Meet Dana Manson!

Hi everyone! My name is Dana Manson and I am from Denville, NJ. I am a senior at Morris Knolls High School and am currently counting down my last few days until graduation. I feel that my high school years have flown by and it is hard to believe that it is already time for college! Not only will I be transitioning from high school to college, but also moving to a new team. For the past three seasons I have been a proud member of Skyliners Junior and although moving on is tough, I am incredibly excited to be spending my tenth year of synchro with Miami University in August! I love everything about the school and I am confident that I will be able to use the skills and values I have gained from my previous teams to make me successful in my transition to college. I look forward to all that lies ahead and cannot wait for all the amazing experiences I will have in the years to come!     

                                                                                                                      

Even though my synchro season has ended, I've been busy finishing up my last few weeks of senior year, skating at the rink, working out at the gym and helping out other skaters! When I’m not doing synchro, I enjoy helping out our basic skills skaters at my home rink. In April I helped out basic skills classes at Mennen Arena’s Learn to Skate program and have enjoyed doing that since my freshman year in high school. 

This past weekend, I got the chance to meet some more young skaters and headed down to Houston with my DREAMmates, Lindsay, Ashley T, and Sharon as well as former Dream member, Tessa, to coach at a workshop for the UNITY Synchronized Skating Teams. We flew down to Texas on Saturday afternoon and coached the workshop on Sunday. During our trip on Saturday we enjoyed the Texas culture by having some delicious “Tex Mex”(Texas’ Mexican Food) at “Lupe Tortilla”  where we discussed plans for the workshop with the coach. We had a little fun and pretended it was Lindsay and Tessa’s birthdays so we could wear sombreros and have the waiters sing to us. I have to say, the sombreros were pretty stylish! On Sunday we all had lots of fun teaching skills and drills, off ice conditioning, transitions, no hold blocks, musical interpretation, judging and off ice dancing to the skaters at the workshop. What a full day! It was such a great time for all of us and we got to meet so many awesome, dedicated skaters. We cannot thank the Unity Synchronized Skating teams enough for such a wonderful experience and wish them the best of luck in their upcoming season.

DREAMers Lindsay, Ashley, Sharon and I at the UNITY Worskhop

As for the rest of my summer, I will be beating the heat at the rink. I will be training hard all summer for Miami’s tryouts and will spend some time on campus at Miami elite camp before I move in August which will be fun! I also look forward to spending time with my family before heading to college. My twin brother, Alec and I will both be packing for school and going our separate ways in August. Alec will go to Northeastern University and I’m off to Miami which is very exciting for both of us. I always enjoy our family trip to Long Beach Island every summer and love reading and relaxing on the beach. I am very excited for my summer and hope everyone enjoys theirs as well!

Dana