AQUA DIVAS
25 Whites Ave, Watertown MA 02472 (617)926-0968
Swimming in stereo
By Dan Atkinson/ Staff Writer
Hold your breath. Look at your watch while you're thinking about that last gulp of air. Five seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds - time seems to go a lot slower when you're not breathing. Now think about going for a jog like this. OK, you can breathe now.You just had a taste of synchronized swimming.
"It's like running while holding your breath," said Anastasia Lyapina, 15, of Stoughton. Lyapina is a member of the Aqua Divas, a synchronized swim team that practices at Watertown's Boys & Girls Club. Lyapina said she could hold her breath for a minute and 45 seconds; 10-year-old Svetlana Snegour claimed a best of more than two minutes.
Synchronized swimming is a little like figure skating, where physical exertion is combined with aesthetic flair. Individual swimmers are judged on artistic and technical merits, and the team receives an overall score as well, said coach Tatiana Snegour, Svetlana's mother.
A typical "figure" might be a spin, where the swimmer sticks their feet in the air and twirls them while moving up and down. This already places the swimmer with her head under water, but the artistic element requires her to perform the move gracefully and slowly.
"The slower you do [an element], the more strength it shows," Snegour said. "Slow equals effortless."
To get to the level of physical fitness required to essentially perform ballet underwater, the team practices two hours a day, three or four times a week, at the club. Besides plenty of swimming practice, the swimmers cross-train as well. Snegour's squad is divided into performing teams based on age, with 10- and 11-year-olds performing separately from 15- and 16-year-olds, but all members train equally.
"We practice a lot," said Melia Snodgrass, 12, of Watertown. "You have to be really focused to concentrate on your routine."
The routine is where the girls can allow their individual styles to shine. They pick the music, which can range from pop to instrumental soundtracks to classical, and match their moves to ebb and flow to the music. Each type of music demands different moves, said Emma Hobart, 11, of Arlington.
"You're not going to swim a hip-hop routine over a classical piece," she said.
Snegour said she liked to encourage her swimmers to be creative when designing their routines. She directs the choreography for the teams, which can be a whole age group or just two swimmers, but swimmers create much of the routines themselves.
"I can't do it all myself, and it's exciting for them to take part in it," Snegour said.
The Aqua Divas compete in the New England area at the start of their season in order to qualify for larger regional competitions. Last year, the team traveled to Indianapolis for the Esynchro championships. While competition is fierce, meets are often a place where swimmers from different areas can bond over their shared sport, Snodgrass said.
"I was standing in line for my figure and made three new friends," she said.
While synchronized swimming has not become a widely known sport, it is increasing in popularity, Snegour said. Colleges such as Boston University and Northeastern University have teams, and more high schools are fielding teams as well.
But the sport still has strong club teams as well. Snegour compared it to youth hockey, and like hockey, it can be expensive, with bathing suits costing up to $100, she said. She charges $100 a month for lessons, which are three times a week for younger swimmers and four times a week for older ones. New students can come just once a week, "to get their feet wet," Snegour said, before making a full commitment.
The team requires a strong commitment, although not as much as an Olympic team, whose members practice 10 hours a day - or Snegour's old squad, the Soviet National Team. She came to America from Russia in 1993, and found synchronized swimming did not have as big an audience here as in her homeland.
"It was very new back then," she said. "Americans had been doing it for longer, but Russians loved it more."
But if the Aqua Divas have their way, the sport will be taking Americans' breath away as well.
Dan Atkinson can be contacted at datkinso@cnc.com.
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