I’m starting a movement. I haven’t got a name for it yet…alright, I admit it – virtually none of the organizational details have progressed beyond the half-baked stage. But I have a cause: I will not rest until it is decreed that all aquatic sporting events must be conducted outside.

I didn’t even know that I was possessed of this passion until I arrived recently at the Splash Aquatics Center in La Mirada, CA. On my way there to watch the U.S. Masters Synchronized Swimming Championships, I had been assuming the event would take place in the same environment that I’d experienced when I attended the U.S. Nationals in April.

Now, I love the smell of chlorine as much as the next person. And what can be more inviting than the still air of a humid, over-heated natatorium? OK, pretty much anything. But my newfound love affair with “synchro” had made the conditions bearable in the Spring, and I knew that the same would hold true now in the Fall.
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Yesterday in a jaw-dropping act of benevolence I offered to engage in an image makeover of the sport of synchronized swimming. Having recently attended the sport’s National Championships I couldn’t help notice the incongruity between what the sport has to offer in entertainment value and the public’s perception of same. So I’m here to help, at no charge to USA Synchro.

I began with the simple exercise of changing the name of the sport such that it reflects what’s really taking place, thus bringing the term Aquatic Gymnastics (or its stylish abbreviation, AquaGymnastics) into the Olympic lexicon. Having now reinvented the brand, I will pass the baton to the PR experts while I focus on event management. Again, all at no cost, as this Sports Fan knows no philanthropic boundaries when it comes to improving the American experience of athletic competition.
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Admit it. When you read the words “synchronized swimming” you snickered. One of two things came to mind:  (a) a grainy black and white newsreel featuring the watery equivalent of the Hokey Pokey, or (b) the water ballet scene from Caddyshack. Don’t lie – you were thinking Little Miss Sunshine with water wings. To be totally honest, I thought the same thing. But was I ever wrong. And within 15 minutes of my first exposure to Synchro (slang used by us synchronized swimming insiders) I became a convert.   
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I never expected the Goodyear blimp to be hovering overhead. But a small directional sign might have been nice.

I was attempting to attend the U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championships, and so far the sledding was tough. I knew enough to travel to Charlotte for the event, but more specific information was hard to come by. A Google search on the event’s name yielded little other than a link to an internet clearinghouse for matching volunteers to various activities. Only when I went to that site did I discover that I needed to find the Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatic Center. Yes, it was actually easier to find out how to volunteer for the event than it was to attend it.
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