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.

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!

Synchro Terminology – Basic Moves

It doesn’t take long for a synchro swimmer to start talking a new language at home!  Does this sound familiar?:  “Hey Mom and Dad!  Today I learned how to scull to hold a vertical so I can one day do a nice hybrid.  And I’m really tired from all that eggbeatering!  What’s for dinner?”  The language of synchro!

In this first of two parts, ANA Synchro demystifies the terminology used in our sport for its most basic moves.  Our youngest athletes start learning these techniques right away for a solid foundation from which to grow.  And our most experienced athletes continue to strengthen their basic techniques so they can more effortlessly do the more complicated and flashy synchro moves.

Eggbeatering under the water allows athletes to perform
artistic movements above the water.

Eggbeater - the alternating, circular movement of the legs that keeps a swimmer’s upper body steady and out of the water during a routine.  Some people may think it is simply “treading water,” but it requires much more core than ordinary treading and involves a specific technique – just like the motion of the eggbeater in your kitchen – that allows for athletic and artistic movements above the water.

Sculling - the propulsive moves a swimmer makes with her hands and forearms.  In synchronized swimming, we have about 10 different types of sculls for different purposes.  Some enable you to stay stationary while executing a move with your legs; others allow you to spin; still others enable you to travel through the water.

Athletes accomplish the difficult vertical position
by support sculling underwater.

Vertical - the position where both legs are together and above the surface of the water.  Athletes achieve this difficult position by engaging their core and using the support scull motion with their arms.  Many increasingly difficult moves are possible once an athlete has mastered a basic vertical.

The Ballet Leg Position - athletes are laying on the
water with one leg perpendicular to the surface.

Ballet Leg - a position where the swimmer is ‘laying’ on the surface of the water and one leg is perpendicular to their body.  Requires flexibility, core control, and strong sculling technique.  Anyone who doubts whether synchro is hard should try a “simple-looking” ballet leg next time they’re in the pool!

Athletes spend much time working on figures because
they account for 50% of their score at competitions.

Figures - a collection of the most basic moves of synchro which are performed in a very slow, controlled fashion in competitions.  Figures are important to practice because they account for half of a routine’s final score at a competition.  There are 8 different figures for each age group, and they get progressively more difficult as girls get older.

Hybrid - a sequence of leg movements performed while the swimmer is underwater in a routine.  A typical hybrid can last 10-15 seconds, with the most challenging lasting about 30-40 seconds.  Hybrids, especially long hybrids, require synchronized swimmers to have a high aerobic capacity as well as flexibility, core control, and strength to maintain muscle control throughout the movement.

Readers – are there other synchro terms that you’re wondering about?  Write to us in the comments section below or send us an email to synchroana@gmail.com, and we’ll try to feature them in an upcoming blog!

And stay tuned for Part 2 of Synchro Terminology where we’ll define terms used in synchro competitions and performances.

Coaching Plans – A Key Tool for Consistency & High Performance

We think all our coaches are pretty awesome.  Each brings their unique experience to the team.  But that creates challenges too.  Athletes need consistency in what they are being taught.  So there needs to be some way for each coach to take advantage of the best techniques from the rest of the staff.  Today we talk to Head Coach Leah Pinette about how she blends the strengths of her staff with her own direction for the benefit of every athlete and the whole team.

ANA Synchro:  We’re sure that all the girls would love for you to be their coach every day, but you are only one person.  How do you manage it on a big team like this such that every girl feels impacted by you and your expertise?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Well, first, I have to say, we have a great staff of coaches, and we work together really well.  For example, when I teach a particular technique, like how to do sculls, the other coaches will listen in so they can teach it the same way.  We just want a very consistent teaching method.

ANA Synchro:  So you’re driving all of it?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Oh no, it’s not just me.  We coaches are a real team.  In addition to having swum synchro, two of our coaches, Erica Courtmanche and Meaghan Arsenault did speed swimming in college.  So I’m learning what they do with swimming technique.  Both Yoshiko Gray and Zsuzsa Belhazy-Kovacs are so in tune with body mechanics from their yoga practices that we all pick things up from them about stretching safely and effectively.  We just don’t want the girls to get confused or wonder what they should be focusing on, so we coaches try to be on the same page with how we teach different things. 

Head Coach Leah Pinette confers with coaches
Zsuzsa Belhazy-Kovacs and Erica Courtmanche
about the plan for the day.

ANA Synchro:  How do you direct all the girls’ learning on a day-to-day basis?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  I write coaching plans every day for each group.  I write, usually by the half hour, what each group should be doing and what I expect.  Maybe the first half hour is workout conditioning, and then we’ll focus on support sculls.  Maybe next week it’s going to be eggbeater technique.  I also write in which figures we want to work on.  Sometimes, if multiple groups are practicing at the same time, we’ll do certain things together if it makes sense, but then we’ll go into our separate groups for routine work.

ANA Synchro:  What about when the girls need to practice to their music?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Yes, that’s part of it.  Every day, I write in where we’re going to slot music time because that can be the hardest part of having multiple groups in the water at the same time.  Otherwise, it would be so chaotic. 

ANA Synchro:  How do you ensure your coaching plans are being implemented the way you intended when you wrote them?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Well, I am on the pool deck at every practice, so I do see every girl throughout the week.  I will often walk over to the other groups, see what they’re doing, and talk to their coaches.  I make sure what they’re doing is what I envisioned and what we’ve discussed as a coaching staff.  Not that my way is always the best way, but I am accountable for everything that happens.  I hold my coaching staff and our athletes to the high standards I would hold for myself.

Head Coach Leah Pinette watches
carefully as an athlete practices a figure.

ANA Synchro:  Anything else to add about coaching plans?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  One of the particular things on my to-do list is making sure we’re all together on techniques for figures.  We finally got all the new figures in the rule book including what the judges will be looking for.  This is great because we don’t want to be teaching something that might not be important for competition.  So I want all of us coaches to have this information when we work on figures.  Consistency is key.

For more information on Leah Pinette and the coaching staff at ANA Synchro, click here: http://anasynchro.org/coaches/index.php

ANA Synchro is the competitive synchronized swimming team of the Merrimack Valley YMCA’s Andover/North Andover Branch.  To visit the ANA YMCA’s website, click here: http://andover.mvymca.org/ANASynchro