Local Synchronized Swim Team Competes for Its Own Gold

While the eyes of the world will be on Olympic synchronized swimmers this month, local attention was on nearly two dozen Valley girls who practiced relentlessly and overcame some obstacles to end up winning five medals in a major competition.

The girls practiced their skills all summer at Granada Hills Pool, one of several sites citywide where the Recreation and Parks Department offers synchronized swimming. They initially competed in a Valley regional contest, winning four first-place medals and four second-place medals, which qualified them to progress to a citywide competition.

After winning four first-place medals and one second-place medal at the citywide contest, the girls advanced to the Amateur Athletic Foundation’s Southern California competition, where they again won four first-place medals--including one for their group performance to the Olympic Games theme--plus a second-place medal.

They were guided by Nanette Wendt, who got into synchronized swimming when she was 12. This was Wendt’s first summer as head coach, having been an assistant coach last year for Granada Hills.

“She did a Herculean job,” said Paula Boddington, whose 14-year-old daughter Brittany was on the team. “She motivates them by approval. She’s very gentle and positive and the girls thrived on it. They’ve been screamed at before and didn’t do this well.”

While she’s firm with her instructions, Wendt, 19, believes in focusing on the positive and making it fun.

“I don’t want to have any hard feelings. I don’t want anyone saying they’re not going back to Granada Hills because Nanette is a mean coach,” she said. “A lot of them are beginners and I want them to come back and love it, because I love it.”

Ironically, Wendt wasn’t there when the team did so well at the first synchronized swimming contest sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Foundation, which is endowed with surplus funds from the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Wendt’s sister, Alana, who was on the team, had taken Wendt to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, to begin her sophomore year.

“I felt so badly because our senior team won by such a close margin at the city meet,” Wendt said. “It was the best performance they’d ever had. I knew their potential and at that point, I knew they could completely fulfill it.”

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Wendt’s late-August departure not only meant the team’s coach wouldn’t be there for the big competition, but the team would have to find a substitute for Alana, who was scheduled to perform a duet with Brittany to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” music.

Brandi Hodek filled in, with only three days to learn the routine.

“She wasn’t familiar with the routine. We did a land drill, then started trying it with music,” said Brittany, a sophomore at Los Angeles Baptist High School. “We practiced it for hours and hours.”

Their hard work paid off, netting them a blue ribbon.

Maura Sakhakorn’s 12-year-old daughter Supanna loves the sport, which Sakhakorn described as “an incredible combination of swimming, gymnastics and endurance.”

“She never missed a practice. She was totally dedicated,” said Sakhakorn, adding that her daughter had not participated in organized sports since T-ball when she was 7.

Wendt is in line for promotion to pool manager next summer, but hasn’t made up her mind whether to return to coaching.

“I’m leaning toward coaching, but [promotion to pool manager] is still in the back of my mind. I would make more money and get more hours,” said Wendt, who graduated from Granada Hills High last year. “What’s pulling me back toward coaching is the synchronized swimming.”