For New Swimmers
Welcome to Wellington Synchro!
We are a small, inclusive, family-friendly club, passionate about our wonderful sport! Our swimmers span a wide age range. Strong friendship bonds are made, and we actively encourage new swimmers to be part of this culture. We understand that not everyone will be Olympic gold medallists, but everyone can be their best person. We aim to help all those that swim with our club become the best, most resilient, strongest, most caring person they can be.
If you are interested in signing up for a free Have-A-Go lesson on a Sunday, please click Register.
It takes you through a two or three minute process in which you provide your contact details and swimmers ability level before signing up for the free session. Otherwise read on to learn what we have to offer our new swimmers!
PLEASE NOTE - We require Have-A-Go swimmers to be able to confidently swim 25m at a minimum, preferably freestyle and one other stroke.
About Our Sport
Synchronised Swimming, now known as Artistic Swimming by World Aquatics (the world governing body) is a mix of swimming, gymnastics, dance, and acrobatics. Synchro is a team sport with teams often being as large as eight or 10 or having the minimum number of four, you can also swim as a solo, or duet. There is plenty of examples of synchro on you tube to watch.
And, YES!!! We have music playing underwater – how cool is that!
Our club splits its athletes into two ability categories:
- Mermaids are beginners (non-competing)
- Competitive - this group is split further into the swimmer's ability and age. The first novice category are the Dolphins
In order to make a good start in the sport, we do require that new swimmers can swim a minimum of 25m, and are confident in deep water (we train in the 5m deep dive well). If your would-be synchro swimmer is capable of swimming 25 meters but needing some technique and skills improvements we do recommend attending additional swim training with one of the local swim schools / clubs in Wellington
Synchro is a “long game” – in such that it can take a year before some athletes are ready to swim in the novice “Dolphin” class at competitions, and then some athletes may spend several years in Dolphins before moving up. So don’t anticipate huge progress rapidly – it often comes in fits and starts. Our coaches can guide you as what to expect as it is all very individual. Our aim is to set our athletes up for positive competition experiences.
Training
We train during the school year – following the term times, with occasional holiday programmes. Mermaids will swim once a week on Sunday 11:30 - 2:00pm.
We use our web based portal called Friendly Manager to manage our communications with parents in this regard. You will have access to see the events you have enrolled your athlete for once you register. Registration will ask for an alternative persons contact number, so we have a second phone number to contact should we need to. Registration will ask for permission for photography as we used filming as a way of providing visual feedback for the learner, and at times we use these photographs on our website, or closed group Facebook page. We also ask if your child has any medical conditions so we are aware of these and how we can help if there is a medical emergency. if you are having trouble accessing or using Friendly Manager please ask so you can be shown.
We have a Closed Group FaceBook page to show small videos, or photographs of club activities and athletes progress or events. Please ask if you want to be invited to join this group.
We use WhatsApp for day to day communications regarding apologies for not making it to training, or letting everyone know what events are coming up. Specific enquiries can be directed at your child’s coach or via wellysynchro@gmail.com We will add you to the general WhatsApp group and to the specific level group WhatsApp group when you register your child.
What would a Mermaid training session be like? swimming lengths, figures (basic technical movements), Star Levels practice, and the start of a very simple routine and then stretching to improve flexibility. It is our hope that Mermaids can be Star Level three within a year. There are ten Star levels – each harder than the previous and each focusing on different – but important synchro skills. Stars 1 to 3 are basic skills.
Many of the girls carpool – we can assist you if you like to find families in your neighbourhood.
Costs
Our term fees are sent out at the start of each term and are anticipated they will be paid on receipt of invoice. Our term fees exclude pool entry. We have reviewed similar sports / activities in Wellington, and with other Synchro clubs in NZ and have allocated our fees accordingly. Fees are pro rata'd depending on when in the school term you join. Pool entry concession cards or pool entry passes can be bought at WRAC front desk. Please email our treasurer for the current fees schedule wellysynchro.treasurer@gmail.com
What do my fees pay for? – Your Term Fees contribute to paying:
Pool hire, (We hire the lane / divewell times from WRAC so that we have the sole use of the water when training; all clubs have to do this in compliance with the pools regulations)
Assorted administrative costs
Artistic Swimming New Zealand affiliation / membership costs, and coach payments
Coaching fees
Star awards
As you child progresses up through the categories, the term fees increase according to the amount of training time your swimmer is involved in. Additionally, once your swimmer reaches a competitive level, families are asked to pay for the costs of their swimmers attending competitions (included in this is the shared, per each swimmer, associated costs of team manager, coaches, judges - this is standard practice with all sports in NZ). Each year there are two competitions in NZ that we attend (North Islands Regional Championships and National Championships). Competition costs can be expensive, so we endeavour to keep these down. These competition costs are supported by the club applying for grants and fundraising undertaken by club members.
Additional costs is the hire of competition suits (which covers make up, gel, competition suits). Feel free to speak to us if you'd like further information on this.
For the new club member, we pride ourselves on offering a fun, cost effective entry to Synchronised / Artistic Swimming.
Required Training Gear
Swimming Togs – New swimmers can either wear their own one piece training swimsuit (no recreational suits please), or enquire about club togs which can be purchased online. When athletes progress to competitive levels they will also need a plain black set of togs for Figures at competitions. Please ask about these as the club has a collection of plain black figure suits we loan to athletes
Goggles: Pain black goggles for figures competition is our only formal request. The club has spare goggles - if you come to training and forget to bring your goggles with you. When swimming routines at competitions the routines are swam without goggles. If your child wears prescription glasses you can buy prescription lenses goggles, and for some athletes there are allowances at competition that they can wear prescription goggles - competition goggles are usually made with transparent frames.
Swim Caps – Initially any properly fitting silicone swim cap will work, but as they progress to competitive levels, they will also need a plain white swim cap and a club cap (the club sells both of these)
Nose Clips – The club sells these for $5 each. Nose Clips can get lost easily, so try putting the nose clip in a zip up purse attached to your child's swim bag.
Drink bottle - No glass bottles on the pool deck please - per all swimming pools health and safety requirement, and a little snack - to keep the energy up and the calories in
Two towels and a warm garment to wear home - Swimmers get wet, their towels get wet - it takes a lot of skill to manage a dry towel at the pool!
Best Tips For a New Synchro Parent
Send your swimmer with an extra towel / warm clothing, and a drink bottle & a healthy snack for afterwards. It is so important for them to keep up their water intake and to eat a snack afterwards – they use up so much energy! And keeping warm is a big plus - this makes the experience all the more enjoyable!
Swimsuits: These steps will help to prolong the life of a frequently used suit. It is important to dry the suit in the shade so the swimsuit fabric and elastic doesn’t perish. Do not wash your child’s swimsuit in the washing machine, and put through the dryer. Rinse your suit when you get home in either "tog rinse" (ask the coaches about this) or plain tap water and gently squeeze out the excess water and hang over a tap in the bathroom, or laundry.
Invest in a training suit or a club training suit. The club has some second hand training suits that we sell as a low level fundraiser - please ask about these. The fabric in swimsuits from department styled shops (won't mention the names) aren’t designed to manage multiple training sessions a week.
Swim Caps: The club sells silicone caps, both club caps and plain white caps. these will last if put on correctly - try not to pull your cap on by grabbing the cap by your ears and pulling downwards - this puts stress on the silicone and will tear at this point. Earrings and long fingernails will also increase the risk of tearing the cap. Caps can go mouldy if not rinsed with tap water and towel dryed inside the cap - If your cap has developed a case of the mould - soak in white vinegar and rinse clean - it may need bleach if the vinegar dosent kill the mould. Encourage your swimmer to take care of their gear.
Swim Bag: A bag with your Mermaids swim gear in it is a usseful way to start - all the gear in the one bag ready to go! Swim bags can be low tech or high tech. Some of our older athletes have high tech swim bags - please aask if you are thinking about making this leap!
Drink Bottle: A metal or plastic drink bottle - brought to the pool side to keep your Mermaid hydraited whilst training is a good habit to establish