Goodwill Games: July 16 - Aug. 5 -- Pooling Her Resources -- In Synchronized Swimming, Coach Charlotte Davis Is Everywhere, Everything

Charlotte Davis began her love affair with synchronized swimming as a 13-year-old who found style more appealing than speed.

``It was fun,'' she said. ``It was really interesting to me. There was so much more to it than just speed swimming. It involved movement, composing (routines) and interpreting music. So, I changed sports.''

More than 25 years later, Davis is still enamored with the sport, which will be showcased this week in the U.S. Synchronized Swimming National Championships and National Team Trials tomorrow through Sunday at the Goodwill Games pool in Federal Way.

Davis, who lives in Lake Forest Park, is a former national champion who switched from competing to coaching in 1972. She stepped into the coaching limelight in 1984, coaching Olympic gold medalists Tracie Ruiz-Conforto and Candi Costie-Burke. She has been a member of the national synchronized swimming coaching staff since 1979 and is commissioner of the sport for the 1990 Goodwill Games.

Davis admitted she never imagined such a long association with synchronized swimming, but added, ``I never saw myself doing anything else.''

The association with her swimmers provides the most satisfaction for coaches, according to Davis.

``We really have a lot of personal contact with our athletes, one-on-one contact,'' she said. ``We are their mirror. Since they can't see themselves, we have to offer a lot of feedback as to what they're doing right and wrong and how they look. It's a lot of one-on-one feedback, not just putting some kid in a lane (of a swimming pool) and having them swim up and down, up and down.

``We are their mentors. We do a lot of counseling for kids, especially when they have a problem they don't feel like they can go home and talk to their parents about.''

Davis encourages girls as young as 8 to try the sport, ``depending on how strong of swimmers they are. It takes a lot of concentration. Before 8, kids can be pretty flakey. They need to get started in the four swim strokes first.''

She owns the Seattle Aqua Club, which she began in 1972, but hasn't coached there since 1983 because of her national-team responsibilities. Davis met Tracie Ruiz-Conforto when Ruiz began taking swimming lessons from her at a Bothel pool at age 9. A friend from church convinced Ruiz to try synchronized swimming, Davis said. Costie-Burke was involved with a program at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle at the time and joined Davis' club a couple of years later.

``They were always real good as little kids,'' Davis said. ``They were real strong and real competitors. They had a real natural aptitude for the sport. They were real creative at an early age. They progressed very rapidly.''

Ruiz-Conforto, who will be a television commentator for synchronized swimming at the Goodwill Games, was the gold medalist in the solo competition in the 1984 Olympics and teamed with Costie-Burke to win the duet gold as well. In the 1988 Olympics, Ruiz-Conforto was the silver medalist as a soloist. Costie-Burke did not compete.

Davis did not have an opportunity to compete in the Olympics because 1984 was the first year synchronized swimming was included.

``But I got to do it (the Olympics) as a coach,'' she said. ``I don't feel I missed the boat. I feel I was right on the boat.''

Twins Karen and Sarah Josephson took the 1988 silver medal as a duet and are expected to battle for the title at the national championships this week, returning to competition after a one-year retirement. Kristen Babb and Tracy Long are the defending champions. Only one duet and one soloist qualify for the Goodwill Games.

Babb also won the national solo title last year, then was sidelined with a back injury. Long, the solo runner-up, stepped up to compete in the World Cup Championships and won, making her a top contender this week. Long was also part of the No. 1 duet team at the World Cup, with Michelle Svitenko filling in for Babb. Davis said up-and-coming Becky Dyroen is also in the solo picture.

``It (the competition) is going to be really exciting,'' Davis said.

There will also be trio and team (four to eight swimmers) competition this week, although neither are Goodwill Games events. For the solo and duet competition, 53 entries are expected in each. The top 25 advance to the semifinals and top seven make the finals. There will be no preliminaries for team and trio, which drew less than 30 entries each.

The meet marks the first competition in the recently completed Goodwill Games Pool, also called the King County Aquatics Center.

``It's absolutely beautiful,'' Davis said of the pool, which accommodates 2,500 spectators. ``It's one of the finest facilities in the U.S.''

Synchronized swimming was one of the first events sold out for the Goodwill Games.

Davis, who attended Roosevelt High School and received a bachelor of arts degree in education from the University of Washington, said the sport is gaining popularity, especially in the Seattle area. She strongly believes synchronized swimming is a sport, not a water show as some doubters claim.

``I challenge them to come watch a workout and watch the competition very closely,'' Davis said. ``Go down to an underwater window and see what they (swimmers) really do. One of the deceptive qualities about the sport is that you try to make it look as effortless as possible. To do that, you have to be a very well-conditioned athlete . . . It's an athletic sport. When they come up for air, they try to look as pleasant as possible, when inside they're working their guts out.''

Swimmers might be underwater for up to a minute at a time, she said. National team members train six hours a day and much of the work is tedious repetition of movement.

Davis also defends criteria the national organization distributes stating national team members should be ``attractive'' as well as physically fit and ``health and beauty conscious.''

``I don't want it to sound like a beauty contest, because it's not,'' she said. ``It just seems the people in this sport usually are very attractive. I'm not saying that's a requirement; these people just tend to rise to the top, the same as in sports such as skating and diving.''

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GLOSSARY

Here are some terms you might hear around the pool at the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Championships:

-- Crane - One of the basic positions in synchronized swimming; head downward, with the head, body and one leg vertical and other other leg horizontal and parallel to the surface.

-- Flamingo - Another basic position; one leg vertical, perpendicular to the surface. The other leg is drawn toward the chest with its mid-calf opposite the vertical leg, and its foot at the surface. The face is at the surface, and horizontal, with the hips as close to the surface as possible.

-- Ballet leg - The body and one leg horizontal, with the foot and face at the surface. The hips as close to the surface as possible. One leg perpendicular to the surface.

-- Rocket - A movement where the head is downward and the body is propelled out of the water as high as possible through arm and body movements.

-- Pop-up - With the head upward, the body is propelled out of the water as high as possible through leg and body movements.