{"id":7089,"date":"2022-04-01T09:48:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T13:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=7089"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:36:07","slug":"umpi-has-a-new-synchronized-swimming-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/04\/01\/umpi-has-a-new-synchronized-swimming-team\/","title":{"rendered":"UMPI Has a New Synchronized Swimming Team?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The University of Maine at Presque Isle has many Division III sports. Everyone knows the basketball teams and baseball team. But Julie Baker wanted another sport to compete in. Julie has been swimming for years, but she recently saw the summer Olympics, so she wanted to try synchronized swimming. Sam Rulen is the new team captain for synchronized swimming. They started the program together.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The lake that Julie learned how to swim, which led her to start her own team.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Julie grew up in Aroostook County and there were not a lot of resources to start a synchronized swimming team. But Julie was prepared to start the team because she grew up doing gymnastics. Gymnastics equips her with the skills to do in her synchronized swimming routine. Sam also grew up taking these classes, not knowing how she would use them in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Julie and Sam are continually getting asked questions about synchronized swimming. Julie said, \u201cWell, I have been swimming since I was younger. But recently I wanted to start trying to make a team.\u201d Sam said, \u201cWe usually practice at Gentle Hall. But in the summer we go down to East Grand Lake as a team group.\u201d Julie and her team have not been to a competition yet, but they are just getting started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many people ask Julie why she is so passionate about swimming and making a team. Julie said, \u201cWell, swimming is something that I have done for years. I learned to swim before I learned to ride a bike.\u201d Julie added on, \u201cI brought this sport to our school because I wanted to bring swimming and a team sport together. With synchronized swimming, you have to trust that your team members are doing the right thing.\u201d Sam added, \u201cI agree. You work hard all season and you have to trust your teammates enough. Because if you don\u2019t, then there is no point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Synchronized swimming is something that brings people together. Anyone can join. Julie said, \u201cAs the season goes on, the team will grow closer. This sport has been something that I have wanted to try for a long time. So I decided to bring it to our school.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Julie and Sam now encourage the younger generation to try something new. If there is a subject that anyone wants to try out, then they should try it. Julie didn\u2019t know that she would be a good synchronized swimmer. But she had the skill she needed to do great.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The team is currently raising funds to go to the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris, France, with the support of their families, friends and community. They are well on their way to bringing a gold medal back to Aroostook County and the University of Maine at Presque Isle.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The University of Maine at Presque Isle has many Division III sports. Everyone knows the basketball teams and baseball team. But Julie Baker wanted another sport to compete in. Julie has been swimming for years, but she recently saw the summer Olympics, so she wanted to try synchronized swimming. Sam Rulen is the new team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8172,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7089\/revisions\/8172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}