Before the team efforts of synchronized swimming, the young BC Summer Games athletes have to master their figures in the Walnut Grove pool.
“It’s very difficult,” said Kayla Drew of Zone 3, just after she had competed before a panel of judges Friday afternoon.
“Because you’re holding yourself above the water from underneath the water, and you have nothing to help you. And it’s a lot of work,” she said.
Figures are specific movements that have to be done individually, and very precisely, said Zone 3 head coach Tina Naveri.
Figures have names like ballet leg single, oceanita, barracuda, heron, and porpoise spin 180 degrees.
The swimmers are performing a sequence of four figures for the judges Friday.
The individual scores are tallied and combined by team, and will make up part of the final score for the synchronized competitions.
Drew said she’s getting better at her oceanita.
“I used to be not great at it,” she said, but she’s gotten stronger over the last year.
– Matthew Claxton