Joelle Anselmo, Reporter
Senior Ali Poteet has made her mark as a synchronized swimmer who competes outside the high school. She showed her dedication to the sport by swimming at Nationals with her team and winning gold with her partner at the Junior Olympics.
How do you balance school, social and synchronized swimming?
In past years, I struggled to balance school and SS, because the schedule is very demanding. I swim the most routines out of everyone on the team, so it’s over twenty hours of routines and conditioning. I think transitioning into high school is hard enough and then to add sports and other commitments onto that is hard to balance.
How did you become involved in the sport?
I had started out like any other little girl does – Baby ballet, gymnastics, music lessons. I really enjoyed swimming and also liked music so one day my mom found this program for synchronized swimming. When I was about eight years old I tried it out and have stuck with it ever since.
Do you prefer swimming solo or with a team by your side?
I prefer swimming with a team. It’s nice to have other people boosting the score, but with an individual routine, it’s all on you. You have to really push yourself that extra mile and the routines are completely different. I like my team, but I prefer swimming solo because that’s where you can express yourself artistically.
Are there any challenges that come along with the amount of dedication you put into the sport?
One challenge is that you
r social life is definitely put on hold. You do get to hang out with your teammates, but you don’t have time to hang out with your school friends because your schedule is so demanding. In the end, it’s all worth it. You’re not doing this just to have fun, you have a goal that you’re trying to reach. For me, it’s trying to improve each year and reach higher and higher placing.
What kind of accomplishments have you achieved over your swim career?
I’d say my biggest accomplishment is making the National Team last year especially because it’s such an honor to swim for your country. On the team, we UNAN Pan American Games
went to the UNAN Pan American Games and swam against many countries such as Mexico, Aruba. It was a really neat experience. Also, the Junior Olympics are similar to Nationals because it’s such a big competition. Two years ago, my duet partner and I won gold. Originally, I thought that we would just barely keep our spot in the top five duets because our preliminary swim had not been great. Yet not only did we make top five, we scored first! For me, it was more exciting than intimidating. It was an experience that I will always treasure.
Do your plans in the future involve this sport
Synchronized swimming is a lifelong sport. There are Masters programs for people that are between the ages of 21 and 90! I would say I’m always going to be involved in this sport in some way, whether it’s coaching or swimming. Even in the future, if I have a daughter, I’ll encourage her to do synchronized swimming. I got offered a few scholarships but swimming is not my top priority when looking for schools.
