With the national Synchronised Swimming squad currently away in Madrid for the FINA Trophy, this is the ideal opportunity for the next set of swimmers to step up and show they have what it takes to challenge for places on next year’s GB squad.
Domestic favourites Rushmoor Synchronised Swimming Club will be hoping to continue their impressive record by claiming an eighth title in the team event but with some key members missing through international duty Reading Royals and other top clubs will be looking to challenge Rushmoor for their crown.
The National Championships are being held at Gloucester Leisure Centre (GL1) for the third year running and the three-day competition runs between 5th – 7th December. The facility has been recognised as an excellent competition venue with two 25m pools and a spectator area that caters for up to 600 people.
Talent Development Officer Karen Thorpe highlights the importance of the National Championships and looks forward to the further development of the sport.
“This is the sport’s main competition,” Thorpe said. “It will be used as the selection for the Great Britain Junior squad and it is really important for all the competitors because it is their opportunity to put all of the year’s work into practice.
“This year we are taking a huge step forward in our use of technology at events. Within synchro it is important we embrace the technological advances that are currently happening. In Gloucester we will have score boards set-up and a Daktronics specialist working with us.
“Our next step will be to look at not just the under-water speakers but the quality of the sound that is produced and look to improve that. But the steps we have taken at this event are positive steps forward that will ultimately lead to more progress for the sport.”
With the European Junior Championships set to be held in the same venue in just over four months time Thorpe explains how important the national competition is for athletes looking to compete on home-soil.
“With European Junior Championships coming up, the Age Groups will provide the first line of selection for the international competition,” Thorpe said.
“Athletes aged between 15 – 17 years will be eligible for the European event and the top 16 athletes from the figure competition will be selected to the second phase of the selection process. This will be a selection camp in the early part of 2009 where we will make our final selection and choose our ten athletes for Europeans.”
