Training the next generation of artistic swimmers is a family affair
COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Mailyn Price had no idea when she was six years old and saw some girls practicing artistic swimming at a country club pool what would happen years down the road.
Now, at 14, Price is a competitive artistic swimmer and the sport has become a part of her.
"I love how artistic it is, how you can just express all your emotions in the water," Price said. "While you're doing the routine you do arm strokes and you really get to show your emotion going with the music and you express the music while you're doing your routine. You play the music with your actions so it's very emotional."
This summer, the United States Artistic Swim Team will make an emotional return to the Olympic Games for the first time since 2008. At the same time, Price will also be in France participating in the Olympic Development Program as part of Team USA's youth national team.
Price will be training in the pool and watching the games on TV alongside other swimmers with their sights set on being the next generation of Olympians.
"We will work on like speed swimming and like hard endurance sets, but also like technical work and routines," Price said.
Her coaches in Columbus know what it takes to get to that level. Annemarie Licther, who started The Lakes Mermaids, competed on the United States national team for coach Linda Witter, who also was the head coach at Ohio State and won 11 national titles during her tenure.
"I was able to give girls scholarships for being wonderful athletes," Witter said with a smile.
In the last couple of years, Witter has returned from retirement, and from the Arizona heat, to Columbus to assist Licther in coaching the mermaids.
It's also important to mention that Licther is now Witter's daughter-in-law.
"I selected her to marry my son!" Witter said with a giggle. "I knew a good thing when I saw it."
It also gives Witter a chance to coach her granddaughters in the pool.
"They'll call me 'Mee-Maw' at home and Linda at practice," Witter said. "So that's funny."
After years of working with and training the best synchronized swimmers the United States has to offer at the collegiate and national team level, Witter said it has been fun to share her knowledge with a younger group of swimmers and help them learn the basic techniques that will help them go far.
"It is so rewarding to see them learn a skill and be excited about it," Witter said. "They are so close, and they are so talented. You know with, just now being in the Olympics again and them having their dreams, I can give them some of the tools like extension and personality and things like that that they can really adhere to to building their dreams."
"There's no one more fun to swim for than Linda," Licther said.
So far, the in-laws are in sync. The Lakes Mermaids have qualified 18 routines for the National Junior Olympics in Oregon from June 29 – July 6.
Then in August, the 13–15-year-old team will head to Peru to represent the United States at the UANA Pan Am Games. This will be the Mermaids' first time competing internationally.
"They have to be mentally tough," Licther said. "They won't have the same food as they have when they're at home, some without their parents — you know, just with the coach they'll travel."
The girls will also get to meet other swimmers from different parts of the world – and not only meet them as competitors.
"There's like an athlete party where you exchange gifts from your country," Licther said. "It's just a wonderful experience."
And hopefully, it's the next step for Price and her teammates to reach their ultimate dreams.
"I would love to make Senior National Team one day, but also another dream is to stay close with these teammates, honestly," Price said. "If I can go far with them in life, then that's just a great goal that I could have."
The Lakes Mermaids travel to Peru on Aug. 17 for the UANA Pan Am Aquatics Championship.
