Twice a week, dozens of girls dive into the Andover/North Andover YMCA pool, sporting matching bathing suits and rubber swim caps. They spend hours training to make every movement, every gesture — many of them underwater — match one another in their swim routines.
The girls, members of the Andover/North Andover Synchers, are seeing the results.
Their junior and senior levels took home 10 gold medals at the New England Synchronized Swimming Association junior/senior meet and age group invitational, held in Worcester last month.
"This team is like a family," said Syncher Amber Blum, 16, of North Andover.
"It's a lot of time to put in, but it's so worth it to have that gold medal on your neck," she said with a smile.
The Synchers, a regional synchronized swim team, have 65 swimmers broken into several levels, from age 6 to 19. The swimmers practice a total of four days a week, splitting their time between the ndover/North Andover and the Lawrence YMCA pools.
"Andover is on the synchronized swimming map, at a national level," said Eugenia Gillan, who coaches the Synchers with Svetlana Malinovskaya. "We have a saying, 'Team as one.'"
Beginners join the team with basic swim skills and "we teach them the rest, what they need to know," said Gillan. Most of the senior level Synchers have grown up together the program; some have and been swimming together for as many as eight years.
Members agree that the demanding commitment – almost 20 hours both in and out of the pool each week – is worth it.
"We all get along really well," said 14-year old Alice Rodgers, looking over at her teammates with a smile.
"It's great to have a team, you're not alone out there, working by yourself," said North Andover swimmer Becca Ely, 16.
"I can't imagine life without synchro, and seeing these girls," agreed Alison Ziel, 14.
Malinovskaya joined the Synchers as a full-time coach last June.
Her first impression of the ANA Synchers, she said, was that the girls are "extremely close together, very good at listening to the coaching staff, very organized and have a good attitude, a very good spirit."
Prior to the Synchers, Malinovskaya was a synchronized swim coach in Connecticut, and a professional synchronized swimmer herself before coaching.
Gillan said the ANA Synchers are the largest synchronized swim group in the country. Members come from all over the Merrimack Valley and New Hampshire; two sisters travel all the way from Rhode Island to swim with the team.
Three former members of the Synchers currently swim with varsity synchronized teams in college, said Gillan.
Precision in the pool
In competition, synchronized swimmers perform a four-minute routine to music. Once they're in the water, they are not allowed to touch the floor or the sides of the pool and are judged for both artistry and technical execution.
Each move the Synchers make is intentional, and they use their hands, arms and legs in different ways to propel themselves through the water, gliding, flipping and twisting, often upside down.
"Everything has to be synchronized, every look, every finger," said Gillan.
Because about half of every routine is spent underwater, the Synchers train to be able to hold their breath for lengths of time. At the senior level, the girls are able to swim two full lengths of the YMCA pool — 50 meters — in one breath.
Besides time in the pool, the team also has "dry" practices, where they talk through routines, and do weight training, running and other cross-training exercises. Malinovskaya has started to teach them some ballet moves, said Synchers Alice and Amber.
Synchronized swimmers have to be all-around athletes, said Gillan, with strength, endurance and flexibility. The girls also learn goal setting, leadership, discipline and teamwork skills through synchronized swimming and traveling together to meets throughout the Northeast.
"Synchronized swimming teaches you skills for life," she said. "They get up early in the morning, they give up birthday parties for this."
BOX: The ANA Synchers clear up some stereotypes
Question: What do you wish people knew about synchronized swimming?
Asnwers:
"It's not as easy as it looks," Laina Gray, 13.
"It's a contact sport. We get bruises and scratches," Caitlyn MacGregor, 15.
"It is not what most people think, the bathing cap with flowers," Amber Blum, 16.
"It's not water ballet! It's a completely different thing," Becca Ely, 16.
BOX: Curious?
Each spring, the ANA Synchers perform a show for the community. This year their show, "We Were Born to Shine," will be held April 26 and 27 at the Andover/North Andover YMCA.
More than 25 routines will be performed by Synchers of all age levels in the show. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for children and seniors.
Eugenia Gillan, Synchers coach, said the group is always looking for more swimmers and coaches. For more information on the ANA Synchers, visit www.anasynchers.org.
BOX: Recent competition
The ANA Synchers took home 10 gold medals at the New England Synchronized Swimming Association junior/senior meet and age group invitational, held in Worcester last month. The team was also awarded the senior trophy, which is given to the team with the most points in the division at the meet.
Emily Stone of Andover, Melissa Andrews of Chepachet, R.I. and Maggie Conlon of Methuen each earned three gold medals at the invitational. Here is a break down of all the winners from the ANA Synchers:
r Gold medal, team routine, senior division: Melissa Andrews, Jessica Mancini, Maggie Conlon, Meagan Arsenault, Kelly Mahoney, Erica Potts, Claire Rudder and Alison Ziel
r Gold medal, team routine, junior division: Amber Blum, Rebecca Ely, Caitlyn MacGregor, Laina Gray and Alice Rogers of North Andover; Sheila Cremin, Emily Stone and Candace Ju of Andover
r Trio routines, junior division: Emily Stone, Amber Blum and Sheila Cremin (gold medal); Caitlyn MacGregor, Candace Ju and Laina Gray (silver medal)
r Trio routine, senior division: Kelly Mahoney and Erica Potts of Andover and Claire Rudder of Sudbury (gold medal); Emily Stone, Amber Blum and Sheila Cremin (silver medal)
r Gold medal, trio routine, 13 to 15 age group category: Marian Crockett and Christine Wu of Andover; Alyson Arsenault of Methuen
r Duet routines, junior division: Rebecca Ely and Emily Stone (gold medal); Caitlyn MacGregor and Alison Ziel (silver medal)
r Duet routines, senior division: Maggie Conlon of Methuen and Melissa Andrews of Chepachet, R.I. (gold medal); Meagan Arsenault of Methuen and Jessica Mancini of Andover (silver medal)
r Gold medal, solo performance, junior division: Alison Ziel of North Andover
r Solo routines, senior division: Melissa Andrews (gold) and Jessica Mancini (silver)
r Senior figures category: Maggie Conlon (gold), Melissa Andrews (silver) and Meagan Arsenault (bronze)
r Junior figures category: Emily Stone (bronze)
