By Monica Parkin, Revelstoke Rainbows synchronized swimming team
This weekend my friends and I went to a synchronized swim meet in Kelowna. We have been training once a week with our coaches Carmen Legate and Sherrelle Anderson since October.
We left Revelstoke at 6 a.m. and drove to Kelowna. When we got there we got into our sparkly blue swim suits and then put gelatin in our hair. We put it in so that when we do our routines our hair doesn't get in our face.
Then we went out on deck and we did our warm up. We watched all of the provincial girls do their routines. After the provincial girls there were four recreational teams ahead of us. I was feeling a little nervous while watching the other teams. Before us was our other team with Amelie Delesalle, Haley Callaghan, Makayla Pelletier and Jade Soles.
Our routine was called "Splish Splash." In my group was me, (Monica Parkin), Lutza Berkenbosch, Evan Smith, Aidan Lawrence and Anya Jones. After everyone finished their routines we did our figures. This is where we go in the pool one at a time and perform a "figure" in front of five judges. The figures were sailboat alternate, back tuck somersault, head first sculling and front layout. This was the end of the competition part.
Next up we did stations. The stations were working on patterns, sailboats, sculling and front walk over. Then, in our groups, we did relays. The relays were chain sculling, consecutive somersaults, under, kick-pull-kick, and highlights.
Then we went back into the change rooms and used pineapple juice to get the gelatin out of our hair! We all went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory before driving home, and getting home at midnight.
My favourite part of the synchro meet was learning to open my eyes under water without goggles, and my favourite part about being in synchronized swimming lessons is learning new skills, especially the flips.
Monica Parkin is an eight-year-old synchronized swimmer.