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.

Olympic Champions Talk About “The Basics” of Synchronized Swimming

Sarah & Karen Josephson at the esynchro booth
at the 2014 Age Group Nationals in Seattle.

ANA Synchro had the pleasure of talking to Olympians Karen & Sarah Josephson at Age Group Nationals this past July in Seattle, WA.  And it was clear that they are as passionate as ever about the sport of synchronized swimming, which took them all over the world as our country’s top duet, and which took them to the medal stand in not one, but two Olympic Games – gold in ’92/Barcelona and silver in ‘88/Seoul!

Today, the Josephson sisters, along with sports performance expert Duke Zielinski and long-time synchro official and philanthropist Carol Valles, are putting their talent, expertise, and energy into esynchro, an outstanding collection of printed and on-line resources for basic synchro training.  They have instructional videos and handbooks on safe and effective stretching techniques, figures, swimming strokes, and more.   

ANA Synchro:  At the start of our season in the fall, our coaches spend a lot of time on “basics,” like verticals, sculling, and eggbeatering.  What can you tell our athletes and their parents to help them get through this learning period, when they probably would prefer getting straight to the new routine or taking turns on top of lifts?

Sarah:  Everyone wants to do the cool stuff now!  But you have to swim first, and then you get to do the cool stuff.  It’ll make you better at the cool stuff!  Duke has a saying:  “Advanced techniques are nothing more than basic techniques performed to perfection.”  Once you learn how to do a back scull, for example, it doesn’t change when you get to an elite level.  You still do the same back scull.  You still do the same vertical scull.  So it’s really important to get those basics down.  The basic skills are one of the things I think we’ve lost in this country.

Karen:  To get successful in anything, you have to put the time in on the basic skills.  Life will be easier if you work on getting those basic skills really good.  It’s like learning to read.  You learn early, and then it’s a breeze.

ANA Synchro Coach gets in the water to help our youngest
swimmers get comfortable with the basics of the sport. 

ANA Synchro:  But it seems like the basic skills are all underwater, where judges aren’t looking.  Does it really matter what happens underwater, as long as you can do the moves well above the water?

Sarah:  Yes, it matters.  For example, to me, there is a very efficient way of tucking underwater and getting to the surface quickly.  But when I watch the girls today, I see many girls just sprawling out of a position now, which slows them down.  And when they torpedo down the pool, they should be able to shoot out and travel down the pool very quickly. 

Karen:  If someone doesn’t have good technique, they look like they’re just plowing through the water, and they’re not moving as far, or as fast, as they should.

Sarah:  Watch the Russian National team.  The strength and power of their kicks to move themselves down the pool are just so much more impressive than most of the rest of the world at this point.  That’s just basic swimming technique.

ANA Synchro coaches spend some practice time on stroke
technique because the better swimmer you are, the
better synchronized swimmer you'll be.

ANA Synchro:  Basic swimming technique?  Are we talking freestyle?  The common strokes?

Sarah:  Definitely.  It’s swimming.  It might be synchronized swimming, but it’s still swimming.  I think we forget that sometimes.  The better swimmer you are, the better synchronized swimmer you’ll be.

Karen:  Back when we were competing, we spent a lot of time with Matt Biondi, and he spent a lot of time on technique.  He made sure every finger was right when he entered the water.  That’s why he could win.  His training to the technique was exactly precise.  And it’s the same in Synchro.  It really needs to be that precise. 

ANA Synchro:  As you know, USA Synchro evaluates athletes on a specific set of skills, both land-based and water-based, to determine who will earn a spot on one of our national teams.  For girls who aspire to that, should they focus on just those specific skills?

Karen:  We’re big on not just training one specific movement.   You have to train all around.  Sitting in a split, for example, doesn’t necessarily make your split better.  You need to stretch out different ways.  It’s not just the one exact movement.  When you do just the one movement, that’s when you tend to get injured.  Because in Synchro, you are never just doing a straight leg lift.  You might be doing a leg left while swinging it around.  So you have to be all-around fit.  Synchro is really whole body fitness, not direct straight line moves.

ANA Synchro athletes get evaluated a couple times
a year so they can know when they improve and what
they still need to work on.

ANA Synchro:  Last year on our team, though, we started quarterly evaluations to measure how people are doing against particular skills.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Sarah:  A good thing!  Not every club does this, and I think they should.  In timed sports, you have a time, and you know if you get it or not.  In basketball, you know if you score a bunch of baskets.  It’s much more quantitative.  In Synchro, it’s not.  And there aren’t meets or competitions every weekend like other sports.  So evaluations give kids an easy way to set goals.  They can see where they are at this point and what they need to do to get to the next level.  It gives them something to measure.  Still, at the end of the day, Synchro is a subjective, judged sport, but there are objective ways to judge it to improve upon the skills to get where you want to go.

ANA Synchro likes to kick off its season with a fun social
activity.  This year's choice - a group trampoline event!

ANA Synchro:  What would you like to tell kids involved in this sport?

Sarah:  All the way it should be fun.  It’s an activity.  It doesn’t mean you can’t work hard, but it should be fun.  You should enjoy the challenges of working on things, learning new skills, and working with teammates. 

ANA Synchro:  What would you like to tell parents whose kids are involved in this sport?

Karen:  Make sure there’s enjoyment and improvement.  Are they getting better?  Are they working toward goals?  Not just randomly working, which is sort of an easy thing to do in Synchro if you just start working on a routine without knowing if you got any better.  And it’s quality of practice not quantity of hours.  More hours does not necessarily mean getting better.  It can just be exhausting the kids thoroughly.  And, if there are more hours, are they really working in the pool or just hanging out?  You can get a lot done in a few hours.

Synchronized swimming - a blend of athleticism,
technical skills and artistry.

ANA Synchro:  Finally, tell us what you love about synchronized swimming.

Sarah:  I think it’s that balance between athleticism and the technical skills and the artistry.  The choreography is just a way to show off your athletic and technical skills.  It’s the creative part with the technical part.  That balance is cool.

Check out eSynchro at their website:  www.esynchro.com

Summer Synchro!

The competition part of the season may have just ended, but ANA Synchro athletes will not be idle all summer!  Head Coach Leah Pinette wants to share three options for keeping synchro-fit this summer, some combination of which should fit just about everybody’s vacation, camp, and simply hanging-out-in-the-summer plans:

1.  Do some stretching and conditioning on your own, emphasizing and practicing the proper technique that was taught all last year. 
2. Practice pool skills at our weekly clinics, which have been specifically set up to run weekly to accommodate families’ travel.
3. Two Olympians are better than one!  ANA Synchro will be hosting a clinic the week of August 18th with guest coach Mary Killman, our 2012 USA Olympian and current collegiate champion in synchronized swimming. What could be better than spending a week with 2 synchro Olympic athletes, our very own Coach Leah and Mary Killman!

ANA Synchro:  First, we have to ask….Really?  Synchro in the summer?  Don’t the girls deserve the summer off?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  I totally understand when girls, and their families, just want to take a break for the summer.  And resting your body after what can be a grueling season is definitely a good thing, especially for anyone who is injured.  At the same time, summer is the perfect time, since there aren’t any competitions, to work on getting the right techniques down for both land and water activities.  This, combined with general conditioning, can give the girls an excellent base for the fall season. 

Head Coach Leah Pinette encourages
her athletes to get outside this summer!

ANA Synchro:  Tell us what the girls can be doing at home or when they’re away at camp or on vacation.

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Just be active!  Synchronized swimming is a non-weight-bearing activity, so adding some weight-bearing activity would be good.  Good weight-bearing activities could include running, playing soccer, weight-lifting – basically anything that requires you to exercise with more than your own body weight.  And get outside!  Personally, I love hiking.  AllTrails  is a great resource that I use to find hiking trails around home and wherever I travel.

ANA Synchro:  What about activities if the girls are indoors, just catching up on their favorite TV shows?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  They can be working on getting the perfect squat in preparation for next season.  The girls know I love the squat because it helps to balance out all the front-facing moves we do in synchro.  Andrew Cannon, the physical therapist who has been helping us with injury prevention, gave us a helpful video to illustrate the proper way to do a squat. 

ANA Synchro:  What about stretching?  Synchronized swimmers probably need to be stretching all the time, right?

Head Coach Leah Pinette demonstrating the proper flat split position,
with hips square, front leg up, back leg down, and nice posture.

IMPROPER flat split position with hips rolled out.

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Yes.  We want the girls to achieve flat splits, but in the proper position, which is up and down, not sideways.  Sideways, or “rolled out” as we say, actually works different muscles than you use for a proper flat split, and it creates imbalances.  So we want the girls thinking more about alignment of their legs, keeping their hips square, and maintaining a nice posture when stretching.  Stretching from a proper position will feel differently than from an improper one – and they may not be able to get down as far when they first start doing it properly; but in the long run, it’s better if they just go as far as they can using the proper technique.

ANA Synchro:  Tell us about your weekly pool workouts this summer.

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  To accommodate camps and vacation, we are inviting girls to sign up by the week for pool workouts.  We have pool time Monday through Friday all summer long, and we want to work on swimming technique, sculling technique, basics like the support scull, and figures.  We will be tailoring the content of each week based on who signs up.

ANA Synchro:  Swimming technique?  Why do synchro athletes need good stroke technique?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  General swimming technique matters a lot!  After all, what we do might be “synchronized,” but it’s still “swimming.”  When someone is a better/stronger swimmer, it shows in any synchronized swimming performance.  Athletes will have better speed, better endurance, smoother transitions, and they’ll be less prone to injury if they have better swimming technique.  We are fortunate to have two coaches, Meaghan and Erica, who did speed swimming in college and who will be around this summer to coach.  They have been invaluable in passing along swimming tips.  Plus, we will be sharing pool time with the Y’s Hurricanes Swim Team, so I hope to tap into their coaches’ expertise and knowledge as well.

ANA Synchro:  What is “sculling” and what does it have to do with synchronized swimming?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  Sculling refers to 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.  It can look effortless, especially the way some of the more experienced athletes do it, but I assure you it’s very difficult.  And sculling can be a challenge to teach because it can be a little different swimmer to swimmer.  A swimmer really has to find the motion that works and is efficient for their particular body.  You don’t think of a liquid like water being something you can “grab,” but that’s how we talk about it – finding the right “grab” or “pull” in the water with a scull.

ANA Synchro:  Finally, about the clinic in August…If girls have been working on conditioning and stretching all summer, and if the season is just about to start, why should they also sign up for a clinic?

Olympian Mary Killman (center, yellow) will be joining
Head Coach Leah Pinette (right, blue) in coaching a clinic in August.

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  You get everything in a full-day clinic like the one we will host.  You get synchro skills; you get land activities; you get seminars.  We’re also looking to do Pilates, some dance, and some yoga.  All of these cross-training activities are great for synchro; we just don’t have time for them in normal practice.  So, a full-day clinic is a great way to expose the girls to many different training techniques from different instructors, and they’ll be able to say what they liked and what worked well for their body.  We are thrilled to have Mary Killman help us out with this year’s clinic.  Mary went to the Olympics in 2012 and, earlier this year, helped Lindenwood University win the collegiate championship.  I know Mary, and she will not only be an excellent teacher for the girls, she will undoubtedly inspire them all to do their best.

ANA Synchro:  How do people sign up for the weekly pool workouts and the August clinic?

Leah Pinette (Head Coach):  You can call the front desk of the Y (978-685-3541) or go on-line to register for the weekly pool workouts.  Go to http://mvymca.org/; click on “Program Registration” in the upper right; type in “synchro” to the search box; click on “Synchro Clinic”; and choose the week or weeks you want to sign up for.  And you can go to our website, anasynchro.org to download the flyer and the sign-up form for the August clinic.  Interested athletes can email me (lpinette@mvymca.org) with any questions.