The OSU Synchronized Swimming team defended their national team high point title on Sunday, in the conclusion of the 2009 U.S. Collegiate Championships.

In a press release from usasynchro.org, found at Swimming World Magazine, it was announced that “The Ohio State University scored 43 points en route to the overall high point national championship title. Santa Clara followed with 37 points while Walnut Creek posted 19. Host team, Stanford University, grabbed fourth with 17 points.”

The Scarlet Team placed 2nd, and the Gray Team placed 4th in the group competition. OSU also took top honors in the individual event, and placed 1st in the duet (with two other pairs also placing in the top eight).

> More from OSU Synchronized Swimming

I got an email from Glenn Mills, of GoSwim.tv, informing me that there are some U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame polls open on TeamUSA.org where you can vote for the individual and team who deserve to be included in the Hall of Fame inductee class of 2009.

Of course all of the athletes nominated are sport legends, but because we love aquatics, you might want to consider voting for the athletes representing swimming, water polo, and synchronized swimming! Go to the Team USA hall of fame website where you can watch vidoes of these Olympic giants in action.

Aquatics individual nominees include Gary Hall, Sr. (swimming), Mary T. Meagher (swimming), Tracie Ruiz-Conforto (synchronized swimming), and Terry Schroeder (water polo). In the team category, the 1976 U.S. Women’s 4×100 Free Relay, and the 1996 U.S. Synchronized Swimming Team have been nominated.

Check out the Hall of Fame inductee classes from 1983-2008 under the Distinguished Members tab.

In a press release last week, U.S. Synchronized Swimming announced that they were teaming up with YouDiligence

> Ryan Lochte T-Shirt Cannon from Flickr: i_hate_username
> Matt Grevers’ Olympic Tattoo from Flickr: mikebesto
> London Tower Bridge Swimming Sculpture from Flickr: law_keven
> Water Polo Tabby from Flickr: flying_hairballs
> Boudia and Finchum Synchro Platform via The New York Times
> Children of Glory (2006) Screenshot by IMDB: Szabads

> 2009 Zone Diving Roundup Central (Complete) by Swimming World Magazine
> Bodysuit wars: Who wears the high-tech swimsuits? (Photo Gallery) by Universal Sports
> A Champion’s Thoughts with Miho Takeda by FINA Aquatics World
> FINA Bureau Meeting Press Release by FINA.org
> Jason Lezak, America

Pedro Adrega, Editor-in-chief of

The end of the road is approaching for most senior NCAA swimmers and divers. Your final season, your final conference meet, or even your final national championships. There are very few opportunities to swim professionally, so live it up and have a great rest-of-your-life… right?

Well the transition from college sports to the “real world” will be hard for this year’s graduating class, not only because of the state of the job market, but because of a crucial shift in personal identity. Graduation will not only signify the conclusion of a chapter in this class’ academic life, but possibly the culmination of their entire career as an athlete.

I’m writing this article to hopefully help student athletes who are facing the retirement of their athletic identity. Six months after my final college diving meet, I felt stuck, unmotivated, unsatisfied, and secluded. I sought counseling at the Student Health Services Center for possible depression, while at the same time I was reading through my sport psychology textbooks for answers.

I realized that I was in the middle of an identity shift, in the process of re-establishing who I was outside of sports. Looking back, I don’t think I was very well prepared to go through such a transition. I would have liked some more advanced warning of what to expect, and how to make the transition as smooth as possible. This guide will hopefully do just that, provide information about the upcoming transition as well as tips for adjusting as easily as possible.

I. Personal Description Activity

Activity: Describe yourself in a list of 25 things. You only have a few minutes so write the first things that come to mind.

**AFTER COMPLETION OF ACTIVITY**:
After you have completed the activity, look at the first 5 items. Although you were not instructed to list the items in order of importance, the items you listed first are most likely the ones that you consider the most important or descriptive…
—
I’m not sure why this article got cut off, but I posted it again here: Student Athletes in Transition: Avoiding Post-Retirement Identity Difficulties, it makes a great handout or outline for a presentation.

Breaching means breaking through the surface of the water. In terms of whales and dolphins, it means getting all the way out of the water. This skill is reserved for only the best, most powerful swimmers, and humans are not on that list.

Water polo players are among the best at getting up and out of the water, but never fully breaching away from the surface. Synchronized swimmers can breach when they are thrown, or jump with a boost from their team. This skill most resembles breaching dolphins, but it is not performed under the individual’s own power.

I found this article by Scientific America through Uinnista. It’s a story about a new monofin that is designed to mimic the shape, size, and motion of a dolphin tail.

Scientific America says that “we’re embarrassingly inefficient in the water, able to convert just 3 or 4 percent of our energy into forward motion.” But with this new fin, humans are able to travel up to 8 miles/hour underwater. That’s almost twice as fast as Michael Phelps at his top speed!

You can check out the fin, known as the Lunocet, at the manufacturer’s website.

Check out ths Lunocet in action below:

The Lunocet has reached speeds of 8 miles/hour, and from what I’ve read 10 miles/hour is the threshold for getting all the way out of the water. These speeds are “theoretically possible” with the Lunocet, but from all the videos I’ve seen I can’t help thinking it would be better to test the max speed with experienced competitive swimmers, in a pool, with a speedsuit and tight streamline. A wetsuit in a lake with your arms loosely positioned over your head just isn’t gonna cut it.

I found this video on Blogfish (…guess what their blog is about). Four goldfish that are trained to swim in synchronized patterns, under the direction of a trainer using hand gestures to guide them. One comment on the YouTube video suggested the fish were fed iron and controlled with a magnet. Who knows!

The Aquatics Centre (or Center, depending on how fancy you like your blog posts) for the London 2012 Olympic Games is well underway. I’m sure the crew has years of planning under their belts, but I want real results! Show me concrete and scaffolding!

From the pictures, I’m not sure this aquatics center/centre will have a cool nickname like the Water Cube–but we’ll see. You can read all about the construction on London2012.com, but here is a quick tid-bit: The venue will seat 17,500 for the main competition pool and diving well, and 5,000 seats for the Water Polo venue.

And get this! According to London2012.com, “The impact of the building on the environment is being reduced by the use of renewable energy… and the reuse of pool water to flush the toilets.”

I grabbed this webcam picture from the site as well. You can either bookmark this page to come back for updates, or just keep following London’s progress on their site.

>>View full content on London2012.com.

Source: SCAQ Blog