synchro:  Are you swimming a team routine?

Gates:  Yes I am.  We have seven people on my team.  I'm not swimming a small routine, which is fine by me.  It's already enough work swimming my team routine because it's extremely strenuous.  It's an extremely fast-paced, non-stop routine, so, by the time it's finished I'm good with just having to swim my team routine and not a small routine as well.

ANA Synchro:  How often does your team practice?

Gates:  Three times a week, which is less than my team back home. We practice two hours on Monday, three hours on Thursday, and three hours on Saturday.  So that's a lot less.  I can see the effect that has on my endurance, which kind of stinks because my team routine is so much harder here!  It's a very, very strenuous routine, and I am completely dead by the end of it.  So I'm missing that endurance that I wish I had.  Last year, and the year before that, and as far back as I can remember at least in high school, I really ate, slept, and lived synchro.  And so now on Sunday, when I don't have practice and I don't have homework, I say to myself “Whoa! What am I supposed to do with all this time? I have to find a hobby!”

ANA Synchro:  What kind of music do synchro athletes in France like to use for routines?

Gates:  Mostly about the same as back home.  They do have themes to most of their routines. The music to my team routine this year reminds me of aliens and extraterrestrials.  It's really, really weird, but it's kind of awesome at the same time!  They'll sometimes use classical music, and they'll sometimes use music with lyrics.  What I find funny is that, if they’re using music with English lyrics, I’m not sure they always know what the lyrics mean.  But it’s the same in the US.  We might use music that’s in Spanish or Russian, and we won't exactly know what the song is saying all the time either.  Sometimes, I'll hear some English lyrics that are either explicit or racy, and I can just imagine the faces of the judges back home if they heard it played for a routine!

ANA Synchro sends its warmest regards to Nautil Club Boucain

ANA Synchro:  Are the figures the same as the US?

Gates:  Yes, they're all the same.  My coach will say “Aurora” and my team will say, “which one is that again?”  But Aurora is something I've been doing for a while, so I know what she’s talking about.

ANA Synchro:  What has been the hardest thing about joining a French Synchro team?

Gates:  Definitely the language barrier. My coaches don’t speak English, so all the instruction is in French!  It can be really confusing and annoying at times when they say something, and I'll have to say “What was that word again?  I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  And you don’t want your coach thinking that you're not working hard because you don't understand something…like when everybody says “yeah, let's go” and they all go underwater, and I'm just left there on top of the water looking like an idiot because I didn’t know what was going on!  I can get frustrated and mad with myself if I end up getting yelled at because I didn’t understand something.  Luckily, in synchro, the pool deck is really loud most of the time anyway, so my coach can tell me with hand signals whether I was arched or that I piked, for example. 

ANA Synchro:  Are you fluent in French now?

Gates:  That's a tough question.  French fluency is not something that I can see myself ever achieving because there will always be something I can get better at.  There will always be more words to learn, more expressions, and more phrases.  I can conjugate better.  And so I would say I'm very proficient. I can get by just fine.  However, there are definitely moments when I don't know words.

ANA Synchro:  Do you automatically count to 8 really fast in French now or do you still count in English?

Gates:  I do both. They’re exactly the same for me now.  My teammates find it really funny when I count in English.  When I'm all alone, I'm in the habit of counting in English, but if I'm counting with my team, we all count in French.

ANA Synchro:  Have you had a meet yet?

Gates:  Yes, we just had our first meet this weekend!  <big smile!> It was extremely nerve-wracking for me!  My first meet in France!  Definitely a marked point in my life!  We got first in team, which was so awesome for me. I was so excited to blow the competition out of the water.  We had a score of 65, and the next team down had a 63.  I know a lot of people would look at that and say “that's nothing,” but, to me, that was a really big deal!  I came in 15th in figures, which wasn't my best figures day.  But I did all-right.  I'm going to look to advance next time.

Land drilling is done differently in the US and France.

ANA Synchro:  Any other similarities or differences that you'd like to share?

Gates:  Yes.  The way they land drill here is all in reverse compared to what we do in the US!  They land drill with their arms out in front of them, and it's really weird to me.  I really had to adjust the way I land drill.  Now, my teammates say I speak both land drilling languages!  Competitions are also much more relaxed, I think.  And it threw me off at first when the judges didn’t say “go” to start figures.  And my teammates find it so cute when I cheer in English because I don’t know how to cheer in French.  All they say is “Allez!” and I say “this is boring – I’m going to mix it up!  I’m going to cheer in English!”  They find that so funny!

ANA Synchro's 16-19 athletes with a message for Gates :-)

ANA Synchro:  Any final thoughts?

Gates:  I really love it here.  I have an awesome team.  I have a good coach.  She's nice and she's funny, but she definitely scares me – in a good way.  We’re really working hard.  I’m mentally preparing myself to die in practice this week because we have to get down to business before our next meet. We have a two-week vacation coming up, and in the second week, we will have seven practices in a row.  That's going to be so rough!  I'm just really looking forward to the rest of this season.  We’ll have French Nationals in May.  And then we have a big show the 20^th of June which my parents are going to be able to see, so I’m really excited!  They'll be able to see me swim in France!  

What is a Tech Duet?

ANA Synchro is competing a “Tech Duet” this season!  What is a Technical Duet?  Read on as ANA Synchro’s Head Coach explains:

ANA Synchro's Tech Duet

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  A short definition for a Tech Duet is “advanced figures placed in a shorter routine.”  Technical routines are considered senior level.  You can begin competing in the event at age 15, and you have to swim one starting at age 19 for USA Synchro Senior competitions.  US Collegiate Nationals doesn’t require them, but if collegiate level athletes want to compete at US Nationals or US Opens, they must have a technical routine.  These routines are swum at elite level international competitions, including the Olympics.

A Tech Duet is performed along with a Free Duet.  If you compare this to figure skating, the Tech Duet is like a short program, with prescribed elements, and the Free Duet is like a long program, with more creative choreography options.  A Tech Duet contains six of the highest level difficulty figures, performed in a particular order.  Athletes do not have a separate figure competition because the figures are done as part of the Tech Duet.

ANA Synchro:  Is it just duets that follow this format?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Synchro has technical solos, duets, and team routines.  And it’s the same short/long program idea for each. 

A double ballet leg is one of the required elements
of a Technical Duet.

ANA Synchro:  If athletes aren’t required to do Tech Duets until they’re 19, why do you have some of your Age Group swimmers doing one this season?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I wanted to give them an opportunity to do something a little different this season. I have them doing a Tech Duet to challenge them in a way that they’ve never been challenged before – to open a more competitive side for them.  It also allows them to focus on themselves as athletes and improving their own technical skills, so why not give them the most difficult technical elements we have in our sport?  I know they eventually want to swim past high school, so introducing it gives them great experience for college.

ANA Synchro:  Is the choreography easier for a Tech Duet since the elements are prescribed and must be performed in a particular order?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I find it easier to choreograph a technical routine, maybe because I was a technical swimmer myself.  But there still are some challenges and strategies.  You want to put the elements in a place that highlights them.  And we, on the East Coast, have to deal with a shallow end, which makes it hard because a lot of the elements require spins or sinks,  All those years swimming with the National Team, I never had to worry about a shallow end because we trained in all deep pools!  Yet we still want to evenly space out the elements so the athletes are not doing one on top of the other.

Athletes competing in Tech Duet also must swim a Free Duet,
which is longer and not constrained by prescribed elements.

ANA Synchro:  Do all meets feature Tech Routines?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  No.  There are certain competitions that feature them.  Our zone doesn’t necessarily see a lot of Tech Routines because our East Zone allows 19 year-olds (commonly seniors in high school) to compete in our Age Group and Junior tracks

ANA Synchro:  Did you have a favorite Tech Duet?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I do have a favorite one!  It was the last duet I swam with my sister.  We are rockers, and we wanted to swim to Guns & Roses “Welcome to the Jungle.”  But we weren’t sure how our coaches would react because it’s not your typical synchronized swimming music!  So we cut the music ourselves and had it all ready for the start of the season.  They did allow it, and it ended up being our favorite routine!

A Secret to Better Figures

In an earlier blog article, Coach Leah described synchronized swimming figures for us – what they are, their overriding purpose, how they’re scored, and how she manages practicing them with her team.  In this follow-up article, Coach Leah reveals her number one suggestion for improving figures:

ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette

ANA Synchro:  If an athlete wanted to improve their figures, what’s the number one thing they could do on their own – stretching splits, strengthening their core? 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Flexibility and strength are important, but I think the most important thing is your mind and what you’re telling yourself before and during a figure.  I think the biggest thing that someone could work on if they’re trying to improve a figure is visualization of that figure.  When I was competing, I clearly remember slipping into the water to get ready to do a figure and I would visualize what I was about to do.  Maybe that’s why I excelled at figures and why I like them.  Being in the proper mindset is huge in synchronized swimming.

ANA Synchro:  Do you actively work on visualization with your athletes? 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes, we focus on it a lot.  Sometimes they don’t even realize they’re doing it.  When a girl does a figure for me, I’ll ask them “What were you thinking just now? What were you telling yourself?”  If they want to do great in figures, they have to be able to calm themselves and be positive in what they’re telling themselves.

ANA Synchro:  Is this something that comes naturally to athletes, or is it something that is taught and practiced, just like all the physical moves of synchro?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  It does take practice.  I started at a young age.  Probably high school is when I started doing it for my figures.  I remember going to camps when I was on the New Canaan Aquianas, and Duke Zielinski would work with us on visualization.  And then, when I was on National Team, we had a lot of sports psychologists who worked with us on it.

ANA Synchro athletes do a "think through"
of their routine before competition.

ANA Synchro:  Does visualization work for routines too, or just figures?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  It definitely works for routines too.  Although, it took me a long time as an athlete to be able to visualize a routine.  We would do routines totally as a “think through” where we’d sit, listen to the music, close our eyes, and visualize the whole thing.  There are different techniques to it.  You can do it from the point of view of what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling, or you can do it as an outsider looking in. 

ANA Synchro:  Which way did you do it?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I’m a visual person, so I’d always visualize my teammates and what I’m seeing.  I could not visualize as the outsider looking in.  When I visualize a routine, I have to do it as what I’m seeing as I do it.  I wouldn’t see myself flying, for example, I’d see what I see as I was flying.

Coaching figures
includes training
athletes to visualize
their figures going well.

ANA Synchro:  How do you know, as a coach, if your athletes are doing it properly?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I guess you never know.  I don’t know if my coaches knew what I was seeing when I thought about a routine.  Sometimes I actually saw some bad things in there!  I’d often see a routine going wrong!  So that was a hard thing – to be able to change my mind and do it correctly in my mind.

ANA Synchro:  That’s so fascinating that you’d visualize something gone wrong!  Because that’s just your mind making it up!

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Exactly!  It’s your mind making it up!  That’s what I try to tell the athletes. If someone tells me “oh, this will be bad,” I say, “yes, you’re right!  If you think it will be bad, it will be bad.”  This is the power of visualization.  You have to think it’s going to go well.  You have to see it going well.

ANA Synchro:  Visualization seems like a pretty big topic!

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes!  Someday I’d like to run a whole clinic on it.  And maybe we’ll get an expert to do a guest blog on the topic.  Stay tuned!  

Synchronized Swimming Figures

A synchronized swimming meet will often have two very different parts to it – 1) a lively, loud, and colorful part where the athletes swim in teams to complicated and exciting choreography, and 2) a much slower, quieter part where the athletes, all dressed in black suits and white caps, individually perform a single move in front of a panel of judges.  This slower part of the meet is called the “figures” competition.  

Just what are “figures” in synchronized swimming, and why are they so important to spend time on and master?  ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette explains:

A figures competition involves athletes individually performing
 a single technical movement in front of a panel of judges. 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Figures are the more technical side and skills-based side of synchronized swimming.  Routines are the more artistic side.  Figures help with movement, and they teach the athletes what they should be doing at each age level.  Our novices start with a simple back tuck somersault, for example, and the figures get progressively more difficult in the older age groups.  Ideally, figures will teach the athletes the progression of how to do certain skills so that, when they are older and ready to do the more complicated versions, they know how to do them.  In gymnastics, for example, you wouldn’t try doing a flip without first knowing how to do a front somersault.  It’s the same in synchro.  You start with something simple and build on it from there.   So, the real purpose of figures in this sport is to help build the athlete.

"Flamingo Bent Knee" is one of many figures in synchro.

ANA Synchro:  How many figures are there?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  We have a thick rulebook of many different figures.  Every four years, FINA (our international governing body) selects eight of them for each age group to focus on.  From these eight, there are two compulsories swum at every meet, and then two more are chosen randomly for each meet by the Technical Chair of the Region or Zone.  It used to be that athletes would know far in advance which figures would be competed at specific meets, so they’d just focus on those.  But today, we find out only 18 – 72 hours in advance of a meet what the figures will be.  This is better, I think, because then you have to know all the figures evenly.  It’s challenging to know all eight figures throughout the season!

ANA Synchro:  Why do the figures change every four years?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Different figures get athletes’ bodies to do different things.  A new set might include the same set of skills, just at a higher difficulty.  Or, maybe the people who run our sport will want athletes to focus on speed or agility, so they’ll add those qualities to the required figures.  If they want to see more flexibility in our athletes, they might put a split into a figure.  Today, we’re seeing figures that require more back and leg flexibility than we’ve seen in the past.  Athletes in the 13-15 age group, for example, are doing the “Ariana” figure, which is very hard and requires a lot of leg flexibility.  And, new for athletes in the 16-19 age group is the “Nova” position, which is a bent knee ballet leg position held in an arch, that uses more back and flexibility in the arms and legs.

Black suits and white caps for figures
enable judges to focus on the technique.

ANA Synchro:  Why do the athletes all wear black suits and white caps for a figures competition?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  It’s supposed to be for the judges so they can just judge the figure.  The idea is that if everyone looks the same, then it’s not so subjective.  The judges can evaluate an athlete just based on what their skill is on the figure, not on who the person is. 

ANA Synchro:  How are figures scored in competition?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Every athlete will perform a figure in front of a panel of judges.  If there are enough judges at a meet, there will often be four separate panels the athletes will rotate through, each one judging a different figure.  Each judge will rate the figure on a scale of 1 to 10. The high and low scores get thrown out, and the rest of the scores are averaged together and factored with the figure’s degree of difficulty for an official score. 

ANA Synchro:  Are figures treated as a separate event at meets, just like solos, duets, and team competitions?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes, figures is considered a separate event and athletes can earn awards just for their figures results.  However, figures scores in the US also count for 50% of the total routine scores.  As an example, and just to keep the numbers simple, let’s say a routine scored 60 points and the figures score was 40 points.  Their final score would be those numbers added together equally, for a total of 100 points.  Another team could have the exact same routine score of 60, but, if their figures score was higher – 50, for example – then they would win the competition with a total of 110 points.

ANA Synchro:  So, doing well in figures is really important for competition!

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes.  It can work both ways.  Figures scores have been known to pull people up in the final standings, but they’ve also pulled people down from where they would have been if you just counted routine scores.

ANA Synchro:  How are figures counted toward a final score when there are two people in a duet or eight people on a team?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  All the figures scores are averaged together.  The figures scores of the individual athletes are added together and then divided by the number of athletes in the routine.  For a duet, for example, you’d add both athletes’ figures scores and then divide by 2.  For a team, you’d add all the athletes individual scores and then divide by however many athletes made up that team. 

Being a technical swimmer herself,
Head Coach Leah Pinette enjoys
teaching figures to athletes.

ANA Synchro:  Were figure scores always weighted so high at 50% of the total final score?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  No.  I remember when the final score used to be 75% routine score and 25% figures score here in the US. We’ve seen a decline in figure ranking on the international level because we lost our focus on the basic technical skills of our sport.  So, USA Synchro decided to put 50% of the score on figures and 50% on the routines as a way to get athletes and coaches to work more on figures. 

ANA Synchro:  This emphasis on figures must be challenging for any coach because the girls probably prefer working on routines, right? 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes, they do tend to want to work on routines!  I suppose I can understand that.  It’ harder, mentally, to work on figures and technical skills than a routine.  But if the girls want to have great routines, they have to be able to do a ballet leg correctly and know how to scull and spin correctly.  And the more advanced they get, the more critical it is to have a strong foundation of basics to be able to learn those harder technical skills.  So, every week when I write the practice plans, I put in there how much time we’re going to work on figures and how much time we’re going to work on routines so everybody knows the plan.  For Age Group athletes, it’s about 50-50.  For Intermediates, it’s about 75% figures and technical work, and 25% routines. 

ANA Synchro:  How did you feel about working on figures when you were an athlete? 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I really enjoyed figures because I was more of a technical swimmer.  I didn’t necessarily enjoy practicing figures though!  You don’t move around as much practicing figures so I was always cold and shivering!  But I loved doing them because they calm your mind and calm your heart rate.  I think I excelled at them because I could just focus on what I was doing at the time, at the slower pace, and think of what I could do to improve.  Now, as a coach, I have discovered that while I do love routines and the choreography side of synchro, I really love teaching the technical side of synchro.  I think the girls have figured this out by how much time we spend on them!  I still get the questions from them “when can we do routines?”, but all our work on basics and figures are paying off.  Everyone’s figures scores are improving, and I think the athletes are starting to make the connection that strong technical skills mean they’ll have stronger routines. This means they can do more advanced and exciting routines!

Stay tuned for our next installment of the figures topic where Coach Leah reveals the number one thing athletes can be doing to improve their figures score!