Synchrofun: an academy for young girls

CAIRO – 20 September 2017: Synchronized swimming is an Olympic sport that has four main dancing routines: solos, duets, trios and combos (team). Every single routine has to have a dif-ferent type of music, and they have to have a theme and a story.

Synchronized swimming is mostly dancing in the water, and it requires a lot of things, such as strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility and precision.

Two formal synchronized swimmers (Yasmine Latif and Nour EL Afandi) decided to open the first synchronized swimming academy in Egypt. Latif came up with the idea and called Afandi to help her out. Both of them started working on the academy's name until they settled

on the name “Synchrofun”

.

Latif was a former synchronized swimmer and a coach for 15 years.

Afandi is a former synchronized swimmer. She competed in the London Olympics 2012, plus she was the assistant coach of the senior Egyptian national team in the 2017 World Champion-ship in Budapest.

They established the academy in 2014 in 6th of October City, and they were the only synchro-nized swimming academy in Egypt for less than a year. Now they have three or four competitors in the market.

Their whole aim was to let the girls have fun and teach them the sport. However, now they are expanding their scope to another level because they saw a lot of potential in the girls and their parents. Hence, they are taking them into competitions.

Nour mentioned in the interview that the participated last April in an international competition in Dubai. They won first place for those under 10 years in the combo routine and the first place in the duets under eight.

Synchrofun has four classes a week. The class is divided into two parts: fitness and underwater. Sometimes, the girls take hip-hop classes to help them coordinate with each other; other days, they take ballet to help them extend their legs. They finally take some swimming classes. Two hours training a day for young children like these is more than enough, according to Afandi.

Synchrofun academy stands out due to the level of delegation and commitment the whole team gives in. They all feel like one family, from the coaches to the parents and the girls.

In 10 years, Synchrofun academy is going to be a big academy, and it will accommodate more girls. Plus, the academy will be adding other water sports and dancing classes to help out the girls to get better in synchronized swimming.

“Our dream is to build a generation of girls wanting to make a difference in the world,” said Afandi.