Team meeting to be held Friday

The synchronized swimming team is jumping into pre-season preparation with hopes of team growth and bonding.

According to coach Jessica Gust, the team will host a preseason meeting for high school students to prepare for its upcoming season. A separate one was held for middle school students Feb. 5.

The meeting will also serve as an informational session for students interested in joining synchronized swimming.

“Anyone who hasn’t participated before is welcome. Synchro is a really easy sport to start, even in high school,” Gust said. “There is a division just for beginners, so they compete against other people on their level.”

Synchro team member senior Bea Lenss said she thinks swimmers should be excited about the opportunities the season provides.

“We always have such interesting experiences,” Lenss said. “Synchro is such a close group of girls because we’re around each other a lot more than other sports are, so I think we bond a lot.”

According to Lenss, such bonding before the season can help members continue to enjoy the sport when it becomes more stressful.

“We have some pool time so we can teach the new girls some of the moves that are more fun and try to have fun before the season. During the season it becomes more hardcore and it’s less fun and more stressful for some,” Lenss said. “We want to make it fun so they’ll want to stay on the team.”

Gust said she also thinks bonding is beneficial for the team.

“They’re a fun group. The juniors and seniors have been planning lots of bonding activities for before the season starts,” Gust said. “It’s really important because they’re together a lot, so I think it’s important to have non-synchro time when they can just hang out and have a good time with each other.”

After the season begins, Lenss said she hopes the team’s variety of talent will help it perform well in sections and at State.

“Throughout the different grades there’s a lot of talent spread out. That means we can be strong in different divisions and it helps us do well as a team and place higher overall,” Lenss said.

Students interested in joining the team can attend the preseason meeting at 3:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8 in room A302.