For many synchro swimmers, the lifelong friendships established with teammates — and even other competitors — ranks among their favorite facets of the sport. You train together, travel together and live together; you eat, sleep, fight and cry together; you're there for each other as you celebrate achievements and overcome disappointments.
By working with athletes from different backgrounds, swimmers learn cooperation, respect, commitment, dependability, leadership, patience, how to receive and deliver feedback and encouragement, how to win and lose gracefully and how to step outside their comfort zones.
But above all, persevering to accomplish difficult goals as a team truly turns coaches, swimmers and their families into members of your extended family, building bonds that span decades. Years after training and competing together, we keep in touch and reunite to celebrate everything from birthdays and work promotions to graduations, weddings, baby showers and other major milestones.
Many former swimmers return to coach new athletes, so that they can pass on the same skills and experiences that made them stronger, more confident adults.
"Even when former swimmers have moved on to become head coach of a college or to train for the Olympics or to begin a new married life, they'll always be a part of the PTX family. Because that's just how synchro is..." ~ Maggi Long, PTX board member
