The Saanich Commonwealth Pool in Victoria was hopping with packed bleachers, athletes warming up for the provincial championships and families out for a public swim. In the midst of all that action, six boys from the North Shore walked up to the water's edge, and all eyes turned to them.
It's not every day that you see an all-male synchronized swimming team. In fact, that's something you almost never see - this was the only boys team in the entire provincial competition. That didn't stop the boys, all between the ages of nine and 14, from diving in and making a big splash.
Coach Jennifer Joy Anderson of the Cruisers Aquatics Club assembled the team but, in the beginning, it took a little bit of convincing to get all the boys on board.
"I remembered at the first practice my mom told me, 'go to the coach,' and I refused, saying 'only girls,' thinking this is a girls sport only," wrote Jayden Cheung in a note to the North Shore News (several team members collected their thoughts for this article). "Later on, more boys came in to the practice and it turned out to be really fun."
Other team members weren't so tough to crack. Several joined the squad because they believed the training would improve their performances in their other water sports.
"I joined synchro to help cross-train for water polo," said Josh Eng. "I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it."
Once everyone was on board it was time to start training the boys to do movements they'd never done before, in water or out.
"Our coach, JJ, was really patient with us," said Ethan Eng. "Boys can't do the splits."
Coach Anderson confirmed that sticking point. "Anything that required a lot of flexibility they weren't too keen on."
"We all worked very hard to learn the new routines in every practice," added Cheung. "We were all water polo players and strong swimmers and it helps with the treading water and balancing."
Anderson said the training sessions were very different from what she experiences with her girls teams.
"The guys tend to be a lot louder," she said. "Also, given that most of them are water polo players, they tend to try and drown each other partway through practice."
The final piece of the puzzle came when the boys picked their music. A waltz or tango just wouldn't do, so the boys settled on... AC/DC.
"Other groups were doing Disney things, or more girly things," said Anderson. "'T.N.T.' was very masculine. Very exciting."
With that classic track blaring throughout the packed Commonwealth pool, the boys went on to rock their performance.
"They did really well at provincials," said Anderson. "You could definitely see that they improved a lot.. .. They had lots of energy, they were pretty sharp, really in sync. It was good to see."
When they finished, the crowd went nuts.
"The guys have great presentation," said Anderson. "They're very good at making connections with the judges and the audience and bringing enthusiasm to every performance."
The cheers revived when the winner of the beginner team synchro category was announced: gold for the boys. Rock on.
"At the medal ceremony, we were all extremely excited to earn the gold medal," said Kristopher Kirkwood.
"I was excited and proud to win the gold medal and I'd compete again next year," added Josh Eng. "I like our coach JJ, she was cool and gave us candy. She made practices fun and interesting. I think she helped us all improve our fly time.. .. Ha ha."
The competition was held in the summer but the team - which also included Andres Delgado and Elijah Sim - is still talking about the event.
They reunited to get the photo taken for this story.
They're all on to other water sports now - back hard at work trying to drown each other in water polo battles - but they did come away with at least one new skill.
"They got the splits in the end," said Anderson with a laugh.
