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Sarah Nell Redmond

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Silver Synchers

The Silver Synchers enter the pool in unison as they prepare to practice one of their routines. Located at the Carolina Arbors Active Living Community, the age range of the participants is from 60 to 87. This is only the team's second year of existence, but you wouldn't be able to tell it by the ease in which these women move through the water. Some of these women have never participated in synchronized swimming before now, but many of them have been swimmers their whole life. The oldest swimmer on the team, Colleen, one of the Silver Synchers, is 87 and taught synchronized swimming.
Jennifer Wrigley is a world champion synchronized swimmer and a coach for Carolina Arbor's Silver Synchers. She was a fitness instructor at the living center, and now coaches their synchronized swim team as well. In this picture, Jennifer leads the team in practicing for their upcoming showcase.
Toshiko Hino laughs as her teammate ties a red bandana around her neck, the uniform for the finale dance. Set to the classic song "You've Got a Friend in Me," the Toy Story inspired dance was an upbeat way to end the showcase.
These women twist, turn, and move through the water in tandem with the music and their teammates. A few of the dances are even written by the swimmers themselves. "The tumbling is very hard to get used to, because your brain says its wrong and you should be throwing up," said Anne, one woman who choreographed "Old Friends."
Toshiko Hino (right) practices her duet to the song "Two Old Cats Like Us." This duet, a fan favorite, involved dancing to a song that said "Ain't no problem for two old cats like us." Toshiko and her partner embodied that lyric in their dance.
Teammates hug and congratulate their coach, Jennifer Wrigley, after the last practice before their Labor Day.
The team gets their pep talk from Jennifer moments before they walk on deck for their show. Jennifer handwrote thank you cards to every swimmer, and when she realized she forgot Jennifer's (who pointed at her in a jokingly accusatory tone) she immediately ran off to go write it.
People cheered as the team entered the water for their first group dance. Clad in uniform black suits and flowery pink caps, the women were perfectly in synch as they entered the pool.
The pool deck was packed with people on the day of the showcase, as well as the balcony's of the clubhouse that faced the pool. Some of the swimmers' friends even brought homemade "10" signs to hold up everytime they finished a routine. The comraderie within the team and throughout the community was undeniable as family and friends filled the deck.
As the Silver Synchers finished their Labor Day showcase by yelling their team name, hands thrown in the air, the crowd cheered. Earlier in the program, the team danced to a song called "Old Friends," where one line says "How terribly strange to be 70." To these women, being 70 involves being a part of a community that bonds over the love of a sport that few people truly understand. Synchronized swimming takes patience, coordination, cooperation, and a love of people. All of these women have these traits, and use them both in and out of their pool.
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