Hey Everyone,
After many weeks of practice and anxiously awaiting our first opportunity to show off our programs, the competition season has officially begun. Early Friday morning, all three of the Miami teams gathered at the rink for a competition simulation. This gave us the opportunity to see the latest versions of our programs and give each other the final boost before the weekend’s event.
We arrived in Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon and headed to the Cube for a quick unofficial practice. Walking into the rink for the first time on Friday was almost a surreal feeling, as we had been anticipating this moment for a long time. Seeing all of our parents gathered in the small, cold varsity rink bleachers, decked out in red and white to cheer us on for just a short unofficial practice, made us feel so lucky to have our own little “fan club”. Their support means the world to us.
The next morning we had an early wake-up call for official practice. As we entered the Cube this time, it was crowded with teams and fans, giving us the competitive feeling we had been looking forward to. We were excited to put our programs out there on competition ice for the first time. The practice left us feeling very confident and excited going into the competition that night. It was a lot of fun to see familiar faces around the rink, including former coaches and teammates, friends, and family.
The short program competition was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend and a memory that will stick with us all season. The stands were completely packed and full of excitement, and it was so amazing to perform our high-energy short program for such an enthusiastic crowd. We greatly appreciated the overwhelming response that we received from the crowd as we exited the ice. It was a special night for us because it was our first opportunity to come together as a team and show everyone what we have been working so hard to accomplish. I think we can speak for the whole team in saying that the feeling we had after finishing our short program was exactly the one that we had been hoping for. It was even more special to learn that we had won the event that night, something that our coach alerted us that Miami hadn’t achieved since 2006.
Before heading back to the hotel, we went to the stands to surprise our collegiate team and cheer them on for their official practice. As they took the ice, we went crazy cheering them on as if it were the competition itself. It is such an awesome thing to have all three teams be so supportive of each other. We really are a close-knit family, and this is just one example that demonstrates Miami’s motto of love and honor. We went to sleep that night feeling like we had set a great tone for the season and fired up to compete our unique long program the next day.
We took the adrenaline and confidence from the first day of competition and channeled it towards our long program from the moment that we took the ice. We completely transformed ourselves into our Gypsy character and competed a strong, dynamic long program that we were very proud of. We were very pleased with our overall score for the weekend of 174.25 and ecstatic when we learned that we had won the senior division and were presented the Dr. Porter Cup.
It was definitely a “Golden” weekend for all of Miami Skating and a wonderful way to start out our season. We are so excited to get back to practicing 
and preparing for the next event. We can’t wait to see what this year will bring; it is sure to be a special one! Best of luck to all teams this year! The 2011-2012 synchro season is officially in full swing!
Over and Out from the Ice3,
A2 (Ashleigh & Ashley)
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