ABOUT ASWA
History of Artistic Swimming in WA
Artistic Swimming has enjoyed an amazing journey in Western Australia. From humble beginnings in 2009, our sport has grown into a thriving community with athletes competing on the world stage.
2009 — The Beginning
In 2009, Roslyn Carbon and Brian Miller moved back to Perth from the UK with their synchronised swimming enthusiast daughter, Alexandra. Upon their arrival, they were disheartened to find no clubs or organisations in Western Australia offering the sport. It had been 20 years since WA last participated in synchronised swimming, now known as Artistic Swimming. They reached out to Synchronised Swimming Australia (SSAI), who responded with a list of West Australians that had previously approached them. They contacted Mary Andreotta and Natasha Larter, and together the four co-founded SynchroWA in 2009.
Mary Andreotta had begun her journey as a competitive athlete in Calgary, Canada, before moving to Perth in 1984 and starting the Aquanastics Synchronised Swimming Club at Beatty Park. She had an impressive career in event organisation, including the World Championship events in Perth in 1991 and 1999, the Sydney Olympics 2000, and the FINA World Championships in Melbourne 2007. Natasha Larter represented the UK at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, then moved into coaching with the Aquamaids in California. In 1994, she became Queensland's State Coaching Director before relocating to Western Australia — joining as co-founder and head coach of the training program.
2010–2011 — Building the Sport
To establish the sport, SynchroWA initially focused on two objectives: recruiting swimmers and establishing a club. A tireless effort was made to advertise the first Come & Try at Claremont Pool, placing flyers in letterboxes and running adverts in local newspapers. The event attracted 9 eager young swimmers, who all became integral members of the club's development.
West Coast Splash Synchronised Swimming Club (WCS) was formed ahead of the 2010 Nationals in Sydney, where Natasha coached 5 swimmers who all returned with medals. Between May 2010 and October 2011, club membership doubled, and WCS took 9 athletes to the 2011 National Championships — where they all medalled once again. 2010 also saw the first grant sponsorship of $1,500 from Healthway for the "Big Synch" Event, where 43 swimmers set a new national record for the most people swimming a synchronised routine at once — beaten again in 2013 with 57 participants!
By 2011, West Coast Splash had doubled in size, with two athletes selected for the Olympic shadow team. Natasha described the organisation as becoming "a victim of their own success" — unpaid, she was at the pool at 5:30am out of sheer love of the sport and determination to establish artistic swimming in WA.
2012 — Australia's Largest Club
In 2012, West Coast Splash became the largest artistic swimming club in Australia, running groups at Rockingham, Joondalup, Melville and Claremont. Mary Andreotta coordinated the 2012 National Championships in Perth, hosting approximately 130 Australian and international participants — WA's largest artistic swimming event since 1999. The event was made possible through financial sponsorship from the State Government's Department of Sport and Recreation and Healthway.
That same year, Natasha took up the Australian Junior National coach role, leading athletes at the FINA Oceania Championships in New Caledonia. She also took her WCS athletes to the Singapore Open and the Hong Kong National Championships, giving them their first taste of international competition.
2013–2014 — Growing the Vision
SynchroWA hosted the Sun Smart International Club Championships in 2013 and the Commonwealth Festival of Swimming in 2015, working towards seeing Artistic Swimming reinstated as a Commonwealth Games sport. It was in 2014 that our principal sponsor, Hancock Prospecting, joined the team — enabling SynchroWA to fund a full-time coach for both the high-performance program and regional development programs across the state. That same year, SynchroWA coach Juliana Bujang was appointed assistant coach for the Australian National Team.
2015–2021 — Olympic Success & A New Name
2015 saw further expansion with the addition of SupaNova Synchronised Swimming Club. In 2016, four West Australians were selected for the Australian Olympic team at the Rio Olympics — a milestone repeated in 2020, with four WA athletes competing at the Tokyo Games.
In 2021, SynchroWA officially changed its name to Artistic Swimming WA (ASWA), reflecting the sport's global rebrand. Today, ASWA operates across 10 centres throughout Western Australia, employing a dedicated team including a Sports Officer, Regional Development Officer, and two High Performance coaches. We run several programs offering inclusive pathways into our sport: AquaStART, SynchroStART for Schools, our High Performance program, and initiatives supporting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) groups, Superfins and Seniors in Sync. We look forward to the years ahead!