Jessica Guenther swam for the Saskatoon Aqualenes until 2009. Placing first at 2009 Nationals in Figures, 2nd in solo she put herself onto the Junior National Team. After a very successful UANA Junior Pan Am (Jessica placed first in every event she was in), Jessica furthered her synchro career by going to swim with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
We are a provincial sport run by a volunteer board and administered by paid staff. Synchro Sask offers synchronized swimming programs through clubs across Saskatchewan. Services from Synchro Sask include coaching, judging and volunteer help. Volunteers help as judges, score and time at competitions and they also fund-raise, run music systems, videotape competitions, chaperone out of town athletes, provide transportation and sit as Committee Chairs or our board of directors. We also have great staff to assist us! Synchronized swimming is a fun, recreational sport which also has avenues to competition that lead right up to the Olympics. Dancing, swimming and athletic manoeuvres are all performed to music while underwater or in the water ... no small feat!
Parents Guide answers your questions.
New members join the Synchro family every year and many of them wonder who is Synchro Saskatchewan and what do they do for their members?
Synchro Saskatchewan is YOUR organization; it exists to serve the collective needs of the membership which includes coaches, officials, administrators and, most importantly of all, the swimmers who are the focal point of all of our activities.
The members of Synchro Saskatchewan include the clubs, the swimmers, coaches, athletes and volunteers who pay membership fees to belong to the association and participate in our programs and activities. Our clubs are an integral part of the association - the clubs are the primary delivery system for the sport and for many of our programs - without the clubs it is impossible (and perhaps irrelevant) for Synchro Saskatchewan to operate. Clubs provide the opportunities, clubs provide the coaching and clubs provide the competitive and recreational programs for the swimmers. When the clubs succeed in their programs, the sport grows and flourishes and Synchro Saskatchewan grows and flourishes as well.
Synchro Sask is organized into a General Membership which meets once per year, a Board of volunteer representatives elected at the Annual General Meeting in June, and from these persons an Executive is appointed. Members of the Board and Executive sit for two year terms. They are chosen from members in good standing throughout the whole province. The Board meets about three to five times per year, and the Executive about four.
The Executive consists of the Past President, President and Vice Presidents in charge of Finance, Communications and Sport Development. Also participating is the Executive Director, who is the person paid to run the office and implement policy and programs. The Vice Presidents are responsible for the functioning of sub committees within their portfolios and chair meetings of those committees, and in some cases, meetings of the Chairs of a number of committees within their area of responsibility.
These committees meet to plan and implement programs for synchronized swimming in Saskatchewan. All Board Committee and Executive Members are considered to be working members. This means that they devote personal time to implement plans made at the general meeting, network with other outside organizations, and travel to meetings of outside groups as well as internal administrative meetings.
The volunteers of Synchro Sask make the growth of this sport possible. Funding, which comes from Sask Sport, is only available if a sport has a central organizing body. Participation in Sask Summer Games is possible only if our provincial sports governing body (PSGB) continues to represent us as the centralized organization of the sport. We are able to enter provincial teams in Western and Canadian Games because we have a provincial body to organize trials to choose representatives and to sit in on meetings which plan the competitions. Synchro Saskatchewan is also part of a larger synchronized swimming fraternity through our membership in Synchro Canada - the Canadian Amateur Synchronized Swimming Association (CASSA) which gives Synchro Saskatchewan its mandate to govern the sport in the province of Saskatchewan. This partnership with Synchro Canada also provides an opportunity for our swimmers to participate in Regional and National Championships, National Team programs and International events and competitions. Our Board members not only represent us on national sporting bodies, but we also have members of our family sitting on the international governing body for aquatic sports, FINA (La Federation Internationale de Natation).
This representation on divisional, provincial, national and international sports governing bodies means that when changes are being planned for the sport at a higher level, we are prepared to handle those changes. For example, when a move was begun internationally towards required elements in routine competition, Synchro Sask members were ready. As a result, swimmers were acquainted with the process, because the Synchro Sask technical committee introduced required elements into provincial competitions. Our judges chairperson recognized that with the new two panel system of judging, Synchro Sask needed to train more judges and that process was initiated. We were similarly prepared for the recent implementation of the Tier system.
Synchro Sask volunteers also oversee other elements of competitions. They provide and train the manpower to judge and score meets. Provincial Board Members organize and order awards for the meets as well as provincial award banquets. Standards for competition, and competition rules are set and enforced by Synchro Sask volunteer committee members.
Swimmers are provided with additional weekend workshops which are coordinated by the provincial Sask First Coach or Technical Director. These employees also provide training sessions for other coaches throughout the province to help your swimmers’ coach keep abreast of recent changes in the sport and the newest training techniques being used In Canada and the world. Participation in these sessions allows Saskatchewan athletes (your swimmers) to be competitive and successful.
Synchro Saskatchewan offers newsletter articles, club use packages, and workshops to club level volunteers to help train them so they can better serve their membership and communities. Workshops on volunteer recruitment and media management are the most recent. There is also an annual session held for Meet Managers, as well as training for persons wishing to do Star Testing, Refereeing, and time keeping, all provided free of charge by Synchro Sask volunteers.
The provincial newsletter is funded by Synchro Sask, and is designed to keep you informed of the activities of provincial athletes and volunteers, as well as national and international news from the synchro community. This publication is provided free of charge by Synchro Saskatchewan and edited and produced by our Executive Director with submissions welcomed from anyone in the synchronized swimming family.
A variety of materials are also available for use from the Regina office. Video tapes for a number of training uses, public relations materials and videos can be borrowed, training manuals and booklets of materials for those who cannot attend training sessions are continuing to be developed for use at the club level. We are also able to access materials from Synchro Canada for your use. Parents guides and posters are also available for use by your club, without charge.
Financial concerns are also being addressed by this body. MAP (Membership Assistance Program) funding is delivered by the Board, funding of support staff who organize camps for swimmers, operate the Sask First program, and provide technical support to your club coaches and swimmers are paid for through the efforts of Synchro Saskatchewan. The cost of sending judges to interprovincial meets and to courses to upgrade their skills is handled by this body as well. An office is kept open and the hardware and materials required to host a meet are owned and kept up by your provincial office. The provincial body also help fund the cost of sending coaches from your clubs to workshops offered by other sporting organizations to upgrade their skills. Your swimmers’ insurance is covered through the provincial body, which is one of many reasons that affiliation fees are so important.
What is most incredible, is that this work is done by such a small group of hardworking people. Lists of the volunteers who serve the synchro community are provided in newsletters and other documents; however, many of the multiple jobs are not included. We have Board Members, who are also club volunteers, who also officiate at meets both local and divisional, and who represent us on boards or committees of other sports governing bodies provincially and nationally. The fact is we have too few volunteers who wear many, many hats.
We all know that many hands make light work for all. With this in mind let us invite you to consider becoming involved in a provincial sub committee, as an official, or at the local level. You will find that the more involved you get, the better you will understand the sport you have become a part of, and the more the direction of the organization will reflect your goals and expectations. Get to know Synchro Sask better by becoming an active part of the family.
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