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!

How to knox hair for synchronized swimming

We are about to enter a busy competition season, so we thought it would be a good time for a “How to Knox” blog post!  If you are new to knoxing, or just need some refresher tips, take a look below.  Our 13-15 Age Group team was kind enough to let us watch while they knoxed for their first routine meet of the year.

By knoxing their hair,
synchronized swimmers
keep their hair in perfect
place throughout a routine.

Why do synchronized swimmers knox their hair?  To keep it in perfect place while swimming a competition routine.  It is only done when swimming routines at meets.  At ordinary practices, or for figures only, synchronized swimmers wear caps.

Do you mean “Knox” as in the gelatin product you buy at a grocery store?  Yep!  The same thing!  It’s pretty gooey when it goes on, but it dries nicely to keep the hair in place.  And it’ll stay put throughout a day because the water in pools is usually only about 80 – 84 degrees, not hot enough to melt the knox.

How do the girls get it out?  It takes a nice, long hot shower after the meet is over to dissolve the knox away.  Tip for success:  Some girls like to use conditioner to keep the hair detangled while getting all the knox out.

1. Gather your supplies.  Tip for success:  Many girls like to build a little kit of supplies with the following items.  That way, everything is right there for every meet – no tedious searching around.

Supplies for knoxing hair.

• hair brush
• pony tail elastic(s)
• bobby pins
• hair net
• squirt bottle for spritzing hair
• 3-4 individual envelopes of Knox
• ¼ or 1/3 cup measure
• cup for mixing (some parents have a special plastic knox-mixing cup, and other parents use disposable coffee cups to simplify clean-up)
• plastic fork for mixing
• medium-sized comb
• paint or pastry brush
• towel for wrapping shoulders while painting on the knox
• smaller towel or washcloth for catching knox drips 

Good knox starts with a tight ponytail.

2. Pull the hair into a tight ponytail and secure with an elastic.  This step is critical!  The tighter the initial ponytail, the smoother, and prettier the knox will be.  Tip for success:  Dampen the hair to minimize flyaways and smooth out the hair from the start.








3. Make a bun with the ponytail. 

   

   Option 1 for thicker hair, split 
   ponytail into two sections, 
   then wrap each into the bun.

• For thin hair, simply twist the ponytail in one section until it naturally falls into a bun coil.  Secure the end with a bobby pin. 


• Option 1 for thicker hair:  Split the ponytail into two pieces.  Twist each section in opposite directions.  Coil one section around into a bun shape, securing the end with a bobby pin.  Then coil the other section around in the opposite way, securing that end with a bobby pin also.

Option 2 for thicker hair: 
make either 2 or 3 braids
before wrapping bun.

• Option 2 for thicker hair: Split the hair into two or three sections and braid each section.  Wrap each piece around into a bun coil, securing each end with a bobby pin.

4. Wrap the hair net around the bun.  It will go around 2-3 times.


5. Secure bun with bobby pins.  Overlap bobby pins at the base of the bun for stability.  You should be able to tug on the bun and know that it is secure at this point.  Use hairpins down the center if desired for thick hair. Please note:  some parents will put the hair net on first, then lock down the bun with bobby pins; others will lock it down without the net, then add the net.





Secure bun with bobby pins.



Wrap hair net around bun 2-3 times




6. If hair has started to dry out, give it a spritz all around and smooth it down with your hand or a comb.  Tip for success:  Be especially careful to dampen and smooth all the little wisps of hair that collect at that base of the neck and forehead.

Dampen and comb up all the little wisps before knoxing.

Now, get ready to knox!

7. Boil the water.  Tip for success:  The hotter the better; a hotpot will be fine; the coffee maker typically found in hotels for travel meets will be fine too.


8. Empty 3 or 4 knox packages into cup.  Use 3 packages for younger athletes and for those with thin hair; most everyone else will be fine with 4 packages, though we know of some swimmers who use more than that. 




9. Pour the hot water into the cup with the knox and mix.  Until you know and can eyeball the right consistency of the knox, try these ratios:  ¼ cup water for 3 packages knox; 1/3 cup water for 4 packages.

   

   With experience, you'll be able
   to eyeball the knox for the right
   consistency.

   Tip for success:  Resist adding more knox or adding more water after you’ve already mixed!  The consistency can change dramatically when you try to fine tune the mixture after the first mix, and no one wants to be that girl with the clumpy knox!  If you need more, simply mix up a new batch.


10. Starting at the center of the forehead, comb a layer of knox into the hair.  Dip your comb into the cup of liquid knox and comb it in.  Working quickly, go all around the head with the comb, dipping the comb in for more knox with each new section of hair. 

    

    Comb in a layer of knox all around the head.

    Tip for success:  Dampen a corner of your smaller towel with hot water before starting this step; this will be good for catching any drips of hot knox that fall on ears or exposed necks.





11. Next, dip your paint or pastry brush into the liquid knox and paint it on the surface of the hair.

    

    Paint the knox on the hair with
    a paint or pastry brush.

     
12. When you’ve gone all the way around the head with the brush, use the last part of the liquid knox to paint the bun.

    

    The bun is the last thing to paint.












13. Let the hair dry for about 10 minutes, and pin the headpiece on.  The hair will be just gooey enough to easily put the bobby pins in to secure the headpiece.  

    

    Pin headpiece on before knox dries.

    Tip for success:  If you wait too long, the knox will dry hard and it will be very difficult to get the headpiece in.

Combined "Combo" Routine

In  Part 1 of this 2-part article on “Combo” routines, ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette described for us what a Combo routine is and the choreography challenges and opportunities it presents.  She also gave us a glimpse of ANA’s Combined Combo this season with Cambridge Synchro and the North Shore YMCA Selkies.  In this second and final part of the article, Coach Leah tells us more about how that joint venture came about and how she and the two other coaches manage it all.

Head Coaches:  (l-r) Katie Rice of Cambridge Synchro,
Carrie Reynolds of North Shore YMCA Selkies,
and Leah Pinette of ANA Synchro.

ANA Synchro:  Why did ANA Synchro, North Shore YMCA Selkies, and Cambridge Synchro combine this year for a Combo? 

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Our three teams are combining for a Combo this year to give our older athletes a chance to work with others at their level and compete as one.  It’s really a unique opportunity in that these girls are swimming alongside girls they normally compete against.  That’s different because your competitors are who you watch – for years sometimes – and you look up to them.  Even though you’re competitors, you want to be able to swim with them too.  You want to be able to swim with the best in your group. 

ANA Synchro:  How do the rules allow for a combined Combo?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I learned about the opportunity to join forces at our national USA Synchro Convention last September.  USA Synchro put this into place to accommodate smaller clubs.  In the past, if you were a smaller club, you might have put together a trio of similarly-leveled athletes, but we don’t have trios any more as of this year.  So, USA Synchro is allowing teams to combine to give athletes an opportunity to get involved in a bigger group.  I thought it would be a neat opportunity for our older girls, so I reached out to a few teams in our area. 

ANA Synchro:  What was their reaction?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Both Carrie Reynolds, Head Coach of the North Shore YMCA Selkies and Katie Rice, Head Coach of Cambridge Synchro thought it was a great idea.  We coaches then reached out to our athletes to see if there was any interest.  Initially, we had about 20 who at least wanted to learn more about it.  In the end, we had 11 (10 swimmers + 1 alternate) who were willing to make the commitment.  According to the rules, we couldn’t call the combined Combo any of our existing team names, so we’re competing under the name “New England Synchro.”

New friends are being made in the New England Synchro
Combined Combo.

ANA Synchro:  How is it going?  Are the girls meshing together?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  It’s going well!  It’s a huge learning experience for all of us, and I do find the girls are meshing.  They are not just hanging out with the girls on their own team.  All of the girls are open and welcoming, helping each other, and becoming a team.  Part of it, I think, is that all these girls really want to be here.  They had to consciously decide to commit to the extra practices, the driving to each other’s pools, and the time and expense of traveling to the bigger meets.  You don’t always get this full-on commitment with an ordinary age-group team, so having it with the Combo makes a real nice dynamic.

ANA Synchro:  How are the three coaches making it work?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  We had never worked together like this before, so we definitely had to find our groove as coaches.  We each have different styles, which I think is turning out to be a positive to the whole experience.  Carrie is probably the most artistic one of the three of us, so she has great vision with solos and the presentation of everything.  Katie is a teacher, so she’s a very good communicator and very organized.  She tends to be the planner of the group.  And Katie is patient, which balances my coaching style because I tend to be the taskmaster of the group.  (That probably comes from all those years as captain of the National Team!)  I think we are all learning from each other, and, together, we’re creating stronger athletes all around, not with just our own.  We might even be getting a little spoiled having three head coaches around to be more eyes on deck and to independently watch all the different parts that make up a Combo.

Three Head Coaches on deck means three pairs of eyes
to watch over all parts of the Combined Combo

ANA Synchro:  So the girls don’t look to just their own coach for leadership?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Not at all.  They’re very comfortable taking direction and correction from all three of us coaches.  I actually love this part of it.  It’s the same reason I love when our athletes go to different camps and clinics.  Sometimes another coach can tell my athletes the exact same thing I tell them, and it’ll just click with them because they’ll hear it in a different way.  So, by providing these different perspectives on the same athletes, the athletes are improving, and we coaches are improving too, just watching how each other operates. 

ANA Synchro:  What has been your biggest challenge with the tri-team arrangement?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  The biggest challenge is we don’t get together as a group as often as we would if it was just our own team.  So it’s January and the girls are still working on learning a couple of the laps.  Luckily, the season is young, and we have the flexibility to add more practice time if we need it as we get closer to the bigger competitions.  Another challenge is making sure the choreography is all connected, but that would be there regardless of whether we were doing a combined Combo or one with just our own team.

The Combo starts its Snow
White story on deck with a
dramatic portrayal of the mirror.

ANA Synchro:  How are the girls enjoying the storytelling nature of Combo choreography?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  I think they like it because it’s different than anything they’ve done.  Our story starts on the deck!  Even though deckwork is not supposed to be judged, it is still a great opportunity to make a strong first impression.  We have one girl portraying the evil queen, another portraying Snow White, and the rest of them portraying the mirror.  The whole storytelling concept is pretty new for them, so I don’t think they got the mirror concept at first, but when they did, we just saw it all come together.

ANA Synchro:  Has there ever been a multiple team effort like this before for a Combo?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Actually, ANA Synchro has done a combined Combo years ago with the New Canaan YMCA Aquianas when Eugenia Gillan was Head Coach.  (Genia is now coaching Boston University's Synchro Team.)  Genia and Krista Karwosky (formly Bessinger) from New Canaan were talking about how they were both going to US Opens one summer, and decided to join forces for a Combo.  Because she had first-hand experience with a combined Combo, I asked Genia her opinion and for any pointers. 

ANA Synchro:  Have you gotten any feedback from other teams about your combined Combo?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Yes.  I was asking a lot of questions about it at Convention, and the other coaches there were giving positive feedback.  Carrie attended a choreography clinic in Colorado Springs earlier in the season where she asked a lot of questions about it as well.  She also got a lot of support, especially from the smaller teams who had representatives there.  I think if we can show a good example of it, that we were able to come together and make it work, maybe other teams will try it too.  I know we’re not necessarily the smallest team, but we can still show how it can work.  And who knows, I wouldn’t be surprised if other teams, especially the smaller ones, are doing the same thing already and we’ll see them at nationals.

The Combined Combo is a great learning experience
for both athletes and coaches.

ANA Synchro:  So you foresee doing it again?

Head Coach Leah Pinette:  Sure!  We’re showing that it can work.  If there’s enough interest, you can get the athletes competing at the skill level that they should be swimming.  The bottom line for me is this is good for synchro in general.  Our combined Combo is helping to develop our own athletes.  It’s helping us coaches learn from each other and stretch ourselves with new techniques for choreography.  And, though ANA Synchro has a long history of attending national meets, that’s not the case with all the teams in the US.  A combined Combo may be the thing that exposes more clubs and more athletes to higher level meets than what is available in their own region.  I know when ANA sent their first group to a national level meet years ago, they witnessed the top teams in the country and came back fired up to get to that level too.  And now, years later, we have routines placing in finals at those same national meets.  So, who knows what this could inspire!  But I’ll be excited to see what unfolds!