Island Aquatics Synchro

Three swimmers from Island Aquatics Synchro Club vie for spots on the  Jamaica National Synchro team for CISC 2012

Rachel Minto-Walker and Alexandria Hinds from Island Aquatics Synchro – Kingston, and Jamielya Shaw of Island Aquatics Synchro – Portland will compete against swimmers from Synchro Stars on Sunday, April 1, 2012 in their quest to qualify for the Jamaican National Synchronized Swimming team to the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships to be held in Aruba in June 2012.

Coming off their outstanding performances at our 4th Island Aquatics Synchronized Swimming Invitational Meet held over 2 days, March 2 – 3, 2012, at the National Stadium pool, they are hoping to raise the bar and getting ahead of the competition.

Please come out and support our girls. The competition runs from 7 – 9am at the National Stadium pool, and entrance fee per person is J$100 or US$1 (children/adult).

Defending champions Island Aquatics Synchro Club (IAS) dominated the March 2 and 3 IAS invitational competition held between local synchronised swimmers from Kingston and Portland and Synchro Paraguay.

The competition, which was held at the National Stadium pool, saw some 22 swimmers competing in 16 events and seven categories, including novice, intermediate and age group figures and routines, as well as masters solo routines. The competitors included the 13 swimmers from IAS who qualified for the Carifta Synchro Championships. The 2012 Carifta Championships has been cancelled. (read more).

See the full results here.

13 Island Aquatics Synchro Club Swimmers make the 2012 CARIFTA grade

Swimmers, parents, friends and club executives were excited by the news that all 13 entrants from Island Aquatics Synchro Club for the 2012 CARIFTA trials held on January 29, 2012 had qualified for the National team. This came after intensive training in both Kingston and Portland over the past couple of months.

Coaches Jun Tochino and Olga Novokshchenova now turn their attention to preparing the girls for the club’s 4th Island Aquatics Synchronized Swimming Invitational Meet, scheduled for March 2 – 3, 2012 at the National Stadium pool.

Shaw and Ausan excel in Solo, Duet and Team routines at the 2012 CARIFTA trials

While there were some wonderful performances at the 2012 CARIFTA trials held on Sunday, January 29, clear standouts on the day were Jamielya Shaw and Charlotte Ausan, coached exclusively by Portland-based, Island Aquatics Synchro Club coach, and double Olympic gold medalist for Russia, Olga Novokshchenova.

Shaw and Ausan both entered the Solo category where they scored 65.17 and 66.79 respectively, out of a possible 100. They then teamed up and performed a duet which was well-received by the spectators and judges alike who rewarded them with an overall score of 64.54.  Both were clearly ahead of the competition.

To ensure maximum participation at this level, and to give our (Island Aquatics Synchro Club’s) swimmers the best possible chance of qualifying for the 2012 CARIFTA team, Jun Tochino, head coach of Island Aquatics Synchro Club’s Kingston branch, collaborated with Olga, and created the sole 13 – 15 team routine in the competition which exceeded the qualifying score of 5.6. Members of this team were Alexandria Hinds, Kenya-Amber Beek, Rachel Minto-Walker, Rhea Rampair, Pia-Milan Green (Reserve), rounded out by Shaw and Ausan.

The girls will now turn their attention to our 4th Island Aquatics Synchronized Swimming Invitational Meet to be held March 2 – 3, 2012 at the National Stadium pool, where they are once again expected to blow the competition out of the water.

Island Aquatics Synchro Club fields 13 swimmers for the CARIFTA trials on Sunday, January 29

Of the 18 entrants for the 2012 CARIFTA trials scheduled for Sunday, January 29, 2012 at the National Stadium pool, Island Aquatics Synchro Club has 13 swimmers vying for spots on the team for CARIFTA 2012 to be held in Jamaica in April. The swimmers have been training intensely and hope to meet the qualifying standards which are set by the Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica’s Synchronized Swimming Technical Committee.

Our entrants for these trials, including 7 from our Kingston Chapter, and 6 from our Portland Chapter, are:

Kingston – Alexandria Hinds, Rachel Minto-Walker, Rhea Rampair, Kenya-Amber Beek, Pia-Milan Green, Soyini Johnson and Hannah Smith; and

Swimmers from our Portland Chapter strike poses for their poster

Portland – Jamielya Shaw, Charlotte Ausan, Shernet Swearine-Gullotta, Dajone Leslie, Ajoni Llewellyn and Nyouka Baugh.

CARIFTA is an Age Group meet. That is, competitors must swim figures (2 compulsory and 2 drawn figures) according to their ages at December 31 each year. This differs from a development meet where athletes may swim the figures assigned to any level, whether Novice, Intermediate or Age Group, depending on the skills that the coach wants to test at a particular point in time, irrespective of their ages. Some of our swimmers have just moved into their age groups but with the training they have been exposed to leading up to these trials, we expect them to do very well.

The Club’s elections on Saturday, October 29, 2011 saw the return of some old faces, and the injection of some new ‘blood’ in the executive and parent committees. Club officials are elected by its membership and serve a 2-year term. For this year (2011 – 2013), the executive members are:

• Mrs. Francine Alexander-Hinds – President
• Ms. Jun Tochino – Head Coach (Kingston Chapter)
• Ms. Olga Novokshchenova – Head Coach (Portland Chapter)
• Dr. Debbie-Ann Gordon-Smith – Vice-President
• Dr. Christine Gabbadon – Secretary & Immediate Past President
• Ms. Carolyn Feurtado – Treasurer

There were praises all around for the stewardship of the previous executive, especially that of our immediate past president, Christine. Since taking the reigns in September 2009, she ensured that the vision of founder Katherine Lim Sang was kept alive. This included:

• Continued development and popularization of the sport:
• increase in registered members from 6 in 2009 to over 20 in 2011
• through sponsorship and our own outreach programme, the sport was introduced to the Iris Gelley Primary School in East Kingston in the Summer of 2010 – they remain members of IAS
• Continued mentorship of the school synchro programmes – current and past students, usually members of IAS, are encouraged to give back to their schools by spearheading their synchro programmes. This was done at Immaculate Conception High School and Campion High School