COLUMBUS, Ohio — Synchronized swimming has captured the attention of many following Team USA taking home the silver medal.

There’s one group of young ladies who are striving to make their way to the Olympics one day.

What You Need To Know

  • The Mermaids started as a small program and now compete as a registered USA team

  • The age ranges can be from 6 to 18 years old

  • The girls train for four hours sometimes in the pool and on the weekends, too 

Synchronized swimming has captured the attention of many following Team USA taking home the silver medal. And there’s one group of young ladies who are striving to make their way to the Olympics one day.

These are the Mermaids.

They’re a competitive artistic swimming team made up of girls as young as 6 all the way to age 18.

“It is a combination of gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, we do stunts like cheerleaders, but all in the water without touching the bottom of the pool,” said Anne-Marie Lichter, Mermaids head coach.

The synchronized swim team started as a small program in Columbus and wanted to compete at the next level, becoming a registered USA team.

The team has come a long way and are very competitive, fiercely competing against some of the best in dozens of competitions throughout the years.

On Saturday, they leave for Peru to compete in the Pan-American Aquatics games, where they plan to give it their all to win.

“This team that is going to Peru, they’re in middle school, maybe some freshman in high school and that’s the age where you’re not doing a school sport so kids at school don’t understand why you’re so busy,” Lichter said.

The girls have plenty of talent, but so do their coaches.

Lichter was a synchronized swimmer at Ohio State University, coached by her now Mother-In-Law, at the National Level. 

Lichter-Witter was there from 1995 to 2012 and also coached at the Olympic level. 

“I’ve coached four age group teams in my life and I have never seen girls as close and as loving and dedicated as these kids they’re very special,” Lichter-Witter said.

The sport is starting to get more recognition, especially after the Olympics. 

The USA Olympic team went viral for their “moon walk” in their routine, but the mermaids say they were doing it before the Olympics.

The sport is extremely impressive and can be described as “running a 10K marathon while holding your breath.” 

And the girls train hard, in and out of the water.

“So they’re working on their leg flexibility, full body flexibility, they need to be flexible in their back, their arms, their legs, knees and feet. So it’s a lot of hours,” Lichter said.

And Lichter said it’s beneficial to have international experience as a young swimmer. 

“The stresses are different, the environment is different, the environment, the meet will run differently, everything is so different from when we have a competition in our own country,” Lichter said.

Excited to compete, the girls know they've put in the work. They practice for four hours a day to perfect their routine. They know anything out of sync results in deductions. 

And because they spend that much time together, the team said they've truly created a life-long bond.

“They’re family, and they’re close then and they have each other’s backs for life,” Lichter-Witter said.