Promising Team Bath Synchro Club youngsters Megan Pyke and Sophie Sandberg both impressed when they made their first appearances at the annual Swim England Synchronised Swimming National Age Group Championships in Gloucester.
Competing in the 12-and-under category, they had to perform four technical figures in front of different judging panels – ballet leg single, barracuda, oceanita and surface prawn.
Megan placed 65th overall with a combined score of 50.0001, putting her 18th in the country for her age, while Sophie was 92nd out of 140 competitors with a combined score of 46.7439.
Ila Brandimarte, Chair of Team Bath Synchro Club and a Great Britain international squad member in the sport, said: “The girls did a really good job, especially considering they had only done county competitions before and have been working with us for less than six weeks. We’re really happy with what they achieved.”
Team Bath Synchro Club was established 12 months ago, with training sessions taking place in the £1.6million London 2012 Legacy Pool at the University of Bath Sports Training Village.
“We believe that synchronised swimming must be open to everyone, from boys to girls, university students or not, experts or beginners, master and performance level,” said Brandimarte.
“The atmosphere is convivial and we have a lot of fun when practicing. Individual abilities and goals will be supported at any level because our aim is to offer the best experience to any member of our club. We create people, not just athletes.”
The club will be running another Learn to Sync course in the new year, following the success of other introductory schemes in June and October, with a taster session taking place on January 21, 2018.
For more information about the Learn to Sync course or Team Bath Synchro Club, visit www.teambathsynchroclub.com.
Lead photo shows Team Bath Synchro Club’s Megan Pyke (left) and Sophie Sandberg at the University of Bath Sports Training Village.
Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight
