One of Elizabethtown College’s newer clubs on campus, the synchronized swimming club, is looking for members to join and experience the art of synchronized swimming. No prior swimming training is required to join the club, students must just commit to practice and be ready to learn.
Synchronized swimming is a fairly new sport compared to others, such as baseball or soccer. Synchronized swimming began around 1891 in Germany, and at that time it was called water ballet. It began to spread to the other countries as it grew in popularity. Annette Kellerman of Australia is credited with popularizing synchronized swimming. After capturing the eyes of many, she traveled the world to show off her underwater talents. Movie star Esther Williams also helped bring attention to the sport and made it seem glamorous. The sport continued to grow and is now considered to be an Olympic sport.
At Etown, international student Jessica Bestue Anmella wanted to bring her love of synchronized swimming from Barcelona, Spain to Etown, so she decided to start this club and show us what it is like. In Spain, Anmella first started artistic roller skating and swimming at the age of six. At the age of 10, her trainer asked if she wanted to start to learn the basics of synchronized swimming. From then on, she competed in synchronized swimming, including individual, couple and group competitions. She continued competing into college, but during her second year, she realized it was beginning to be too much. “I had to quit my team and my regular training sessions,” Anmella said. “It consumed too much of my time because you have to be very dedicated if you want to compete.” So instead of competing herself, she began to teach girls from the ages of six to 10. When she left the country to study at Etown, she wanted to continue and share her talents with others. Thus, the synchronized swimming club was founded.
Anmella hopes to bring some attention to this sport on campus by starting this club. Synchronized swimming is a great combination of dance and exercise all done in the water. Endurance and flexibility are important skills to have in order to compete. As of now, the club only has five members, but it is actively looking for new members. The more members on a team, the greater the variety of dances and routines the team can do. Also, with more members, it will be easier to do certain moves. All of the members in a performance have to work together and execute moves at the same time. This requires a lot of trust and communication among the team members; therefore, a strong bond will be created among members.
Practice is a “fun way to disconnect from academics and be with friends,” Anmella said. She explained that practice begins with laps around the pool doing different styles of swimming to warm up. Then the team members move to respiratory exercises that help with resistance during the routines. From there, they learn the different figures and movements that can be done either individually or as a group. Finally, the group finishes by going over the routine and moves they learned that day along with the choreography.
One of the current five members, junior Carla Limpias Parada, hopes that even when Anmella returns to Spain, they can continue to run the club and show people the art of synchronized swimming. Anmella is also hoping that the club will continue to run even after she returns to her home country, hoping the bonds that are created on the team this year continue to grow and develop for years to come.
Anyone interested in joining the club can contact Anmella for more information. Currently, practices are held on Tuesdays at 9 p.m., and on Sunday, but they are open for change if those times do not work for some of the new members. They are actively looking for new members. The only requirement is basic swimming knowledge, no other gear or synchronized swimming knowledge is needed.
