Sara Lowe, daughter of Cindy Lowe (NLC) (Photo courtesy of United States Synchronized Swimming Inc.)

In 1999 after much discussion with her husband Cindy Lowe (NLC) made the difficult decision to leave husband, son and home in Texas to come to California with her 15-year-old daughter Sara, the youngest person ever to make the Junior National Swim Team.

One year later the rest of the family joined them here, as Sara needed to be in this area to train for synchronized swimming. Local training facilities are at the San Jose State University pool and the International Center at Santa Clara.

Happily, the Lowe family’s hard work and sacrifice paid off handsomely. Sara was chosen for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Synchronized Swimming Team this winter, an honor and a remarkable achievement for one so young. At age 19, Sara is teamed with women in their 20s, many of whom have already spent over 18 years training.

Sara didn’t start synchronized swimming until she was 11 years old, which is a pretty late for this sport. Sara couldn’t even swim. In order to stay in the program, Cindy needed to teach Sara how to swim. At that time, Sara would stay on the side of the pool and could only go a short distance, but she loved it and she picked it right up.

Says Cindy, "Sara loved it. She is a little bit of a legend in this sport right now." Both Cindy and her husband were swimmers growing up, but they moved to Texas where they don’t teach much swimming.

"Unbeknownst to me," said Cindy, "my mother, who loved synchronized swimming, had been showing Sara films of me when I was little and taking her to the pool." In the summer of ’95, Sara opened a newspaper and said "I want to take this swimming thing." Her mother didn’t even realize synchronized swimming existed in Dallas.

Those who become Olympic caliber synchronized swimmers spend countless hours training on land, taking ballet and biometrics as well as gymnastics. To round off their rigorous program they study music and choreography. A diverse team of trainers from many athletic disciplines help them achieve precision and excellence.

To get an idea of the challenge that lies ahead, look at Sara’s schedule for the rest of 2003. She will participate in the Rome Open in June, the FINA World Meet in July, and the Pan Am Games in August, with nothing but hard training in between. The Olympic Team trains at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO.

Once the 2004 Summer Olympics are over, Sara will have just a one week break before she starts school at Stanford. She deferred entering Stanford for two years because of her Olympic training. In fact, Stanford will be the first ‘brick and mortar’ school Sara has attended since 9th grade, according to Cindy. Her studies since then have been largely on the Internet, often late at night after a day of painstaking training.

Sara is a multi-talented young woman who, with the help of her devoted family, will no doubt find that the sky is the limit.