Rising Star Megumi Field Loves Dancing In The Water

As Megumi Field remembers it, her life as an artistic swimmer began soon before her sixth birthday, with five words from her mom, Naomi.

“I had been swimming since I was, like, one – maybe zero,” she said. “Honestly, I've been swimming since before I could even walk. I think at that point, I was just doing it, to do something.”

Then her mom asked, “Why don’t you try synchro?”

That changed everything.

“It was like a whole new world,” Field remembers. “You know, it's not just swinging back and forth, hitting the wall, turning around and hitting the other wall. It’s a team process, and it's creative, and dancing in the water. There are just so many more components to it than, really, any other sport. It keeps you on your toes.”

Megumi’s mom, Naomi, grew up in Tokyo, and her love of synchronized swimming — re-named artistic swimming by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 2017 — began when movies and TV shows like “Water Boys” were the rage in Japan. She began driving Megumi from their home in Wilmington, Delaware, to Philadelphia, where the youngster trained with Freedom Valley Synchronized Swim.

“When I said, ‘yes’ to trying synchro, my mom said, ‘Well, it’s an hour away,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, shoot,’” Megumi said. “But I fell in love with it, so here we are.”

Field, 17, and her teammates are spending most of July in Japan, where the 2023 World Aquatics Championships takes place in Fukuoka July 14-30. They arrived a week early to shake off jetlag and attend official practices in front of judges.

With more than three weeks away from home, pressures can mount. Dr. Ashley Coker-Cranney, a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, traveled with the team and is available to meet with the swimmers one-on-one.

“She had a meeting with the team, and she is there for us to talk, so I think she definitely helps,” Field says. “I mostly just stay in my room, scrolling through my phone, talking with my roommate.”

This is Field’s second world championships, and she is slated to compete in four events: technical duet, free duet and two team events. Last season, she placed seventh in the technical duet event with partner Anita Alvarez, and ninth in the free duet with Natalia Vega. This year, her partner is Ruby Remati, a 20-year-old from Ohio State University.

“(Team USA) has done two competitions already, and at those two, we had one of the highest DD’s (degrees of difficulty) of the entire competition, so I think that kind of gives us a little bit of a sense of confidence going into this DD wise,” Field said.

“I think our goal is to kind of not think about the other countries, because we can't really control what they're going to be able to do. All we can really do is just think about the DD that we have, and make sure we get full credit on it.”

Since artistic swimming is a hybrid of swimming, gymnastics and dance, it’s no surprise Field took gym and dance classes as a child in Wilmington. At age 10, she and Naomi moved from Wilmington to Cerritos, California, so Megumi could train at UCLA. She quickly made a name for herself in the youth categories and was named to the national team in 2020. In 2021, she won three silver medals at the Junior Pan American Games.

Field’s rapid progress — most elite artistic swimmers are college age, or older — comes down to talent plus hard work. Her daily schedule is almost as finetuned as the timing required for the team’s explosive lifts, or rocket splits.

“I wake up at 5:10 and I'm out the door by 5:20,” she said. “It usually takes me about 40 minutes in the morning (to get to UCLA). So, I'm there by 6 a.m. We start land (exercises) for duet at 6:15 am, (including) stretching and some core exercises.”

Duet routines are practiced in the water from 7 to 10 a.m., followed by run-throughs of one of the team routines, either technical or free.

Her training and travel schedule precludes attending regular high school, so Field studies online through Laurel Springs School. She recently completed her junior year.

“It’s a program where you can log in wherever you are training, it doesn’t restrict you,” she said. “So, you’re able to kind of balance training with school, but it still isn’t easy. There are times when I get home, and I’m tired. But (Laurel Springs) makes it flexible.”

Since becoming head coach for the U.S. in 2018, Andrea Fuentes has emphasized fresh, creative routines with a unique style, as well as good communication and teamwork among the athletes and coaches.

“We want to ensure our athletes feel they can be themselves and are comfortable in the team without being judged,” Fuentes told Olympics.com in 2022. “There needs to be empathy and the ability to see life from different perspectives. Then you can understand each other and feel accepted within the team. That’s how you create a safe, risk-free circle, a family.”

This year, Field’s routines range from a free duet with Remati to rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, to Michael Jackson for the team technical routine.

“(Choreography) changes every year, for both the tech and free,” Field said. “We’re using the same music and concepts, but because of all the new, little changes and how much synchro has changed in general, our routine is almost completely different. So even though the music is the same, the routine itself is very different.”

Before the athletes began performing to Michael Jackson last season, Fuentes brought the team to Las Vegas to watch Cirque de Soleil’s “Michael Jackson ONE” and work with members of the cast.

“We watched for inspiration, and then Andrea had dancers who actually performed in the show (join us) for sessions,” Field said. “We kind of learned (Jackson’s) stances, and the moonwalk, and one of his dance combinations. We even studied Michael Jackson’s facial (expressions).”

Team USA performed the Michael Jackson technical routine in Fukuoka on Tuesday and won Bronze. While a good showing is important, the stakes will be even higher in November, at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

“That’s our big team goal,” Field says. “We compete against Mexico and Canada, and whoever gets first there is qualified for the Olympics. There’s another chance (after), but that’s the big one. And it’s our focus, since we haven’t qualified the team since 2000.”