Synchronized Swimming

Chapter 46: Old Friends

Sang

The pool is already teeming with swimmers when we get there. Lap swim doesn't start for a few minutes, so we take the time to scope out the pool and find the locker rooms and snack area. In the process, I see a corner that would make a good home base to put our bags, so we claim it for the Synchro Sharks. It's still on the pool deck, but it's off to the side so we don't have to worry about getting in the way of people swimming their routines.

All three pools will be opened for lap swim, but I know it'll still be insanely crowded. Since 18-19 teams are swimming later, probably the whole upper division of swimmers will be in the pool in a few moments. Keeping that in mind, we rush to put on our caps and claim a lane. We manage to find an open spot in the diving well.

There are no lane lines in the diving well, so we can't do backstroke like we normally do as part of our warmup. Instead, we tack on some laps of eggbeater at the end. I'm conscious of the competition and am careful to maintain perfect posture in my eggbeater- I don't want to give any signs of weakness.

Towards the end of warmup, another team approaches us wanting to share a lane. I take a look around the pool area and sure enough, all the other lanes are completely full, leaving no room for them to have their own. There are five girls, and something about them seems familiar, even with their hair knoxed up...

"Tasia? I didn't know you guys would be here!" I exclaim. "Are you guys 18-19? I thought you were younger." At that, Addie shrugs.

"I was born in December," she explains.

"You can take our lane- we're done now," Kota says. I say hi to the rest of the Guppies as we leave and promise to cheer for them when they swim today. I thought they weren't coming to nationals? They obviously made it, but I assumed they weren't good enough to qualify. Now we can see how much they've improved, though.

We're number fifteen in team, so we'll need to start the team practice with music rotation at number twelve. There are two slots to warm up lifts and hybrids, and one to practice our walkout and deck before we actually get the music. After we swim, we'll have another two slots to practice anything that needs improving. While the competition is taking place, we can practice hybrids and arms in the diving well, but we're never allowed to practice lifts in it, so getting them down during the team practice with music is critical.

Mr. Blackbourne and Sean are still standing by our bags when we head over. We won't swim for around fifty minutes, so we decide to deck. Again, the pool area is incredibly crowded and we have to venture outside to have enough space to move around. Luke spots a grassy field to the side of the parking lot that only has one other team decking on it, so we go to the other side of it to avoid having our music conflict with theirs. The team still glares at us, though. I sigh when I see the name on their warmup jackets- they're the San Diego Aquamaids.

Most of the synchro teams aren't super friendly towards other teams, but for the most part they're polite at least. There are a couple of higher ranked teams that know they'll do well, though, and they're not afraid to flaunt it. They'll commonly break minor rules, such as not swimming in certain lanes, and no one will say anything because they're basically like synchro goddesses. The San Diego Aquamaids are one such team.

I try to ignore them as we deck- this is one of the only spots left in the whole pool complex and I won't let some jerk team intimidate me. After we deck once, the coach of their team approaches us.

"Excuse me, but we were decking here first," she says. Sean smiles benevolently at her.

"Yes you were," he agrees. The woman scowls at him.

"You know what I meant," she snaps, "My team needs calm to focus and having another team next to them will distract them. There are plenty of other spots you can move to."