Most people are surprised when I tell them I can’t make it to happy hour because I have ballet class, so they’ve been really thrown when I mention my latest activity: synchronized swimming.
Friends Nicole Sciarrillo and Nicole Salm formed The Brooklyn Peaches, a synchronized swimming duo, in 2010. The New York transplants met in 2003 while working in advertising and decided to use their combined backgrounds in synchro and dance to create a unique workout and community. Nicole and Nicole teach introductory adult synchronized swimming classes at Brooklyn’s Dodge YMCA, where I got my feet wet in their 8-week program.
It wasn’t my first time donning a swim cap, but when I graduated high school, I thought my synchronized swimming days were over. Now, six years after my last dive into the spotlit pool, I’ve found the Peaches.
After my first swim with the Peaches, I rode the subway home feeling effervescent. I was bubbling with excitement about being back in the water. Did it obsessively track my progress through an app or give me the next-day soreness of my kettlebell classes? No, but it reminded me that sometimes being part of a team and a community of like-minded individuals is what draws us to group exercise in the first place. It lifts us up.
The women (and sometimes men!) that take the Peaches’ class are the truest example of a fitness family that I’ve encountered in New York. While other boutique fitness studios tout their tribes, crews and packs, the Peaches are simply a family. They celebrate birthdays together, grab drinks after a swim, share inspiration and give each other career advice, and feel a hole when a teammate leaves town for a new job or adventure.
The non-judgy attitude that I encountered while swimming is one that’s picking up steam within the fitness industry, spurring a surge of team and partner-based workouts and studios that specifically fight the individual and closed-minded mentality.
“We like to think of our class as recess,” say the founding partners, “The first 5 minutes of each class are spent treading — to develop that essential synchro skill, but just as importantly, to allow everyone to talk and get to know each other.”
Treading, of course, isn’t just a “rest” position for swimmers: it burns 11 calories a minute. Try it with your hands out of the water, like synchronized swimmers do and you’re panting pretty quickly! Treading, or “eggbeater” drills are followed by barre work holding on to the side of the pool and performing things like kicks, plies and other toners. From there, swimmers break up into groups to learn skills, and then work on a routine. Getting to perform around the city at events is a major highlight for the Peaches as well.
Although the workout is definitely a calorie burner, promoting positive body image remains one of the most important aspects of synchro to the Peaches, “Women have a lot of pressure to strive for unrealistic standards of beauty. Synchro has helped us shift the focus away from worrying about being in a swimsuit. Our class welcomes all shapes and sizes and we celebrate the beauty of every student.”
That statement couldn’t have rang truer for me. The synchro experience wasn’t just a return to a sport I loved growing up, but a return to the carefree approach to exercise that most of us had as kids. Movement is intertwined with friendship and personal exploration; working out doesn’t feel like working out. We were lost in the fun.
A shout out to The Hershey Coralettes, who are still swimming strong in my hometown!
Got questions about synchro? Tweet me at @SELFMagazine and @SaraAngle22.