On to warmer places

While the majority of colleges and teams are looking forward to a break, we are looking forward to our training trip. Every year after Christmas when the school pool is closed, our team picks a warm place to train. The last four years the team went to Puerto Rico and stayed with '10 alumni Laura Montez and her family. This year we will be staying in San Diego California at one of our captains Christiana's house. It may seem like all fun and games but we work a lot throughout the week. Our days consist of waking up at the crack of dawn, heading to the pool swimming for three hours, taking a lunch break, swimming another three hours, land workouts, biking and land drilling. The best part of the trip however are the memories. This trip serves as a time for us as a team to connect and form an even closer bond.

~Rebecca

Holiday Season

I hope everyone had a restful and wonderful thanksgiving. Although we still practiced on our own, we enjoyed our small break to see our family and catch up on school work. We have met our goal of completing all small routines by thanksgiving break. Today at practice we came up with new goals for our training trip. Its that time of year again where we start stressing over finals. Next week is our last week together before our short break where we will be given time to study and hopefully have the highest GPA of all sports teams on campus!
This week we are perfecting our first lap of team. We started today by breaking down the first hybrid. After watching tevo, we were able to see the greatness shining through. I'm proud to be on the 2010-2011 synchro team. It is clear we are destined to do great things with our talent, coaching staff and love of the sport.
Until next time,
~Rebecca~

Figures

On Sunday we will be competing in our first meet of the season!!! It will be here at wheaton so feel free to stop by and lend a helping hand. This figure meet also includes age group swimmers which helps us build a strong relationship with club teams nearby.
For encouragement and to make the freshmen enjoy rather than fear their first time representing Wheaton Synchro, we were given a secret swimmer. This is a tradition on our team where we pull names of our teammates out of a hat for each meet. whoever we are assigned to we either make them a card and include a small token of our love at away meets or posters at home meets. Look out for those bright and colorful signs next time you stop by to watch our bright and colorful team!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving,
~Rebecca

Its weight time

Recently we have started our phase 2 of our new training plan. This phase involves the use of weight belts throughout workouts and routine drills. By using the belts, we are becoming more aware of our alignment as well as strengthening our muscles so our height will be better than ever before. It has been a tough first week but I am very proud of everyone of us. Our team routine is being cleaned and reworked so that it presents our strengths as a team.
As many of you know we are hosting our annual figure meet on the 21st! in order to prepare, we have done many drills for each individual figure and for our basic skills that we can also apply to and figure group. The weight belts come into play here too. We started applying ankle weights while practicing figures in order to have more control over our legs. Although we are all tired the progress we are seeing is enough to keep us going strong.

Have a great week,
~Rebecca~

Rest Week

Greetings,
This year we have a new training method involving different levels of training on a bi-weekly basis. After the "hard" weeks of strength building we have our ever so needed rest (recovery) week. For that week we get to come into practice at 6:30, which for us is a big deal. We also have a less intense workout and we use lighter weights for our land exercises. This program has been truly helpful for all of us because not only do we see improvement but we know what the overall goal is for each week.
At the beginning of the season we held tryouts for team and small routines, in order to keep track of our progression we had another day of trials. Looking back on our previous scores and comparing them to our more recent scores shows each swimmers enormous improvement. We are tested on swimming endurance (laps), vertical height/stability, eggbeater, spins, agility hybrids, push ups, v-ups, splits and arches among other things.
We are looking forward to our next two trials before competition season to see an even greater improvement!!!

Have a great weekend,
~Rebecca

Wheaton Synchro Meets 2010-2011 Season

Below Is a list of our meets this year the meets in bold are at wheaton college.

We hope to see you all come support your Wheaton Lyons!!

Nov 20, 2010	New England Figure Meet
Jan 29, 2011	Wheaton Invitational
Jan 28, 2011 Feb 5, 2011	Ohio State-Jessica Beck Memorial Meet
Feb 19, 2011	Boston University Invitiational
Mar 5, 2011	East Regional/ECAC Championship
Mar 6, 2011	East Regional/ECAC Championship
Mar 17-19	U.S. Collegiate Championship
	Buffalo, New York
Apr 14, 2011	at U.S. National Championship
	Columbus, Ohio

Bollywood

This year our team is swimming to a Bollywood themed routine. We are all so excited to swim to our upbeat music with quick and new choreography. Because this year we are going in a different direction with our overall look of our team routine, we are beginning to swim quickly and with more intention.
In order to improve our skills, we are working on each component of the national team trials standards. Each day we focus no one skill and have a inter-team competition. The winner gets the honor of wearing our special decorated wheaton nose clip for the rest of practice! (it certainly keeps us motivated).
As we are entering our second month of training we recently sat down as a team and set goals for the upcoming year. We determined where we want to be as far as routine training by our training trip in California. Ideally, our team will have mastered our first half of team and will start perfecting the second half. For small routines, we are in the process of picking out music and hope to have them written by Thanksgiving.
The energy of our team this year motivates us all and pushes us to our full potential every practice. With the training program we are following there is nothing stopping the wheaton lyons!

Have a great week,
~Rebecca

A Great New Year

Hey,
I would like to start by reintroducing myself. I was one of the swimmers who posted the blogs for Wheaton synchro last year. My name is Rebecca Gordon and i am a sophomore and a proud Lyon! With our 7th place overall finish at collegiate nationals last year we all have high hopes for this years team. Although we have lost 3 fellow teammates we have welcomed two new freshmen.
This year we are starting off on the right foot. After a few weeks of training we had tryouts. the skills that were assessed along with the tryout routine itself was challenging but nothing is going to stop us from achieving our goals.
Over the weekend we had the pleasure of working with 1996 Olympian Nathalie Schneyder, who helped us write our team routine. We are now going over parts of our new routine and improving daily. The progress is remarkable!!!
We are all so excited for this season and our 2010- 2011 team.

Have a great week,
~Rebecca

Where in the World is Lau?

We've all been wondering what our most recent Wheaton graduates have been up to. Below you'll find an update from Laura Montes whom is competing on the Puerto Rico National Team.
--------------
So, ever since I got home I am training about 8 hours a day. Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, we are in the pool for 4-5 hours and then the gym for 2 and a half hours. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays we are basically at the pool from 8am-4pm (under the sun, I am extremly tan, back to my tan previouis to attending Wheaton College, lol)

I have a new free solo based on my collegiate one. We ended up changing the music I used for the season because my current coach actually swam her free solo in the las central american games to the same song and her music choice was criticized by the judges (i guess jazzy music isnt well liked in the caribbean region). So, now I swim to this really cool tango music from Argentina.
My new coach has been in Spain and Denmark for the last couple of years where she trained and coached. So she brings a ton of Spains style including the way we HAVE to count our routines which is like this... instead of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight it's: un, dos, tres, qua, cinq, sis, set, oui, which is a mix of spanish and french counts. It's supposedly proven to be the sharpest way to count. For me it has been extremly confusing to count that way, but im finally getting used to it.
I'm glad to report that I've been able to bring a lot of "Wheaton style" including team unity to the group. I suggested positive comments which we are now doing. I've showed them some of the drills we do in practice and things like that. Also, I am going to be featured in the fall issue of the Wheaton Quarterly about this meet and just did the phone interview a couple days ago. I made sure speak a lot about the things I brought from my Wheaton synchro experience and from your coaching! So make sure you get a copy in August or September when it comes out.
Update on the school front - I GOT INTO CATHOLIC LAW SCHOOL from the waitlist which is UNREAL. So I'm really excited about that, just trying to figure out financial aid and stuff. I havent really had much time to miss anything or process that I've graduated and not going back to Wheaton in the fall. I think once synchro is done and September comes along I'll process it and be sad. But for now it's back to the pool!

GO WHEATON!
Laura Montes '10

UP - UP - UP

The Lyons are climbing that scholastic mountain! With a tie for 1st place grades Christiana Butera and Liz Watkins posted a semester GPA of 3.66! Not far behind were Christine Dyster and Jenna Swinkin with a 3.50. With all but 3 members posting a semester GPA at or above a 3.25, success still rains on the Wheaton team. Of course these scholastic accomplishments didn't come without a ton of time management, studying, and team support. Congratulations to all the members of the synchro team, you're truly exceptional.

Turning the pages towards success

As I look back on a truly amazing year I'd like to send one more expression of congrats to all the girls whom competed on the 2009-2010 Wheaton Synchro team. We pushed each other in ways we never thought possible and ended up with an amazing result (7th place overall!). Please take the summer to both reflect and look to future goals. As for our incoming freshman... best of luck at Nationals and throughout your summer training. We look forward to becoming a true family and once again testing our limits. It is with your help that we will reach the next level. Make sure to keep checking your emails for your summer workouts and suggestions for strength training. In order to push past this season we'll need to hold onto the progress we've already made.
On another note, to help make sure the communication lines are open and we are contacting as many alums and possible, we've started a facebook group called Wheaton College Synchronized Swimming. Please join and be active by posting fun pictures, videos, memories, and ideas. While we swim as a team of 8, we know that it is with the support of our alumni, parents, and friends that makes us a true team. Look forward to seeing you on the facebook side!

Hugs,
Coach

2010 US Collegiates - Wheaton College Team

Weekend of Spring? Yes please!

Hi all!

Spring weekend is finally here and for those of you who are confused as to what that is I will explain it. It is a weekend where we have outside concerts, games around campus, barbecues and free stuff. There are dodgeball tournaments and boat races on the pond as well!

The festivities officially started last night with the dodgeball tournament which of course the synchro team participated in! We were one of only three all girls teams among 15 teams. There was a baseball team that supported Team Jacob "Because He's Hot." There was a track team as well as just some random dodgeball themed teams. Wheaton sports teams really turned out for the tournament.

Along with Spring Weekend our last week of classes is next week so we are all winding down on our work and preparing for finals, so in reality this is the last "free weekend" to ignore all that work that is steadily piling up. Not to worry though friends, Wheaton always pulls through with a strong GPA (some say its our ridiculous good looks, but we assure you all, it is because of our spectacular brains.)

The Athletics Award Banquet was held Tuesday and we had a strong showing, though the other sports had no idea what our awards stood for. Even so we had a good number of awards to stand up for. For our two seniors this was their last banquet, and they got their Wheaton Athletics blanket, which is standard for all seniors who participate in a sport for four years.

That is pretty much all that is happening this week. Keep on the lookout for pictures from Spring Weekend but for now you get pictures from Dodgeball!

Tests and more Tests! Stoked!

Hi All!

I write this in between procrastinating studying for all the tests that are coming my way. Great way to relax right? The team is preparing for the final few weeks of our year by trying to keep our stress down (insert extra gym time here =]) and forming study groups.

I have only one test this week but one on Tuesday next week, and fingers crossed, they will go

excellently. On the flip side SPRING IS HERE! The weather is getting warmer and the sun is coming our more often, which is wonderful for our pale little bodies. Campus is coming out of hibernation and students can be seen playing frisbee, softball and even sword fighting, though not with real swords.

Lessons are still continuing and the kids are improving, though who wouldn't with such wonderful coaches. They are almost over, two more weeks and then we are officially home free in terms of pool time, but we are all going through withdrawals as it is.

Our End of the Year banquet is this Sunday and then the Athletics banquet is the 27, where we get to mingle with all of the other athletes and see what everyone has accomplished throughout their seasons. We are almost as excited to dress up as we are to get our awards.

Alright all, Ive included some stress busting tips... here they are =]

1. Take deep breaths and think calming thoughts.

2. Listen to classical music (I prefer acoustic guitar).

3. Listen to your favorite music.

4. Exercise -- in our case practice is perfect for this!

5. Get a lot of sleep.

6. Hug someone!

Hugs (virtually, hopefully stress relieving.)

Amanda =]

Pictures!

One Month!

Hello all!

I am happy to report that there are four weeks left of classes and yours truly is doing great in all of my classes =] There was no post last week as I was not working, because our coach was off to Mexico for a much deserved vacation. So much has happened though, so lets get started!

We had our annual Water Show for Charity and this year we helped to fund the Green-Pink Project, which promotes environmental awareness and women's health issues. We raised over one hundred dollars and the theme was Alice in CharityLand. We had kids from the swim and track teams participate in the final "battle"... and watching those kids trying to do synchro more than made up for the work we had to put into the show. Overall the performance was a success and it was nice to officially end the season on such a good note.

Now that season is over the team and I find we have a lot of time on our hands that we do not know exactly what to do with, but as for me... I like nothing better than not having to wake up at 530 am, so I spend my extra time sleeping and working out, because lets face it, those practices kept us in excellent shape and I do not want to lose it (especially with summer so close)!

We are eagerly awaiting news of our new freshies, as we do not know who they will be yet, but we cannot wait to welcome them into the family. Swim lessons are in the process as well, and those are always a blast. The little ones are so adorable and the older ones are just funny kids. We do this to raise money for the team fund, and alternate weeks with the swim team.

Alongside the good news of the Water Show we have more good news.

Jenna, one of our seniors, has gotten into Nursing School!

Laura, the other senior, has been accepted into Law School!

We are super proud of our seniors and will miss them immensely next year.

That is pretty much it for news but I do have a joke for everyone... well really more of a fact than a joke.

Ok, here it is.

Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.

Have a wonderful week and don't forget to eat your veggies

Amanda =]

Lucky Number 7

Ciao Regazzi!

Sorry about the prolonged absence folks, I am fresh off of our Spring Break and Collegiate Nationals where we had a triumphant showing and got great tans. We had all of our counted routines make finals and has a strong showing in all of them. Our two soloists Laura and Christiana finished 10 and 8 respectively. Our "A" trio of Christiana, Kirsten and Jenna finished a strong 11 and Team finished 8 after a great swim in finals. As our last meet with our seniors, it was amazing to see the dedication shown to giving our all on our last swims for Jenna and Laura.

The parents that came up were incredible and super supportive, as well as gracious enough to sit at the pool for hours on end watching us swim. Dave (Jenna's dad) and Laura (Laura's mom) cooked us dinner every night, and we even had authentic Puerto Rican rice and beans.

After competition ended and we were heading back to Wheaton, some of us stayed to visit Christiana in San Diego. At the airport though those staying in San Diego (myself included) had to wait outside the kiosks at Southwest for TWO HOURS waiting for it to open up so we could check our bags, and let me tell you, we looked like hobos sleeping with our towels and bags. San Diego was incredible though! There was non-stop sun, gorgeous Californians, adorable shops and amazing cheeseburgers (just dont tell Rebecca about those).

Now it is back to the grind of daily school life and to be honest I am not sure what to do with all my time now, so I just think I have nothing to do but really I have many things to do. My midterms are over (thank goodness) and now were on our home stretch for this year.

On the flip side of being done, we are having a charity water show! Our theme is Alice in Wonderland and its for fistula, which is a debilitating disease that affects women who gave birth that do not have access to basic medical care. We had a ton of kids on campus who are going to be involved and fun games to play! It is going to be a blast and our practices are only a couple times a week until then so we can all be slowly weaned off of being in the pool all day.

I have a new movie for everyone! If you all have time you should pick up Pink Panther, I know it is old but its so great!

I will post pictures tomorrow, so be on the lookout!

Buon Suerte

Amanda =]

We are Defying Gravity... And Expectations

Ciao All!

As I am sitting here listening to "Defying Gravity" from the Glee Soundtrack, I have decided that the lyrics mirror our intentions as a team for Nationals. We are finished with accepting the limitations places upon us by being a D3 school, as well as the limitations we set for ourselves because we are afraid.

We are working hard every practice to reach our full potential and grow as a team. Our routines are strong and there is no place to go from here except up.

On another note, Midterms are this week, and those are stressful! But in all reality they are not that terrible, though who doesn't think their world is ending when an exam has to be rescheduled early due to competition scheduling? One week from today though we will be far, far away from the gloomy Northeast weather and loving the non-humid (although maybe a little cold) California sunshine. Good thing we are coming from snow, 60 will be summer to us!

There is not too much going on this week but I do have a funny story:

So last night I was asleep when my roommate came in around 230 am. I woke up and decided it was time for practice (God knows why) so I started to get dressed to leave. I was so confused as to why my roommate was awake and out of bed, but I just thought "Oh no, I woke her up, I hope she can go back to sleep!"
She asked me what I was doing so I responded that I was looking for my pants to go to the pool. She then informed me it was 230am and told me I should just get back in bed. I looked at her like she was clearly deranged since it was time for practice, then realized what time it was, and went back to sleep.
Then when I woke up for practice I was extra ready =]

Take Care!

Amanda =]

And the Lyons have it! (Talent, I mean)

Ciao Ciao!

We are fresh from a stunning victory at the Regional meet at UPENN. Our trio, consisting of Christiana Butera, Jenna Swinkin and Kirsten Wendth, captured the first place in an unexpected outcome. This is the first time since 2003 that Canisius has not dominated all the events. We are ecstatic to see where our routines are going to place at Nationals in just two short weeks. Regionals was wonderful, some parents came up; such as mine, Christiana's father and Kirstens parents and grandmother. The strong support definitely helped out our swims, plus no matter what parents always think their children did wonderful.

This week has been spent preparing for this weekend's Canisius invitational, for which if nothing else we are looking forward to the amount of homework one can get done on a seven hour bus ride. In reality though, more important is the amazing food we receive at Ana's house on the way home, and also the competition.

As for me personally, there is some exciting news. I am turning 20 tomorrow and cannot wait to make cupcakes tonight (I mean... I cannot wait to eat all my veggies and lean chicken)! School has been going well, right now I am reading The Road for a class, and if any of you have spare time I highly recommend it. Along those lines, I am off to be productive student right now.

Here are some pictures from Regionals:

Buon Suerte!

Amanda =]

Snow Day (but where exactly is the snow?)

Hello All!

I hope everyone is keeping warm, and training hard! Today Wheaton canceled classes after noon in preparation for the huge snowstorm that was supposed to come in. This alleged "snowstorm" however ended up just being a free day for us, as it is not actually snowing currently, but raining. At practice we were talking about planning a huge snowball fight and snow angels, then we walked outside and thought "Oh, maybe its supposed to snow later..."

Practice has been great this week, we are making some much needed alterations and working with weight belts. (Those are the devil, as I am sure most of you know.) My small routines are tweaking strokes and hybrids, and already are seeing improving, especially with the extra practices. The other small routines are looking great, and we are psyched to see how they are going to look by the time Nationals comes around!

I am taking five classes this semester, and they are all wonderful. Of course my class that was canceled today we were supposed to watch a film, because isn't that how these things always work out?

I cannot wait for single appreciation day! We have this weekend off, and plan to spend it catching up on homework, as well as sleep. Also I plan to go into Boston for some site seeing and nerdy-ness, maybe going into the Boston Museum of Science?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend spent with good people! PS if you all need plans, you should watch My Cousin Vinny, it is a wonderful movie.

Take Care!

Amanda =]

New Semester, New Blogger!

Hello Hello Hello!

This is your second semester blogger, Amanda. I am a sophomore here at Wheaton, I enjoy walks along the beach at sunset, good movies, and synchro! I am from Lakeland, Florida, and swam for the Lakeland Flamingos. I am currently undeclared but very interested in History and Secondary Education, as well as the athletic training route. This is my 12 season as a swimmer, and I am fortunate to have a duet and trio with some wonderful girls.

We have just started our competition season and while our Winter Training is over now, I feel you all should know how it went. We left for the great island of Puerto Rico on the 28 of December and immediately hit the water hard. While there we trained every day save our "rest day," which we spent the day lounging and dancing and blowing off the crazy at the beach and walking around Old San Juan. Our training consisted of an all day water day, then after showering we did cardio. Cardio Tennis was by far the highlight of our nights, and I'm sure none of you are surprised when I say we are all water people for a reason. While training was brutal in PR, we came back to school with a determined attitude to work hard until the start of classes. Our two a days were nothing easy, but the addition of Track and Basketball being on campus made for some wild nights. (Don't get any ideas now though, they were spent destroying the track or basketball kids at monopoly and taboo and or movie nights, because yes, we are that cool =])

We have just started our competitions and have just come from the high that can only be experienced at a home meet. The amount of students that came to see us was astounding. The walkout counters literally had to yell over the deafening cheers. The athletic directors were present as well, but the most important part, our friends, showed beyond our expectations. The parents that came also were a welcome site, sadly my own were unable to come. We had a good showing of schools come, and the meet (thank goodness) ran quickly and smoothly.

We head to Canisius in Buffalo tomorrow for a routines only meet, where my teammate Ana is from. One good thing about having teammates from the Northeast is the home cooked meals, and her parents have offered to make just that for us on our journey back to school. I for one am looking forward to a free meal that is not campus food (although our food rocks).

That is all for this post, I will be posting every week for the remainder of the semester, so be on the lookout! Here are some pictured from Puerto Rico and the BU meet for entertainment!

Hope everyones weekend is wonderful!

Amanda =]