AquaStarz History
The AquaStarz Synchronized Swimming was founded in 1999 by Rose Cholewinski at Davis Athletic Club. During the summer months, a small group of swimmers learned the basics of synchronized swimming and performed an annual show that was the highlight of the season. In those early years, Rose served as team coach, choreographer, activities planner, show coordinator and emcee. As our girls grew in both height and ability, they outgrew the Davis Athletic Club's pool, which necessitated us to look into use of the Davis City Pools. At that point, in 2005, a group of dedicated parents formed the non-profit organization, the AquaStarz Synchronized Swimming Team. A parent board was formed to run the business side of the team, a head coach was hired, and the team became affiliated locally with Valley-Foothill Competitive Aquatic League (VFCAL). Our membership in VFCAL allowed our team members to begin to compete with other synchronized swim teams in the greater Sacramento area.
Currently, the majority of our team competes in the VFCAL, which consists of swimmers at the Novice and Intermediate levels. Swimmers start at the Novice level and qualify for Intermediate level based on their placement in the annual VFCAL championships in mid-July.
This season, the AquaStarz are proud to be celebrating 25 years of synchro in the Davis community.
What is Synchronized Swimming?
Synchronized Swimming, also called Artistic Swimming, is a water sport that fuses athleticism and artistry. It combines the precision and strength of traditional swimming, the flexibility and agility of gymnastics, and the artistry and theatrics of dance.
Athletes perform choreographed routines to music that include various arm and leg movements, synchronization in a variety of groupings, and impressive acrobatic movements...all while holding their breath and without their legs ever touching the bottom of the pool.
The sport has different formats of competitions based on the number of athletes performing the routine. Solo (one), duet (two), trio (three), team (four to eight), and combo (four to ten) are the formats used in our recreational league. National and International level competitions also include acrobatic and technical routine competition. Currently the Olympic Games has medal competitions only for the duet and team formats.
Each routine is judged based on two broad aspects, technical merit and artistic impression. Technical merit looks for execution, difficulty and synchronization, while artistic impression covers choreography, music interpretation and manner of presentation.
Athletes in our league also compete individually by performing brief, compulsory movements for scores.
Want to lean more? Visit the links below for a more in-depth look into the world of synchronized swimming.