On the afternoon of last Tuesday (19.11) the athletes of the main synchronized swimming team of Flamengo Maria Eduarda Werneck, Daniella Figueiredo and Giovanna Bueno visited the Curiosa Idade daycare center, to introduce the children to the sport. The students, aged three to six, talked about the sport, asked questions, watched videos of the girls' performances and even received a gift: Daniella and Maria Eduarda are part of the Brazilian national team and took a Brazilian shirt, cap and hat for the little ones. 

The initiative came from one of the daycare center owners, Fátima Amorim, known as Maria Eduarda.

"Since I'm a medical student, Fátima arranged for me to do an internship with the daycare's pediatrician. That's how I ended up getting closer to the institution. Fátima always wanted us (swimmers) to give a talk there, because the children swim as a physical activity and it would be interesting for them to learn about other water sports. So I invited Dani and Giovanna to go to the daycare. It was a lot of fun, we did makeup for the girls, even the boys had a great time," said Maria Eduarda.

The children were excited by the explanations and were able to see up close the medals won and the swimsuits worn by the red-black athletes.

"Dealing with children is really cool, they are fascinated. We explained clearly what our equipment was for, nose clip, to hold their breath, we also showed them our medals. They were delighted," said Daniella.

Many girls were excited about the possibility of taking classes in the sport and were invited by Giovanna to go to the Gávea social headquarters to learn more about the sport.

"It was really cool, even though the kids were so young. I started swimming when I was 6, and most of them already swim. The girls showed interest and asked how old they could be to start synchronized swimming lessons. We invited them to the Gávea headquarters to learn more," said Giovanna.

For mothers who want to encourage their daughters to learn the sport, by the age of 6, children taking swimming lessons already know how to swim backstroke, front crawl, and breaststroke. This is the first requirement for taking the swimming test, which measures swimming and buoyancy skills, before teaching some basic fundamentals and beginning lessons with traditional boards.