The team will be hosting the Eastern Tournament next semester

The synchronized swimming club here at the University of Guelph is having a big year. The club is headed by Kelly Koscielak, president of the Guelph team and also of the Canadian University Synchronized Swimming League (CUSSL), and Carly Shewen, vice president of the Guelph team, who have a combined 30 years of swimming experience between them and both swim for the senior team.

The synchro team didn’t waste any time getting back into the swing of things this year.

“We had a meeting the very first day of school this year, just to get numbers and decide what we were going to do,” said Shewen. “And then practices started that Wednesday.”

The team had over 20 interested girls show up to that first meeting, and has stacked their roster enough to split itself into two separate teams, a junior team and a senior team. The junior team is made up of seven first year girls, while the senior team is made up of six swimmers who have been with the team in previous years.

Although both are part of the same club, the two teams compete against each other in competitions, including a recent invitational tournament at McGill University, which was the kick-off to their competition season. In addition to the two teams, there are also two duets– performances by just two swimmers– in competition, both made up of members of the junior team.

And next up for the team? The Eastern Tournament, which will be taking place on Jan. 14 right here at the University of Guelph.

Although the competition schedule for this year’s tournament hasn’t been finalized, last year 16 teams competed from Ontario and Quebec, and almost every university in Ontario has a synchronized swimming team.

In addition to the prestige of being the host, the tournament will also help raise funds for the group, who, as a club, aren’t funded by the Department of Athletics.

“Because we’re hosting Easterns with CUSSL, they give us half of the proceeds,” explained Koscielak. “Every person that comes to watch us, of the admission money that we get, half of it will go to us and half of it will go to the league, and that pays for registration and all that. Other than that, it’s strictly us advertising and fundraising.”

Teams competing in Easterns may then have the opportunity to move onto Nationals, which take place in February at the University of Calgary, where they will compete against teams who competed in the Western Tournament. But it doesn’t end there.

“Nationals is the end of our competitions, but Guelph has College Royal and the Guelph Synchronized Swimming Team for the city of Guelph puts on a water show,” said Shewen. “Last year we swam at that. It’s mostly just to keep training afterwards.”

“It also helps us recruit,” added Koscielak. “A lot of people who have applied to Guelph in October find out in March if they got in, so a lot of them come to the school for a preview day. I’ve actually found a lot of girls who came to the general meeting this year came to College Royal to see all the sports and clubs. So it helps us. We’re showcasing and recruiting.”

It’s apparently been an effective tool for the team, because its roster is certainly growing.

“This is the biggest that [the Guelph team] has ever been. It’s good this year,” said Koscielak.

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