Synchro swimming: go ahead, laugh
UPDATED WITH A LINK TO THE SNL VIDEO
Since Tearfree came out and admitted she was not a soccer mom but, even worse, a synchronized swimming mom, readers have been writing to ask how it all happened because they can’t imagine that any parent dreams of their child growing up to be a synchro swimming star.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Tearfree has met the parents who push their kids into synchro swimming and, you guessed it, they’re ex-synchronized swimmers. Tearfree’s daughter, on the other hand, ended up in the sport because her best friend did, and her best friend did because her mother needed an after-school activity, and that’s what the neighbourhood pool offered.
At first, Tearfree felt about synchronized swimming the way just about everyone who’s not involved in the sport does. She was appalled by the nose plugs, the gelatined hair, and the competitions in the boonies of Quebec in the dead of winter, but within a few weeks Tearfree had become a synchro swimming defender, fighting to uphold the good name of the much-ridiculed sport (WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP) with all the passion of a Mummy Blogger who believes she’s been done wrong.
These girls are top athletes no matter how foolish their sport may seem. They do lengths, learn dance moves and train on dry land. What’s more, synchronized swimming is a whole lot better for kids than ballet, where all the teachers seem to have major unresolved issues about not having made it to the Bolshoi. Tearfree honestly doesn’t understand why scout masters are always in hot water for some kind of transgression while ballet teachers get away with promoting anorexia, foot binding and a whole lot of other neurotic stuff with absolutely zero consequences.
Yet another benefit of synchronized swimming is that it’s a relatively safe sport. Last winter, Tearfree was watching some American ski star whose aging ski bunny Mom, fetchingly clad in furs and aviator sun glasses and shaking her streaked blonde hair, was wildly cheering her daughter on during a race in the French Alps. The announcer mentioned that the brother was also a skier, leaving Tearfree in complete awe that the Mom could not only allow her two kids to compete in such a dangerous sport but show up at the races to cheer them wildly on. No matter how hard she tries, Tearfree just doesn't get it.
Our first jock/sports discussion is now open for comment.
WELCOME READERS FROM WIKIPEDIA: PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL THE OTHER SYNCHRO STORIES ON THE MAIN BLOG PAGE.
6 Tell us what you really think:
I feel your pain, Tearfree, but ever since that Harry Shearer/Martin Short skit on SNL about synchronized swimming ... well ... let's just say it might have been the funniest SNL skit ever, and I am afraid did the sport a grave disservice.
Yes, we synchro swimming Moms put up with a lot and we take it far better than the Mummy Bloggers, who have never (yet0 been the subject of an SNL skit.
Well...
I'm sixteen, too old to begin doing gymnastics or synchro swimming, and I swear to myself everyday that I will bring my children -if I ever have any- to rhythmic gymnastics or synchro swimming lessons since they are little.
Still trying to find a RG or SS club nearby for my little niece.
I know this is a little late, but had to jump in. Sixteen is so way NOT too late to start synchro. The top national teams average age is somewhere in the twenties and the master's program has swimmers in their nineties!! You get out of it what you put into it. My master's team has 20 to 70 year olds and we compete once a year in the Show-Me-State games and have a ball not to mention staying in shape. Go for it!!!!
Also, check usasynchro.org for teams in your area.
Synchro swimming is a great way to involve your kids in a sport program, but you may want to think twice before deciding that synchro is safer than ballet or rhythmic gymnastics. Through my own experience i can safely say that synchro coaches can be just as bad as ballet instructors in terms of promoting anorexia as well as pushing young girls to higher levels faster than normal without consideration for their well being within the sport. You should also think about the options if your child get heavily involved with the sport as it can cost up to 6000$ year and it may take away much of your valuable time and resources. After you have made those considerations and decided that synchro is still for you, i highly reccomend it, it has changed my life in such a positive way and ill never forget all the fun i had.
faerie,
Never too young, or weighty, or...
I'm 26, barely swim (I've taken swimming lessons three various times in my life, totaling about 20 hours of swim time).
I want to be a synchronized swimmer and join or fund a great team to go to the Olympics maybe in 2012.
Wish me luck. Never say never. I learned today about the nose clips (curious about how that works, with the need to breathe.)
Post a Comment