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Artistic Swimming

 
The Speedo Outsiders Club video above was filmed at Portishead Pool.

About Artistic Swimming

In July 2017, FINA Congress voted to change the name from synchronised swimming to  artistic swimming in order to attract a wider audience to a sport that has recently expanded to include male competitors. Although some continued to refer to the sporting discipline by its previous name or abbreviation (Synchro), Swim England formally announced in Feb 2020 that the sporting discipline will be known as artistic swimming and replace synchro in England to align with FINA.

View Dec 2021 updated Swim England guidance for all disciplines and competition..

Download from FINA the

 

Read about the Artistic Swimming Coach Card, a fundamental feature of the new World Aquatics Artistic Swimming rules 2022-25. Its function is to provide the Technical Controllers, a new role, with the difficulty score for a routine in advance, to be verified in competition.

Swim England unveiled the route back to artistic swimming competitions, staging an Autumn Virtual Series made up of four artistic swimming national events in 2021. The National Championships, National Age Group Championships, Masters Championships and Combo Cup have since resumed albeit in a slightly different format to usual. 

Swim England published guidance in Oct 2021 on the return to competitive training and grade days.

Somerset County Artistic Swimming Championships

We are planning to hold 2023 County Championships will be held end September / early October. Date to be confirmed nearer the time.

We were delighted to hold our first Somerset County Artistic Swimming Championships (Figures and Solo Routines) and a friendly County Novice Competition since 2019 on 1 Oct 2022 (4pm to 7pm) at Station Road Pool, Taunton TA1 1NN.

Somerset County Novice Competition and Championships 2022

Our thanks go to everyone who supported the event for all eligible artistic swimmers. Read Alyson Bashford's report.with results.

Development - Courses and Summer Camp

 A development day is being planned for near the end of October 2023. Date to be confirmed nearer the time.

The Artistic Swimming Pathway Conference 2022 held over 3-4 December 2022 at the Jurys Inn, East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Derby gave artistic swimming coaches and officials the ‘tools and knowledge to embrace sweeping changes’ introduced to the sport. Read more.

29 Oct 2022
13 promising young artistic swimmers aged up to 15 years, from Taunton and Team Bath, took part in an Artistic Swimming Development Day at King's College, Taunton on 29 Oct 2022 in which experienced coaches delivering high-quality training. 

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021

Read Alyson Bashford's report with more pictures from the day.

30 Oct 2021

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021

Somerset Artistic Swimming Development Day 2021
 

Somerset ASA delivered a Development Day on 30 Oct 2021 at King's College, Taunton with experienced coaches delivering high-quality training for promising young artistic swimmers. Thank you to everyone who supported the day. View report here.

Somerset Synchro Development Day 12 Oct 2019

We previously helped fund an Artistic Swimming Development Day on 12 Oct 2019 in Bath for promising young Somerset artistic swimmers who had achieved Figures Grade 2 or above. View report. We had hoped to make this an annual event, maybe even twice a year eventually and aim to open it up to younger swimmers in 2020.

If your artistic swimming club is in need of support from Swim England, please contact Sarah Darragh, Swim England National Development Officer Artistic Swimming (sarah.darragh@swimming.org).

GB Artistic Swimming is offering webinars covering a variety of areas. Open to Coaches / Athletes as appropriate,each webinar will be hosted by Swim England and GB Artistic Swimming.and accessible via “Zoom”. View upcoming webinar details for Sharing Success Series and also for Athlete development.

Applications were open for the Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) - Artistic Swimming until 12 July 2021.

Applications were open until 5pm on Monday 24 February 2020 for artistic swimming clubs to apply for Swim England funding to help encourage new members into the sport. The TRY Artistic Swimming Programme is designed to increase participation and offers grants of up to £500 to clubs who join the scheme to pay for equipment, coaching fees or hire additional pool space. Aimed at primary school age youngsters, the TRY sessions are fun, engaging and look to develop basic artistic swimming skills before individuals join the novice section of the club.

Taunton Deane previously submitted a successful proposal and received a grant to run START artistic swimming sessions working with primary schools.

Within Somerset ASA's 2019/20 Development budget, a funding pot of £2,500 focused on encouraging more participation in the disciplines of Open Water, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming and Masters.

TeamBath Synchro

Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club held a FREE one day taster session on 12 Jan 2020 at University of Bath 2012 Legacy Pool for swimmers aged 7+ able to swim 50m completely unaided and confident in deep water. View details.

We also publicised the FREE taster Sessions they held in Jan, Mar and Sep 2019. 37 athletes signed up for the Sep 2018 taster so we always recommend you book early. A follow-on 'Learn to Sync' course is available for those who like it.

TeamBath Artistic Swimming Club's 2019 Summer Camp between 28 Aug and 1 Sep at the University of Bath 2012 Legacy Pool featured water and land work, cross-over training with rhythmic gymnastics, yoga and contemporary dance, nutrition talks - feeding your passion, sessions on music interpretation and artistic swimming styles as well as sport psychology and international artistic swimming coaches.

Their 2018 camp catered for 40 athletes aged 7 - 18 from across the UK and abroad. An amazing four days of inspirational Artistic Swimming focussed training at the University of Bath's 2012 Olympic Legacy pool included a one day course for novice and younger swimmers where new swimmers could have a taste of artistic swimming or enjoy a full day's practice if just starting out. View report.

We publicised City of Bristol Aquatics popular 10 week starter course from 1 Sep 2018 (8am to 8.30am) at Filton Leisure Centre (just £60 for budding artistic swimmers aged 7-10 years).

For the first time, men eligible to compete in Artistic Swimming at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 

View World Aquatics Press Release published 22 Dec 2022

Calling all boys who would like to try Artistic Swimming

A project to ‘dispel the myths’ that artistic swimming is a female-only sport in a bid to encourage more males to take part has been launched by Swim England. 

Males keen to give the sport a try can take part in a taster session at the British Swimming High Performance Centre at Hengrove Leisure Centre on Saturday 21 January 2023 between 1pm and 5pm.

It will be led by Great Britain coach Paola Basso and will feature two of the sport’s rising stars – Ranjuo Tomblin and Maxwell Sewell. Read more and sign up.here..

Grade Assessment Day

Swim England has introduced a new artistic swimming competitions grade policy in a bid to recognise the achievements of athletes at national events. It will mean those competing at this year’s National Age Group Championships and the Junior and Senior Championships will be automatically promoted to a higher grade if their routine in those events met the required standard. View announcement.

The next Grade assessment is at Marlborough College, on 13 May 2023 from 9 to 1 pm. This will include routine grades as well as figure grades. 

Grade days had returned to face-to-face sessions in 2022. Grading at:

  • Cheltenham in mid-January and
  • Marlborough College on 19 Mar 2022 and 14 May 2022

Cost £17.50 per grade

Coaching

Applications were open for Swim England's Pathway Coach Programme 2021-2022 until 5 July 2021.

The Artistic Swimming Poolside Helper resource has been created in conjunction with the Artistic Swimming Leadership Group and aims to support the delivery of club sessions under the supervision of a qualified teacher or coach. View details.

We publicised a Swim England Artistic Swimming Coach – Club Offer (Practical Sessions Only) which starts Mon 28 Jun 2021 at Filton Sports and Leisure Centre, Elm Park, Bristol.

We publicised the blended Swim England Assistant Synchronised Swimming Coach - Jun/Jul 2021 couse starting 29 Jun. Swim England Assistant Artistic Swimming Coach Theory Virtual Sessions only (online) (Jun 2020) can take your passion for artistic swimming to the next level when you start to train for a qualification. We also publicised Swim England Assistant Artistic Swimming Coach August 2019 course at University of Bath Sports Training Village, BA2 7AY.

A new Level 3 course was expected to be introduced by the end of 2019. Places will be limited so potential candidates should apply as soon as they hear about the course.

Officials

Judges are also essential for artistic swimming as they allow for competitions to be scored based on the performances in each routine. They are also responsible for marking grade level assessments which is another key element within the competitive development of athletes. 

Take the first step to train to be a Swim England Artistic Swimming Judge. The Introduction to Judging – Artistic Swimming resource has been created to give confidence to those who might not have the basic knowledge of the rules or scoring of the sport and, ultimately, consider taking on a judging course. The resource covers:

  • Roles, events and scoring
  • Judging figures
  • Judging routines.

Register your interest in the virtual artistic swimming judge exams set to take place in Q1 2022 - view details.

We also publicised dates for a new Artistic Swimming Judge 1 course which Swim England has developed and rolled out in 2021 and an opportunity to register your interest.here.

We also promoted a one day Level 1 course on 29 Feb 2020 in Bristol (details and eligibility).


We advertised a great opportunity for eligible officials within artistic swimming to upskill by completing a one-day newly developed Artistic Swimming Chief Recorders Course delivered on a national basis on 21 Nov 2021. View full details and how to register your interest.

We congratulate Alyson Bashford who is now the Chief Recorder for SW Regionl Artistic Swimming events having  successfully passed the course.

Georgina Coombs (Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club) was selectied to officiate at the FINA World Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Samorin, Slovakia in August 2019. Competitors from 35 federations competed - 32 solos, 32 duets, 7 mixed duets, 27 teams and 17 free combinations.

We publicised details of a Swim England National Scorer Course qualification opportunity on 9 Nov 2019 at Burnham Community Centre and another opportunity in Rugby in Jan 2020.for individuals who wish to be used as Scorers / Recorders at National events. 

Conferences

We publicised the Swim England Artistic Swimming Conference, "Reaching Your Potential – Coaching and Judging For Success", which took place on Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December at the Jurys Inn, East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Derby. View report.

 

Video: a short animated film by Falmouth University students for the research project, Jubilee Pool Stories. The BA (Hons) Animation & Visual Effects students helped bring memories of Jubilee Pool in Penzance to life. The film illustrated the creation of a new artistic swimming group, who performed as part of the Jubilee Pool 75th anniversary celebrations.

Join a Club

Two County clubs, Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club based at University of Bath STV and Taunton Deane Swimming offer Artistic Swimming sessions to their members. City of Bristol and University of Bristol Synchronised Swimming Club also offer opportunities to train and progress.

Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club

Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club

Want to continue your sport while in higher education?

Using facilities at the University’s Sports Training Village, the club aims to offer a complete training programme to ensure athletes reach their full potential within a professional but friendly atmosphere, whilst receiving a world class education. TeamBath will support swimmers’ home clubs by offering training during term time. 

Founder and former Head Coach of the Club, Ilaria Brandimarte made her British artistic swimming debut at the European Championships in Glasgow 2018. She was shortlisted for Sports Personality of the Year in the 2018 Bath Sports Awards. Brandimarte was also awarded Somerset ASA Young Volunteer of the Year at our 2018 AGM in recognition of her contribution to Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club which was runner-up for Bath Sports Awards' Community Club of the Year.

We promoted Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club FREE one day taster sessions (2.45 to3.30pm on 27 March 2022 or 3 April 2022 at University of Bath Sports Training Village). Participants must be: Age 7+, able to swim 50m completely unaided, confident in deep water. Adults and Students welcome. Remember to bring a hat, goggles and nose clip if you have one.

We also promoted the follow on 10 week 'Learn to Sync' course which Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club from 24 April 2022 at University of Bath's 2012 Legacy Pool.

The club has catered for members ranging from complete beginners to England and GB training squad members, with competitive and recreational teams. This includes competing in the English Champs, British Masters and European Open Events. The club will ensure all members have pathways available to them to become coaches, assessors and judges.

The club also has open membership for swimmers from 16 years of age so if you, or anyone you know, are considering studying at the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, Bath College, or even simply live within travelling distance, please do not hesitate to make contact.

We publicised Team Bath Artistic Swimming Club's second Christmas show on Sunday 15 December 2019 at the University of Bath. View details.

An Artistic Swimmer's Life

 

Video by Ilaria Brandimarte, founder and former Head Coach of Team Bath Synchro (since renamed Team Bath Artistic Swimming), now Head Coach of Synquatics in the UAE..

Taunton Deane Synchro

The Club welcomes girls and boys aged between 5 and 21 years who can swim the 3 basic strokes, front crawl, back crawl and breaststroke in reasonable style and can also swim under water. Gymnasts and dancers are particularly welcome.

Artistic swimming has been running in Taunton since the 1970’s. An Olympic sport that requires fitness and stamina, artistic swimming takes place as a team of up to 10 swimmers, as a duet or even as a solo. There are opportunities with Taunton Deane Synchro to attend development days, where the swimmers can do gymnastics, dance, pilates and have qualified coaching in the water.

 

If you like dancing or gymnastics, artistic swimming uses both of these skills and in our sessions we work on figures, skill levels, team work, stamina and also breath control which is important when performing upside-down parts of artistic swimming. We also offer some land based training for core stability which is another important skill. The club undertakes Swim England NTP levels 8-10, recreational grades  and skill levels as well as entering local competitions, but we also emphasise the fun side of swimming too which helps build club/team spirit. So why not come along and have a go?

The Teachers / Coaches are volunteers and hold Swim England Artistic Swimming Teachers and Examiners qualifications.

Sessions are held at:

  • Wellington School Pool, Wellington - Tuesdays and Wednesdays 6.30 - 8.00pm and at
  • Station Road Pool, Taunton - Fridays 7.30 - 9.00pm and alternate Saturdays 5pm to 6pm.

(dates and times given on joining)

Swimmers have to become members of the club with annual subscription and have to pay in advance for the sessions.

Swimmers interested in joining the group should get in touch with our Artistic Swimming Secretary Alyson Bashford (contact details) or Sarah Todd on 01823 335123. So go on why not contact Alyson or Sarah to take part!

 

Video: Global Triathlon Network joined Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe from the GB Artistic Swimming team for a day of their intense training, from gym work to flexibility and pool work.

City of Bristol

If you live in the north of the County and prefer to attend Artistic Swimming sessions in Bristol or follow the sport's 'Pathway' you may wish to contact Georgina Coombs of Bristol Central Synchro georginacoombs@blueyonder.co.uk

The Swim England-led Artistic Swimming South West project launched on 27 March 2019 and aims to raise awareness of artistic swimming and encourage a new generation to take up the sport. It will provide a continuous pathway from beginner level right through to elite performance in the city and wider region. Key partners involved in the project are Swim England and British Swimming at a national level, with Bristol City Council, City of Bristol Aquatics Synchro Club, Clifton High School, Everyone Active, Parkwood Leisure, Swim England South West, University of Bristol, University of West England and Wesport County Sports Partnership also backing the scheme.

The University of Bristol Synchronised Swimming Club was founded in March 2018 with the help of Swim England Support University Funding and is also going from strength to strength.

Pathway

Download information for artistic swimmers on the 2020 England Training Squad (15yrs+) from England Programme Artistic Swimming. The closing date for registration for the Trial is 5pm, Friday 20 September 2019.

Download information for artistic swimmers on the 2020 England Youth Training Squad (13 to 15yrs) from England Programme Synchronised Swimming. The closing date for registration for the Trial is 15 November 2019.

 

Film and music: Daniel Mudford of Balham.

Competitions

Team Bath AS Masters at Regional Championships 2022There are a range of swimmers in the Region, of different abilities, and competitions are planned for all levels of swimmer as follows:

2023

  • 12 Mar 2023 Swim England South West Championships in Cheltenham. View results.
  • 25/26 Mar 2023 National Age Groups at GL1 Gloucester. View report.
  • 23/24 Apr 2023 British Championships in Nottingham.
  • 8 Jul 2023 The national Combo Cup competition in Sheffield
  • 9 Jul 2023 Masters Championships in Sheffield
  • End Sep 2023 Somerset County Championships

2022

  • Feb /Mar 2022 at Cheltenham: Regional Age Groups: Figures and Routines, following the format of National Age Groups but with the qualifying standard being one level lower than NAGS. View results.
  • Jun 2022 (approx. 4 weeks before Combo Cup) at Cheltenham: Novice Figures competition and Combo competition. Figures still to be decided and Combo conditions as for National Combo Cup
  • Mid Nov 2022 at Plymouth: Duet Competition: Free Duet from 9-10 age group up to and including Masters.


Reminder: All Entry Conditions must be met by the closing date for the competition.

View entry requirements for Swim England's 2023 Artistic Swimming events.

View report on Swim England Combo Cup 2022 (2 July 2022 - London Aquatics Centre).

Swim England 2021 national events as part of its Virtual Series - news item covered

 

Virtual Land Games 2021

As part of the Games, participants were required to submit a video of their routine to be scored by a team of judges. Videos from the top 10 in each age category were streamed live on Facebook on Saturday 27 February 2021 and the winners announced. View news item and live stream.

Somerset ASA Artistic Swimming Championships and Novice Figure Competition 2020 were cancelled due to Covid-19.

Club officials, coaches or volunteers in our Artistic Swimming clubs will be keen to know first about the exciting new Level X concept which your club can get involved. with  for age groups - 12&under, youth (13-15), junior (15-18), senior (15+), masters (25-40), masters (41+). Make sure a repesentative from your Club attends the Zoom briefing on 5pm 4 Feb 2021. View more information, including resources and how to enter results.

Somerset ASA Artistic Swimming Championships and Novice Figure Competition were held on 20 July 2019 at Culverhay Leisure Centre, Bath. View report. View related County trophies numbered 29 and 33.

The South West Region Artistic Swimming Championships were held on 8 Feb 2020 at Cheltenham pool and open to swimmers who have one grade lower than that needed to enter nationals.

The South West Region Skills event (qualifier for the National Skills in July) was held in Plymouth on Saturday 12 May 2018.

The South West Novice Figures and Routines competition was held at Plymouth Life Centre on 30 Sep 2018 with all artistic swimming clubs taking part.

The whole competition calendar underwent a shake up in 2019. NAGs were held again on 2/3 March 2019 at Manchester Aquatics Centre in Manchester (view report). Multi regional and other competitions had to be brought forward - a challenge!

The 15-18 years category moved into The Swim England Artistic Swimming National Championships 2019 which took place at Harvey Hadden Sports Village in Nottingham over 27 – 28 April 2019. View Day 1 and Day 2 reports on the highest level of domestic competition for English artistic swimmers fetaturing technical solo, free solo, technical duet, technical mixed duet, free duet, free mixed duet, technical team, free team and free combination events.


View report from first-ever virtual Swim England Artistic Swimming National Junior and Senior Championships 2021 (September).

View report from Swim England Artistic Swimming Virtual National Age Group Championships 2021 streamed in November.

The National Age Group Championships 2020 were held on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 March at the Manchester Aquatics Centre  The event offered figures, solo, duet, mixed duet, team and combo competitions over three age groups – 9 to 10 years, 11 to 12 years and 13 to 15 years. 
  • All athletes began the competition by completing Figures where they received a score based on their performance of four ‘figures‘ which increase in difficulty for each age group.
  • The Solo competition was open to the top 12 athletes from these figures rankings who wish to enter in each age group.
  • The Duet competition was open to the top 12 athletes, and Mixed Duet competition open to all athletes, but pairs had to consist of two swimmers from the same club for both competitions.
  • The Team competition featuresd between four and eight swimmers, and the Combo competition featured between six and ten swimmers (all from the same club in both competitions).

While there are time limits on the solo, duet and team routines, there were no required elements which swimmers must perform. Routines were judged based on three degrees of Technical Merit (Execution, Synchronicity, Difficulty) and three degrees of Artistic Impression (Choreography, Interpretation, Presentation). The score for each athlete’s routine was then added to their original figures score for an overall score from which the final rankings were based. The figures scores for duets and teams are the average calculated from the swimmers competing in that respective duet or team.

The Artistic Swimming National Championships 2020 were cancelled (originally scheduled for Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Sports Village on 18/19 April) with entry fees and spectator tickets for all cancelled events refunded. Swim England looked at the potential of rescheduling the event later in the year if that proved to be viable.The event is open to England’s top junior (15 years and over) and senior artistic swimmers and features technical and free routine competitions for solo, duet and team events.

The Swim England Artistic Swimming Combo Cup 2020 originally due to take place at London Aquatics Centre on Saturday 4 July was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic (view details). The event open to all artistic swimming clubs in England, Scotland and Wales would have seen medals available across five different age groups in two divisions but with a limit on entries as the event had grown in size.

The Swim England Artistic Swimming National Masters Championships 2019 were held on Sat 16 Nov at K2 Crawley for age groups range from 20-24 Yrs right up to 80 Yrs and over. View report.

There are four levels of English artistic swimming competition
  • Level 1 Competitions are designed as an introduction to the competitive side of the sport. These events are run by either clubs or counties and feature figures competitions only.
  • Level 2 Competitions are also a grass roots event but will involve higher entry standards and may include a free combination team event as well as figures.
  • Level 3 Competitions introduce free routines for the first time and will typically be a regional event. Swimmers between nine and 12 years old will be expected to have achieved at least grade 2 while swimmers over 13 will need to be at least grade 3 standard.
  • Level 4 Competitions are national events for the most competitive swimmers in the country who have achieved high figure grades.
 

View further information on artistic swimming competitions on the Swim England website. Adult and Masters artistic swimming competitions operate slightly differently, with no grades required to enter.