Another blog post, another country!
I'm writing to you all from Geneva, Switzerland where Mariya and I are preparing for our 2nd competition in about 2 weeks. Exciting! We've changed a few things, and we're ready to show off here at the Swiss Open. Technical Duet is tomorrow, Free Duet on Sunday. Switzerland is gorgeous and we actually take a tram to and from the hotel. There's also a river we walk past in order to get to the competition pool. Another random fact, we eat Lunch and Dinner at an Ice Rink! Wish us luck beginning tomorrow!
On another note, today marks exactly 30 days from the Olympic Games. Just 1 month left, till the Olympic Rings will shine brightly in everyone's minds and the Games will play constantly on millions of TV's, and I'll be one of those athletes shown! I can't wait!
If anyone has any questions, or something they want to know, tell me! :)
--Mary
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Another day, another competition
So I finally made it to Barcelona. For the Second time in 3 days.
What's that all about? Well Mariya and I just competed at the Spanish Open! We arrived on Wednesday, and had a training day on Thursday. Then we competed both routines on Friday, then turned around and swam Finals on Saturday! Also, random fact...Mayu lost my ring. Haha! It's a habit of Mariya and mine to give our coach our rings before we compete, and one of mine slipped off her pinky finger! Oh well. I'll get another one haha
What a jam packed second half of the week! Our swims could have been better, and we didn't place as high as we would've liked, so we're going back to work. We're having a training camp at the Spanish Olympic Training Center and we're going to continue working in order to have a good showing in Switzerland. (It's Sunday, we leave on Tuesday!) It's a short turn around but I'm excited!
Spain is always so gorgeous, and being here at the training center is an inspiration. I've trained multiple times at the OTC in Colorado Springs, Co, and there's nothing like it! Now being able to compare it to this one in Spain, it shows how many athletes all over the world have the Olympic dream.
Well that's all I've got for now! I'm off the pool to practice. :) I'll keep everyone updated with how we do in switzerland! Wish us luck!
Also, if anyone has any questions don't hesitate to ask! I'll talk about them here on my blog!
--Mary
What's that all about? Well Mariya and I just competed at the Spanish Open! We arrived on Wednesday, and had a training day on Thursday. Then we competed both routines on Friday, then turned around and swam Finals on Saturday! Also, random fact...Mayu lost my ring. Haha! It's a habit of Mariya and mine to give our coach our rings before we compete, and one of mine slipped off her pinky finger! Oh well. I'll get another one haha
What a jam packed second half of the week! Our swims could have been better, and we didn't place as high as we would've liked, so we're going back to work. We're having a training camp at the Spanish Olympic Training Center and we're going to continue working in order to have a good showing in Switzerland. (It's Sunday, we leave on Tuesday!) It's a short turn around but I'm excited!
Spain is always so gorgeous, and being here at the training center is an inspiration. I've trained multiple times at the OTC in Colorado Springs, Co, and there's nothing like it! Now being able to compare it to this one in Spain, it shows how many athletes all over the world have the Olympic dream.
Well that's all I've got for now! I'm off the pool to practice. :) I'll keep everyone updated with how we do in switzerland! Wish us luck!
Also, if anyone has any questions don't hesitate to ask! I'll talk about them here on my blog!
--Mary
Friday, June 15, 2012
Update!
Okay,
so I’ve already fallen behind in updating my blog every other day... I have
reasons I swear!
So first off, I wrote this on a plane on my way to California with Mariya to do an exhibition during the Walnut Creek Aquanuts Night of Champions! (And I'm not posting it till the next day because I just got internet :D) This leads me to last week. I was asked to give a schedule of what our travel plans are leading up until the games. While nothing is ever set in stone, here’s what I know:
On June 5-7, some of my teammates, Mariya and I were all at a Press Event in New York for USASynchro’s sponsor Infusium23! This was a crazy 2 days of meeting press, swimming some of our routines, and actually becoming coaches ourselves when some of the Press got in the water with us to try out our sport! Not as easy as it look hmm? J
Now like I said, Mariya and I are on our way to California for the Aquanuts Night of Champions! We have a few days here to train and then our Exhibition, and then we’ll be taking a red-eye flight back to Indy! I plan on sleeping all day Sunday haha!
Almost immediately after, the two of us and our coach Mayu Fujiki will be on an international plane flight to Spain for a competition! We’ll spend a good amount of time in Europe, as after the competition we have a few days training at the Spanish Olympic Training Center in order to prepare for another competition the next weekend in Switzerland. How exciting is that? Wish us luck!
We’ll make our way back to the states after that, and (as far as I know RIGHT now) we’ll continue training in Indianapolis until USA Olympic Team Processing in London a few days before the Opening Ceremonies.
Another thing I was asked to write about was who my idols were growing up.
I’ve grown up with a lot of idols, because there are so many people who have helped me immensely in my journey! But why not, I’ll give it a shot.
Anna Kozlova, Bronze Duet and Team medalist in the 2004 Athens Games, was always an idol of mine. Growing up I actually used to look at some of her routines when I was choreographing my solos, it was an amazing experience to later be coached by her at the Santa Clara Aquamaids!
Carrie Barton was someone I longed to follow in the footsteps of. She originally swam for my first Synchronized Swimming team, The Pirouettes of Texas, and moved to the Santa Clara Aquamaids to swim under now 3 time Olympic Head Coach Chris Carver (who after I moved to California, I got the pleasure of swimming for her as well!) and became an Olympian!
Victoria Bowen to this day is still one of the best spinners I know. (For those of you non-synchro jargon readers, that’s where the athlete is upside down with both legs in the air, spinning as fast a possible) Remember! We don’t touch the bottom! She taught me how to spin the way she did, and I actually ended up winning Age Group Nationals that year in my Solo.
So as you can tell, I have many people who I would consider an “Idol” and I’m sending a shout out to everyone who’s ever helped me along the way to where I am today! Also, I promise I’ll be better about the updates. Again, if anyone has ANY questions let me know! I’ll answer them in the next blog post.
I found a quote in my corrections note book that really has hit home for me recently and I wanted to share it with everyone:
“For myself, losing is not coming in second. It’s getting out of the water and knowing you could have done better. For me, I’ve won every race I’ve been in.”
--Ian Thorpe
I hope after our swim in London I can look at that and smile. Because it was my best and you can’t do any better than that. Remember to do your best all the time, work your hardest, and your goals CAN be reached! Can’t believe we’re only 6 weeks away from the Olympic Games…
Don’t forget to Like me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter!
--Mary
So first off, I wrote this on a plane on my way to California with Mariya to do an exhibition during the Walnut Creek Aquanuts Night of Champions! (And I'm not posting it till the next day because I just got internet :D) This leads me to last week. I was asked to give a schedule of what our travel plans are leading up until the games. While nothing is ever set in stone, here’s what I know:
On June 5-7, some of my teammates, Mariya and I were all at a Press Event in New York for USASynchro’s sponsor Infusium23! This was a crazy 2 days of meeting press, swimming some of our routines, and actually becoming coaches ourselves when some of the Press got in the water with us to try out our sport! Not as easy as it look hmm? J
Now like I said, Mariya and I are on our way to California for the Aquanuts Night of Champions! We have a few days here to train and then our Exhibition, and then we’ll be taking a red-eye flight back to Indy! I plan on sleeping all day Sunday haha!
Almost immediately after, the two of us and our coach Mayu Fujiki will be on an international plane flight to Spain for a competition! We’ll spend a good amount of time in Europe, as after the competition we have a few days training at the Spanish Olympic Training Center in order to prepare for another competition the next weekend in Switzerland. How exciting is that? Wish us luck!
We’ll make our way back to the states after that, and (as far as I know RIGHT now) we’ll continue training in Indianapolis until USA Olympic Team Processing in London a few days before the Opening Ceremonies.
Another thing I was asked to write about was who my idols were growing up.
I’ve grown up with a lot of idols, because there are so many people who have helped me immensely in my journey! But why not, I’ll give it a shot.
Anna Kozlova, Bronze Duet and Team medalist in the 2004 Athens Games, was always an idol of mine. Growing up I actually used to look at some of her routines when I was choreographing my solos, it was an amazing experience to later be coached by her at the Santa Clara Aquamaids!
Carrie Barton was someone I longed to follow in the footsteps of. She originally swam for my first Synchronized Swimming team, The Pirouettes of Texas, and moved to the Santa Clara Aquamaids to swim under now 3 time Olympic Head Coach Chris Carver (who after I moved to California, I got the pleasure of swimming for her as well!) and became an Olympian!
Victoria Bowen to this day is still one of the best spinners I know. (For those of you non-synchro jargon readers, that’s where the athlete is upside down with both legs in the air, spinning as fast a possible) Remember! We don’t touch the bottom! She taught me how to spin the way she did, and I actually ended up winning Age Group Nationals that year in my Solo.
So as you can tell, I have many people who I would consider an “Idol” and I’m sending a shout out to everyone who’s ever helped me along the way to where I am today! Also, I promise I’ll be better about the updates. Again, if anyone has ANY questions let me know! I’ll answer them in the next blog post.
I found a quote in my corrections note book that really has hit home for me recently and I wanted to share it with everyone:
“For myself, losing is not coming in second. It’s getting out of the water and knowing you could have done better. For me, I’ve won every race I’ve been in.”
--Ian Thorpe
I hope after our swim in London I can look at that and smile. Because it was my best and you can’t do any better than that. Remember to do your best all the time, work your hardest, and your goals CAN be reached! Can’t believe we’re only 6 weeks away from the Olympic Games…
Don’t forget to Like me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter!
--Mary
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The Weekend!
Well, nothing all that spectacular happened this weekend, but I promised I'd keep everyone updated! We had practice on Saturday from 9-1. We like to call Saturday's our "short" days. Although by that point of the week, I forget how long those 4 hours can be. We swim at Ben Davis highschool and it was so sweet, when we got out of the water one of the lifeguards complimented us. She said working on Saturday's is always her favorite shift because she gets to watch us practice for a few hours. It's amazing to me how little we appreciate how hard our sport is sometimes. I'm glad other people see the amount of effort we put in!
On another fun note a few of my teammates and I went to an Exhibition that the Indy Synchro girls were putting on. It lasted around 2 hours but was really fun! These girls have worked so hard and all their hard work is paying off. They showed us all of their routines, back to back. (If you've ever done synchro you understand how CRAZY hard this is) As well, they debuted their Combination routine for the crowd! They had only swam through the entire routine since the week before. I was really impressed with everything. Their smiles are all so big!
There were some intermediate and Novice athletes there as well. Some girls who just 6 months ago was TERRIFIED of the water! She couldn't swim at all, and today she was swimming in 17 feet of water with no problem at all. Just goes to show you that great things can come if you just put your mind to it. There's so much potential there, I hope they continue with the sport.
Also, there were two masters swimmers who showed off their routines as well. The soloist swam to Katy Perry's "E.T." and it just makes me happy to watch her swim. No, their routines are not Olympic caliber, but the smiles on their faces are. It's pure enjoyment of the sport and these woman have traveled all over the world for their competitions! Synchronized Swimming is a sport you can do for YEARS if you have the passion for it.
Seeing 3 very different levels of Synchro in one place made me think. There are so many people who LOVE the sport, and I can't imagine the amount of people giving us support day in and day out. We can do everything we can in the water, but without people supporting us we couldn't have gotten as far as we have. Just a shout out to everyone who's ever been there for me, and those who have continued to play a huge role in my life. Thank you so much!!!
More to come soon! We leave for New York on Tuesday, can't wait to see what they have in store for us! :)
On another fun note a few of my teammates and I went to an Exhibition that the Indy Synchro girls were putting on. It lasted around 2 hours but was really fun! These girls have worked so hard and all their hard work is paying off. They showed us all of their routines, back to back. (If you've ever done synchro you understand how CRAZY hard this is) As well, they debuted their Combination routine for the crowd! They had only swam through the entire routine since the week before. I was really impressed with everything. Their smiles are all so big!
There were some intermediate and Novice athletes there as well. Some girls who just 6 months ago was TERRIFIED of the water! She couldn't swim at all, and today she was swimming in 17 feet of water with no problem at all. Just goes to show you that great things can come if you just put your mind to it. There's so much potential there, I hope they continue with the sport.
Also, there were two masters swimmers who showed off their routines as well. The soloist swam to Katy Perry's "E.T." and it just makes me happy to watch her swim. No, their routines are not Olympic caliber, but the smiles on their faces are. It's pure enjoyment of the sport and these woman have traveled all over the world for their competitions! Synchronized Swimming is a sport you can do for YEARS if you have the passion for it.
Seeing 3 very different levels of Synchro in one place made me think. There are so many people who LOVE the sport, and I can't imagine the amount of people giving us support day in and day out. We can do everything we can in the water, but without people supporting us we couldn't have gotten as far as we have. Just a shout out to everyone who's ever been there for me, and those who have continued to play a huge role in my life. Thank you so much!!!
More to come soon! We leave for New York on Tuesday, can't wait to see what they have in store for us! :)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Welcome to my Life
I always said I'd never keep a blog...well it's time to eat my words! This is going to be a place where people can follow me on my path to the 2012 London Olympic Games! (and this is the part where you get to know me better :D )
My name is Mary Killman, and I am half of the U.S. Olympic Duet for Synchronized Swimming. I'm a proud Native American as part of the Citizen Potwatomi Nation (FUN FACT: Jim Thorpe was part Potowatomi!) I was born in Ada, Oklahoma but I've always called McKinney, Texas my home. Although, sometimes I wonder why I claim a hometown at all, I've lived in 42 different states so far and I'm only 21! I've been doing Synchro for 10 years, and have been on the National Team since 2007. Mariya Koroleva, my duet partner, and I are currently living and training in Indianapolis, Indiana where we are working hard and have qualified for the Olympic Games in August.
I decided to keep a blog to document my specific journey to the Games. We've got 2 months left before Opening Ceremonies in London, and it's going to be the hardest, most intense two months I've ever faced...and I can't wait. It's super exciting to be able to represent your country, and even more exciting when you realize you're one of two people representing you're ENTIRE sport FOR your country! I'm going to have pictures and video to remember my experience by, but I thought it would also be nice to remember how I felt. The ups, the downs, the struggles and the uplifting moments that happen throughout my training and every moment during the Olympic Games themselves. Welcome to the Journey of Mary Killman, an Elite Athlete in Synchronized Swimming. But even athletes have thoughts they need to put down on paper, and you get to see all of it!
Hang on world! This could get bumpy haha :)
--Mary
P.s. Follow me on Twitter and like my Fan Page on Facebook!
My name is Mary Killman, and I am half of the U.S. Olympic Duet for Synchronized Swimming. I'm a proud Native American as part of the Citizen Potwatomi Nation (FUN FACT: Jim Thorpe was part Potowatomi!) I was born in Ada, Oklahoma but I've always called McKinney, Texas my home. Although, sometimes I wonder why I claim a hometown at all, I've lived in 42 different states so far and I'm only 21! I've been doing Synchro for 10 years, and have been on the National Team since 2007. Mariya Koroleva, my duet partner, and I are currently living and training in Indianapolis, Indiana where we are working hard and have qualified for the Olympic Games in August.
I decided to keep a blog to document my specific journey to the Games. We've got 2 months left before Opening Ceremonies in London, and it's going to be the hardest, most intense two months I've ever faced...and I can't wait. It's super exciting to be able to represent your country, and even more exciting when you realize you're one of two people representing you're ENTIRE sport FOR your country! I'm going to have pictures and video to remember my experience by, but I thought it would also be nice to remember how I felt. The ups, the downs, the struggles and the uplifting moments that happen throughout my training and every moment during the Olympic Games themselves. Welcome to the Journey of Mary Killman, an Elite Athlete in Synchronized Swimming. But even athletes have thoughts they need to put down on paper, and you get to see all of it!
Hang on world! This could get bumpy haha :)
--Mary
P.s. Follow me on Twitter and like my Fan Page on Facebook!
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