Figures and Finals

This past weekend we hosted an competed in our anual New England figure meet. Everyone did a great job and showed off our slow and controlled figures. The judges and our coaches were pleased with the outcome! This week is our last week together before heading off to sunny California. With that being said practices are getting tough but we are pushing through and showing our strength. Keep up the good work both in and out of the pool.

http://athletics.wheatoncollege.edu/sports/synchro/2011-12/releases/20111204t4o1at

~Rebecca

The New Wheaton

Hey everyone!

We just got back from a nice break... from school that is. Now its back to the pool for the wheaton lyons. We are preparing for our figure meet this weekend where we will be hosting, competing and volunteering. We are so excited to show off our new outfitting that has a more althetic feel to it. Although we're cute and cuddly, were tough and determined Wish us luck!

When Times get Tough, the Tough Get Swimming

Hey all,
We have been very busy these last few weeks as we move along to the more extensive phases of our training program. The team is getting excited for our upcoming training trip in San Diego California in the beginning of December. We will be staying in the home of one of our captains, Christiana Butera and training at the City of La Mesa Municipal Pool from December 18th-23rd.
Our team routine is progressing rapidly and we are already working on writing the end of the 3rd lap and its not even Thanksgiving break yet!! We are definitely further along in both choreography and skill than in past years at this time. Keep up the great work ladies.
~Rebecca

And so it begins

Hey All,

Practice has been going great these last weeks as the team continues to improve. On Friday we worked on goal setting for the year and are really striving to be CRISP in all of our moves. We have already started writing our team routine and have the first lap done which is more than we have had at this time in past years. After tryouts last week, the team was named as well as the small routines. At the moment we are seeing drastic improvements among all the swimmers.
Last Tuesday we did a demonstration for a company in Cape Cod. We were so honored to be the entertainment for the evening and were treated like Olympians. It was our first opportunity to see how the freshmen perform under pressure and they did an excellent job!!!

Although we are approaching a much needed October break, we will be land drilling daily and be back in the pool on Wednesday.

~Rebecca

Happy Synchro New Year!

Hey everyone,

The first two weeks of practice have been great. We feed off of each others energy and have a strong team bond already. Our three freshmen have been a great addition to our team. At the end of this week we will hold team tryouts where we will be performing a quick paced and fun tryout routine. From watching my teammates swim in groups, it feels great to say we are already stronger than we have been in past years.


It has been difficult at first to manage our scholastics with our added practice on Thursday evenings but we can do anything and in time it will become easier. The second practice is a great way for us to get use to swimming in the late afternoon when most of our competitions occur. Hopefully these great new changes as well as our daily gymnastics warm up will take the team to the next level.

Have a great week,
~Rebecca Gordon

Summer

Its finally the end. It has been a great year full of many accomplishments and great new friendships. We are so excited for our incoming freshmen and are already looking forward to next season. One of our final team projects was a clinic we hosted on Sunday. We had a great time teaching and writing routines with local club teams as well as working on other skills and techniques. It was a successful day and we are so glad to be able to help and form a close bond with age group swimmers. Finals are coming up and although we are stressed and overwhelmed, we still find time for each other because even when we are out of the pool we are a team and we are best friends. After spending months seeing the same people multiple times a day you would think we would need a break but the truth is, we don't really know what life would be like without each other. I know I will definitely miss my girls and will be on Skype daily with my best friends. Synchro is a part of us not only for the sport but for the experience and relationships that come out of it. Until next season, ~Rebecca

US Collegiate Nationals 2011

The Wheaton College synchronized swimming team recorded its highest finish at a U.S. Collegiate Championship since 2002, as the Lyons placed sixth out of 21 teams

Results

Synchronized Swimming Championships

March 16 - 19 Tonowanda, NY

Overall Team Trophy

Ohio State University 193.0

Stanford University 290.0

University of Incarnate Word 375.0

Canisius College 463.0

Lindenwood University 562.5

Wheaton College 648.5

Gator Synchro 747.0

University of Richmond 834.5

Wheaton College synchronized swimming junior Christiana Butera (San Diego, CA/Academy of Our Lady of Peace) is believed to be the first NCAA Division III swimmer named to a U.S. national team, as she was one of 12 athletes selected to represent her country at the 14th FINA World Aquatics Championships from July 16-31 in Shanghai, China.

The roster includes five returning athletes from the 2010 national team that took sixth at last year's competition. Team USA began training on January 24 in Indianapolis, Indiana, home of USA Synchro national headquarters and sponsor Saint Vincent Sports Performance (SVSP). With Butera in the midst of her college season, she will join the national team later this year.

"The whole thing seemed unreal," said Butera, referring to her reaction when learning she'd made the team. "I was in complete disbelief. Even when I realized I had a good chance of making it, I had no real concept of what that meant until they called my name. I was so incredibly proud, honored and excited."

Butera's selection comes on the heels of former teammate Laura Montes '10 being chosen as a member of Puerto Rico's national synchronized swimming team that competed last summer at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

WHEATON SWIMMER REPRESENTS!

USA Synchro Names

2011 U.S. World Championship Team

Indianapolis, Ind. –

USA Synchro named the 2011 National Synchronized Swimming Team

which will represent the United States at the 14th FINA World Aquatics Championships later this

year. The elite international competition which features all four aquatics sports, will take place

July 16-31, in Shanghai, China.

The roster includes five returning athletes from the 2010 National Team which finished sixth at

last year’s FINA World Cup. Team USA will begin training on January 24 in Indianapolis, Ind.,

home of the USA Synchro National Headquarters and sponsor St. Vincent Sports Performance

(SVSP). The National Team will split training time between the IU Natatorium on the campus of

IUPUI and SVSP.

The 2011 National Team will be coached by

Mayuko “Mayu” Fujiki. Fujiki, who competed for Japan, earned a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. As a coach, Fujiki has served on the coaching staffs of Italy, Australia, Japan, Greece, Hungary, and most recently, Spain, where she led the 2010 Spanish National Team to an overall Gold Medal finish, topping synchro powerhouse Russia at the FINA World Trophy.

The 2010 U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Team includes:

Christiana Butera

(Wheaton College), Morgan Fuller (Sunnyvale, Calif.), Megan Hansley

(New Canaan, Conn.), Heidi Homma (Orinda, Calif.), Mary Killman (McKinney, Texas),

Danielle Kramer (Santa Clara, Calif.), Jourdan Meltzer (Oakland, Calif.), Michelle Moore

(Tonawanda,N.Y.), Leah Pinette (Bristol, Conn.), Brooke Taylor (Las Vegas, Nev), Lyssa Wallace

(San Antonio, Texas), Katy Wiita (Vancouver, Wash.) and Alison Williams* (Northridge, Calif.)

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.
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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