Sync and Swim

A SCHOOL student from Faringdon is the latest member of the UK’s synchronised swimming squad.

Genevieve Randall, a pupil at King Alfred’s School in Wantage, was one of five picked for Team GB after a week-long trial of 21 youngsters in January.

She has now begun a six-day-a-week regime, training from 7am to 1pm every weekday and on Saturdays.

Genevieve, 15, said: “I like synchronised swimming because it is more expressive than other sports – I could never be a runner.

“It is really fun, and really demanding.

“I couldn’t say the one reason I enjoy it – I like the whole thing.”

Genevieve joined Witney and District Synchronised Swimming Club four years ago, combining her love of gymnastics and swimming.

She said: “The skills convert really well. You need the same self-awareness, because looking good and having the right moves is what it is all about.

“Fitness is important as well. You have to do lifts, where you do flips off other swimmers, so you really need to be in shape.”

Last year, Genevieve represented England in an international competition in Croatia, and in December won silver medals in the figures and solo categories at the National Age Group championships.

Now she is focusing on the European Championships later this year.The teenager this month moved into a house with two other athletes her age in Aldershot, Hampshire, to be near the pool where she trains.

She will keep up with her education with home tutoring and return to King Alfred’s for exams.

She said: “There are 12 of us all competing to get a place in the final team of eight.

“Every session you have to push yourself to the max. It’s ‘go hard or go home’.”

Mum Alice said: “It is difficult when you are 15, trying to make big decisions about your future, but the drive is all hers.

“She has always said ‘what would be the point in doing it if I wasn’t the best?’”

• For details of taster sessions the Witney club runs, see the website witneysynchro.co.uk