By Isabella
Originally posted 4/28/14
Tracy Neitzel, a synchronized swimming coach for Sculpins Synchro, is a synchro mom for life. Neitzel has been coaching ever since her daughter started synchro, and she enjoys it very much. She coaches 3, sometimes 4 times per week, for the boys and girls on the team.
Neitzel coaches the only two boys on the Sculpins. When asked about differing coaching habits with the boys and girls, Neitzel says she does coach the boys differently than the girls. “Boys learn very differently than girls do and all of the ways that we coach and teach synchro were developed for girls and they don’t work very well for the boys,” says Neitzel.
Neitzel has mixed feelings about men and boys in the sport. She loves to coach boys, but it is sometimes difficult. “The biggest challenge in coaching synchro is that there aren’t many immediate rewards for the swimmers—it takes an incredibly long time and a lot of work to become an elite swimmer. Young swimmers often become frustrated by how long it takes for them to even begin to master a skill and it’s important to make sure that they at least get verbal rewards from their coaches.”
Neitzel says that the biggest difference in coaching style is, “I try to change up things more often for the boys. I find that if I work on anything for more than 10 minutes I lose what little focus and concentration they have.” Neitzel is sad that synchronized swimming is such an orphaned sport. “I often wonder if the sport would gain more universal acceptance if men were a part of it too.” At the same time, Neitzel is glad that it is one of the only sports where men do not overshadow women. Neitzel says that it is annoying that men and boys get more attention for being in this sport than women do.
Eight year old Steven Colandrea is one of the two boys on the Sculpins. He got started in synchro because his sister had been a swimmer for five years previously and he wanted to try it out. Colandrea swims one day per week, and his coach is Tracy Neitzel. The Sculpins are the only team in this area, so Colandrea knew that he would have to swim with them if he wanted to swim at all.
Part of what Colandrea likes about synchronized swimming is being in the water all year long. Colandrea also likes that he and Benjamin Brady are the only two boys on the team. “We get to do different things than the girls.” Says Colandrea, “You have to work hard to stay on top of the water.” The boys do things a little bit different than the girls, to help them figure out what works for them. The boys, and all of the girls on the Sculpins will be attending a big meet, titled Associations. At the meet the boys hope to get awards for “figures,” positions that synchronized swimmers get scores on, and awards for their duet. They are doing a routine to music from the movie, “Kung Fu Panda.”
