The Final Push

After months and months of practice, countless run-throughs, and even more “Let’s do that section one more time” comments, it’s hard to believe that we are already at this point in the season, making that final push towards stepping out onto the world stage. In just a few days 25 teams, representing 20 countries from all around the world will meet in Hamilton, Canada for what is sure to be a tight competition and an incredible event.

Scott Brown with the Miami Senior Team

Coming off of the US Synchronized Skating Championships with such strong performances by all the teams in the senior division, the Haydenettes and Miami University were thrilled to be named the 2015 US World Team, but the hard work definitely did not end there. For Miami, our goal was certainly to reclaim our spot on their World Team, but also to take it much farther than that. These past several weeks have been packed with skating and training in an effort to ensure that we are as prepared and well set up for success at the ISU World Championships as possible.

While the rest our classmates and the Miami University student body cleared out of Oxford and headed for the beaches over spring break two weeks ago, we stuck around and put in several hours of intense practice, pushing our stamina and tweaking our programs ever so slightly. We were very lucky to welcome back one of our choreographers, Scott Brown, for some attention to detail in the short program. He helped us prepare to fill the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton with our joy of skating from the moment we enter the ice.

Miami Skating taking a quick break to watch the Varsity Hockey Team on TV

We truly have been pushing ourselves harder than ever and putting in a tremendous amount of work over the past month. The best part of this work however, has been doing it together as a team. Without all 19 athletes giving everything that we have each and every practice, we couldn’t have accomplished everything that we have so far this season. It’s in those times that you don’t think your legs can take even one more crossover, that looking over at your teammates is the most empowering. This one glance allows you to do what you yourself might not have been able to do without your teammates giving 150% as well.

“You will never know your limits until you push yourself past them!”

Former Skyliners Junior teammates and DREAMmates Audrey McQuade and Ashley Mulhern ready to take on the World once again

It’s always so important to remember that anything can happen on any given day, at any competition, but especially at the World Championships. In the sport of synchronized skating, there are so many things that are out of our control as skaters when competing. We can’t control the judges, the technical panel, or even the other teams, but the one thing we do have control over is our own performance. As we look towards the World Championships, we have set our sights as high as we can and will head into the competition with the goal of putting on another show, skating with strong performance all week long, exciting the arena, and leaving our mark on Hamilton. We may not be able to control our final placement, but we can most definitely control how we feel when we hit our ending position and give ourselves and the audience a performance to remember. This is sure to be a week that will remain in our memories for the rest of our lives.

2015 US World Team

We can’t wait for another ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in North America, where you can count on the crowd to be bursting with spirit, deafening cheers, and a true passion and appreciation for the sport of synchronized skating. Good luck to all the teams competing and we’ll see you there!

Representing the USA with Love & Honor,

Ashley Mulhern