Making A Splash Idaho’S Only Competitive Synchronized Swim Team Brings Medals, Recognition To Post Falls

Here are the rules: Hold your breath for several seconds while you perform acrobatics in the unstable medium of chlorinated water.

Don’t touch the bottom or sides of the pool as you synchronize your movements with your teammates.

And never stop smiling.

Welcome to the world of synchronized swimming, a sport that’s made its way from novelty status, when it was introduced in 1907 as underwater ballet, to the only event that has garnered the United States gold medals at every Olympic Games since 1984.

And for several hours each week, 22 local girls from 8 to 14 years old literally submerge themselves in the sport at the Swim Gym Aquatic Center in Post Falls. They are the River City Swans, Idaho’s only competitive synchronized swimming team.

And they’re good.

“They took all firsts and one second at their meet in Bozeman,” said Coach Cheri Backman of their first competition of the year, on March 27. The two-year-old team is competing again today and Sunday in Cheney.

One routine starts off with three girls, Katie Keane, Sarah Mykkanen and Holly Pokorny, posed gracefully at one end of the pool, toes pointed and fingers delicately outstretched like a ballerina’s. Dramatic music begins pounding out of a stereo and they dive into the water like mermaid princesses, first Keane, then Mykkanen and Pokorny, slipping toward the bottom then emerging again together.

They do what they refer to as ballet legs, laying on their backs, one leg straight and the other out of the water, pointing to the ceiling. Only their hands move.

They dip under water together, they emerge at just the right beat in the music, they even spin in small circles simultaneously, sitting up in the water with one leg pointed at the ceiling as they twirl.

That routine earned them a first place in Bozeman.

Between 8,000 and 9,000 people are registered as recreational synchronized swimmers, according to U.S. Synchronized Swimming, the governing body for the sport.

Another 5,600 people in the country are registered as competitive synchronized swimmers. Only about 45 of them are men. Men are banned from competing in the Olympics, but this year, they’ll be able to compete at the collegiate level for the first time, said Brian Eaton, a spokesman for the organization.

“It’s a lot more challenging than doing laps,” said Shauna Nuckles, 11. “You have to concentrate a lot harder in synchro because you have to memorize things rather than just remembering what stroke you’re doing.”

Even breathing is a challenge. They often spend several counts of the music underwater.

“It’s hard when you’re out of breath,” said Mykkanen, 13. “While you’re holding your breath, you’re doing things with your legs.”

When they emerge, they have to smile at the judges. And because they wear nose clips to keep the water out of their nostrils, that means breathing through their teeth, explained 12-year-old Lauren Pokorny.

“It’s so easy to get out of breath because you’re so excited,” said Kaitlin Ellithorpe, 9. “When I first started wearing my nose plugs I felt like I was gagging all the time.”

Most can swim 25 yards - from one end of the pool to the other - entirely underwater. Some can even make it partway into a second lap before taking breaths, said Jennifer Pokorny, an adult volunteer who works with the novices, selects the teams’ costumes and makes their headpieces.

Synchronized swimming routines are judged similarly to figure skating. Scores range from 1 to 10 for the artistic and also for the technical aspects of their performances. Judges look for qualities like presentation, interpretation of the music, synchronization and sharp movements like pointed toes.

“I hate that! I always get marked down for that,” exclaimed Alecia Weaver, 10, who apparently struggles to keep her toes properly pointed.

They regularly practice certain basic movements, called sculling, that often are used in formations, explained Jennifer Pokorny. The sculling movements have names like the eel, snake, porpoise and alligator. For example, in the torpedo, a synchronized swimmer floats on her back, moving feet first, and using only her arms extended above her head to propel herself, Pokorny explained.

Many of the movements require tremendously strong abdominal muscles, she said.

When they perform, it’s in matching swimsuits and shiny headpieces. Even their hair has to be properly positioned, upswept into a bun at a precise point on their heads.

Because the average hairspray won’t hold underwater, the sport has required a bit of ingenuity to come up with an alternative. The solution: unflavored gelatin.

At a recent dress rehearsal, Swans filled the women’s locker room, using paintbrushes to coat one another’s hair with clear gelatin out of Tupperware containers. It holds, but the girls say it also feels kind of weird.

“It’s just hard. It feels like you’re wearing a helmet,” said Keane, 14.

Few of their friends outside of the River City Swans really understand synchronized swimming, they say.

“I say it’s like ballet in the water and then they say, `Oh, it’s like you wear a tutu underwater and do plies?”’ said 11-year-old Justine Gray.

Whatever the misunderstandings about their sport, the girls are excited about it.

“It’s a lot of fun, a lot of work,” Holly Pokorny said. “It’s a blast.”

HISTORY From stunt to sport Here are a few important dates in the history of synchronized swimming, according to U.S. Synchronized Swimming, the country’s governing body for the sport: 1907 — Annette Kellerman performs in a glass tank at the New York Hippodrome as the first underwater ballerina. 1940 — Esther Williams, U.S. freestyle swimming champion, popularizes water ballet through performances in the San Francisco World’s Fair and in MGM movies. Also that year, the Central Association of the Amateur Athletic Association starts having synchronized swimming competitions. 1956 — Synchronized swimmers demonstrate at the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 1984 — Synchronized swimming is an event in the Olympic Games for the first time.