15 year old boy joins the girls synchronized swimming team
 

"Do you have five minutes?" the Santa Clara Aquamaids coach asked Kenyon Smith.

Only when ordered to talk to a reporter did the 5-foot-3 kid stop his race to warmups. He knew what the questions would be. As the only male competitor at the national championship, he's heard them before.

He's also heard the teasing. People tell him synchronized swimming is just for girls, and because he competes with girls, he's not a strong athlete.

"I tell them all to try it, then they stop bothering me," he said.

He first tried it seven years ago, following his sister, Layla, to practice. Since he joined the Aquamaids in 2003, his younger sisters, Summer, 8, and Ani, 6, have followed his lead.

Kenyon Smith, 15, the only male in the competition, works out with his 12-time champion Santa Clara Aquamaids teammates at the U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championships at the King County Aquatic Center.
Smith said he likes everything about the sport: the intense workouts, the team camaraderie, the intricate routines.


For full article...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/others...nchro29.html#2

Good for him :)

there was a male who competed at US nationals several years ago. i say good for him for doing what he likes.

why is this even an issue?

Wasn't there a guy in New York who played in girls' field hockey team because there wasn't a guys' team in his age group?

Wonderful!
Silver

His friends are probably just jealous. How many of them hang out with a bunch of girls in bathing suits regularly?

great way to meet girls!!

sweet.
One of the high schools I went to Cross Country was a girls-only sport so I was a one-man team for the 2 seasons I was there.

...who are in bathing suits!!

This is news?

Sorry, it's been done before.

There were three guys that joined the Oakwood Collegeiate Institute syncro team here in Toronto, when I was swimming for my highschool.

I say good for him, but it's not really a shocker that a guy would do this.

hahaha, I was just thinking of that SNL episode!!

ME TOO!!!!

His dad must be proud.

-Rudey

I thought it was SCTV?

Regardless, one of my professional dance gigs here in NYC was a site-specific piece at an Olympic sized pool on the Upper East Side. We danced around it and in it, some Olympics swimmers and divers performed, and there was a co-ed syncro team. They were amazing!