Caped crusaders swim to victory
A Batman theme won the syncronised swimmers a silver medal
On Saturday 27th February Imperial College’s Synchronised Swimming Team swam in the Middlesex Synchronised Swimming championships, winning the silver medal in the “Masters 20+” age category.
The team arrived to a slightly chaotic atmosphere with the entire leisure centre having just been evacuated due to a fire alarm. The sight of swimmers huddled outside in silver foil blankets did little to calm the nerves but we were determined to enjoy ourselves regardless. Despite no hot water or heating, we had a fantastic time, proudly displaying our Batman routine to coach Ambre’s appreciative cheers from the stands. Given that half of the team only started the sport in October of last year, it was a brilliant result with all swimmers happy with their performances.
Imperial were the only UK university competing at this competition and are actually one of only two university synchronised swimming teams in the whole of the UK (the other being Aberdeen). This means we often have to travel abroad to compete. We have 3 European competitions coming up - the Open Masters Championships in Brussels on 20th March, the French University Championships in Bordeaux on 31st March and the Paris International Tournament on 14th May. The rarity of the sport in the UK also means that we have a very international team – we currently have swimmers from France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and Taiwan.
Synchronised swimming is an incredible sport – endurance, dynamism, grace, and an ability to hold your breath underwater are just some of the qualities needed. Swimmers are unable to use the bottom of the pool, so sculling and treading water techniques are essential to avoid sinking. You only need to watch ‘synchronised swimming lifts’ on YouTube to understand the complexity involved with lifting a swimmer clean into the air using just leg power against water. It’s definitely a calorie-burner!
Imperial is a wonderfully friendly, sociable and welcoming club. If anyone wants to give synchro a go or is just interested in finding out more about the sport, visit our website which you can access from Imperial’s Union website, add us on Facebook or email syncswim@ic.ac.uk.
