Synchronized swimmer dreams of Olympics
For 14-year-old Abby Remmers, working toward the Olympics isn’t a pipe dream.
The Austin High School freshman can be found Friday evenings at the Stafford City Pool, practicing with her synchronized swimming club, SynchroStars, for the U.S. Junior Olympic Championship set for June in Long Island, New York.
Remmers will be competing in a solo performance, and in group performances with her teammates.
In April, the Sugar Land teen became the first SynchroStars swimmer to make the U.S. National Team 2 for synchronized swimmers ages 13-15, and she’ll train for the Pan American Games set for September in Puerto Rico.
Her ultimate goal is the 2020 or 2024 Summer Olympics.
Remmers and her SynchroStars duet partner, Isabelle Duenas, 15, a sophomore at another Fort Bend ISD school, Ridge Point High, are refining the routine that earned them first place at a regional meet in April.
Both blonde and tan, the duet partners for the past four years have departed from their usual cheerful performances to a darker number this year.
It’s to a theme song from the horror movie, “Dead Silence.”
They jerk their head from side to side and clench their fingers into claw shapes.
But their splits and spins — the most challenging of which they say is spinning upside down like a corkscrew with straight legs out of the water — showcase their grace.
Remmers came up with the idea for the choreography, spending hours perusing Olympic performances and music on YouTube for inspiration with her mom, Tina Remmers.
The youth decided to try synchro out after she watched the event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Then, SynchroStars, which is under the umbrella of First Colony Swim Team in Sugar Land, was only a year old.
Coach and California native Tami Huff started the club in 2007 when she wanted her then 12-yearold daughter to try the sport that Huff competed in during her teens.
Huff’s daughter never ended up doing synchro, though she was a competitive speed swimmer in college, but Huff kept coaching anyway.
Since its inception, SynchroSwim has grown from a summer clinic of 10 beginners to a team of 35, with swimmers regularly participating in national competitions like the Junior Olympics.
There’s always a spike in enrollment around Olympic years, Huff said, when kids like Remmers are exposed to synchro for the first time.
Remmers’ background in speed swimming, gymnastics and ballet made synchro a perfect fit.
Synchronized swimmers perform choreographed routines to music, alone, in pairs or in larger groups. They perform twists, flips, spins and splits in unison, all without touching the bottom of the pool.
Much like figure skating or gymnastics, judges score synchronized swimmers’ performances in competitions.
The girls hold their breath for over a minute at a time during their routines. So, their muscles start to ache faster than if they were breathing more often, Huff said. By the end of a three-minute routine, Remmers said her muscles are numb. But she’s elated.
“Some people have described synchronized swimming like running a marathon, (while) holding your breath smiling,” Huff said.
Remmers competes individually, in a pair with Duenas and in larger groups with the rest of the highest level of SynchroStars.
They perform without goggles, in custom suits that can cost over $200, with their hair slicked back into braided buns, held in place by gelatin.
During practice, Remmers’ teammates treaded water as they lifted and threw Remmers in the air. She did a back flip, reminiscent of a gymnast on a trampoline, landing with a splash in the water.
Huff corrected Remmers’ technique, speaking into a microphone that the swimmers can hear while underwater through a speaker from a cord that snakes from the microphone into the pool.
Remmers has improved at a remarkable speed from the first solo she performed to the melody of “Over the Rainbow.”
She spends about 14 hours a week practicing synchro, plus time doing weights in the gym and speed-swimming for Austin High.
Remmers is flexible and well-rounded, which makes her tough to beat, Huff said.
Plus, it helps that she’s fallen in love with the creative process.
“Your imagination is the only limit that you have” in synchro, Remmers said.
Remmers and Huff choreograph most of her numbers together.
But Remmers didn’t have a smooth journey to the national team.
USA Synchro, the United States governing body for the sport, has two teams for Remmers’ age group.
Remmers tried several times before making Team 2 on the fourth try.
When she finally made the team, after tryouts in Mesa, Arizona, she had a hard time staying composed.
“I wanted to start crying,” Remmers said. “But I didn’t, because I was too excited to start crying.”
The two teams compete in different competitions.
Team 1 — the swimmers who placed first through 12th in the tryouts — will compete in the Comen Cupin Israel in July.
Team 2 — the swimmers who placed 13 to 21, including Remmers at 16th — will head to the Pan American Games.
It will be Remmers first time competing internationally.
While her time on the national team signals the beginning of her Olympic dream, it also signals the possible end of her time as a part of Synchro Stars.
Remmers plans to return to Synchro Stars in the fall but will likely try out for clubs in California, where the sport is more competitive and the national synchro training center is located in Moraga for the following year.
But moving to California wasn’t on Remmers’ mind much at a practice last week.
Remmers and her teammates goofed off as practice came to a close, attempting to do pullups on one of the pool’s diving boards.
“It’s easy!” Remmers said.
A teammate teased: “Well, that’s cause you’re Abby.”