Team Braemar in Milan

Day 5: Team Braemar woke up at 6am excited and ready to go! We all got ready, had a quick (and delicious!) breakfast, and then it was off to the competition rink for official short program practice. We warmed up in the sunny outdoors, which was nice with all the fresh air and space. We then went into locker room #5 to get ready for our official practice. Official was great and steady, leaving us confident for the competition later that night. 

We returned to the hotel to start makeup, and then we had absolutely amazing spaghetti! Following lunch, we continued with our team makeup. Once everyone was finished, Team Braemar was transformed into Cruella! And we were off to the rink! Unfortunately, the weather became a little overcast, so we could not really warm up outside, but it turned out that warming up inside was just fine! We became very energized by our warm up as we were focused in on our team and our program. It was then off to the locker room.

We all got ready, making sure our skates felt good and sliding on our long red gloves. We were ready to go, and feeling the benefits of all the run-throughs of our programs at home.  We were no longer nervous because we had done our short program so many times. We were just excited to go out and perform for the audience and judges. We had a strong short that seemed to get stronger as it went on. After our skate, waiting in the kiss-and-cry felt like forever! We finally received our scores, which was a total of 48.30 points! We were so happy-it was the highest short program score we had received all season! We got back to the hotel, had a once again delicious dinner, quick floor practice and we were off to bed, antsy to skate our long program the next day. We are feeling ready and prepared for the long program!

Ciao Bella!

Sage Kelner & Jillian Christie

Captains for Team Braemar Junior

Buon San Valentino (Happy Valentine’s Day) from the Hockettes!

We’ve had a jam packed first two days, but we are soaking up the Italian culture and eating lots of tasty food! We arrived in Milan on Thursday, toured the city, saw the beautiful Duomo, and took lots of pictures. We skated a short unofficial practice and got used to the ice. The rink is amazing, and it has an incredible atmosphere that we are looking forward to compete in. After we skated, we went back to the hotel to eat dinner and get some sleep for the next busy day.

To kick off our day we started with an unofficial practice at eight, and received valentines from our loving parents. We then went on a forty-five minute bus ride to Lake Como! As soon as we got there we thought it would be fun to do a little off-ice practice of our program in the city square. With the background of the lake, we had lots of locals watching us run through our short program. After we finished they all clapped and asked what we did, and where we were from. We then boarded the boat and got to see the views of Lake Como and the Swiss Alps. It was one of the most beautiful cities we have ever seen! We did a little shopping, ate a great lunch, and came back for the Team USA dinner.

We started off our dinner with playing a couple games to get to know each other as Team USA. We enjoyed our dinner and talking to the other U.S. teams. One of our favorite parts about international competitions is being able to talk to teams from all over the world. We loved interacting with all of the other skaters. We are so excited to represent Team USA tomorrow as the competition begins! We hope that all of Team USA has great skates and an incredible experience here at the Spring Cup!

 

Love,

Lindsey Maynard and Maddie Shipman from Hockettes Junior

The Red, White and Blue

I am writing to you after returning once again from one of the most incredible competitions held in the Synchronized Skating community, the French Cup! This year was extra special as the competition celebrated its 20^th anniversary. Spending time around those who made the competition come to life, it was clear what a special sport La Patinage Synchronis has truly become.

               

Before the competition began all of the athletes marched through the streets of Rouen following the flag of their country, just as my fellow dreamer Ashely Tomich described earlier.  This parade was no little event. There were local citizens waving from shops and windows as we weaved through the streets chanting for our countries. What stood out was a group of young French citizens who actually followed the United States team, chanting alongside us  “USA, USA”!

               

After having a blast at the parade it was time to get to business. The next two days were filled with competition at the novice, junior and senior levels. The junior and senior competition each had over 15 teams competing! We took the ice for our short program Friday night, bringing some spice with our “Belly dancing Evolution” program. We were very pleased with our skate and earned a season best score of 67 points.

               

Saturday night was the long program competition. After preparing to skate we were taken to a small room next to the rink where the roar of the crowd could already be heard. When we began to walk through the swinging doors, the rink came alive. There was not an empty seat in the arena. Even the stairs were filled with people hoping to get a look at the ice. As we lined up, removing our guards we could already hear the chants, “USA, USA, USA”! Absolutely nothing could beat the surge of energy that came from hearing “Next to the ice, representing the United States of America, The Haydenettes”! In that moment there was a wave of emotion and an unexplainable high. It was a moment worth all the hard work, dedication and sacrifice. And after that moment, we got to do what we love most, skate.

               

Overall we ended the competition feeling very happy with both of our skates. The level of competition is constantly growing in our sport, challenging us all to push ourselves even further.  We can’t wait to get back to the rink and continue working toward our end of the season goals!

               

Keep on Dreamin’-

Lindsay

Au Revoir, la France! Recap on Our French Cup Experience

What an honor it was to be offered the privilege of being a part of the 20th French Cup Synchronized Skating Competition!  The amazing week started on Tuesday when we landed at the Paris-de Gaulle Airport.  Our tour guide, Desiree, led us to our bus and took us on our tour of Paris. The first stop of the day was lunch at the Hard Rock Café-Paris. We were then shown many beautiful historical monuments like the Arc De Triomphe, the Notre Dame, the Palais de Justice-Paris, the Lock Bridge, and many more.  Our favorite part of the tour was when we had the opportunity to not only see the EiffelTower, but to also be able to go to the very top.  The beautiful panoramic views of the “most romantic city in the world” were breathtaking.  Soon after our exploration of the Eiffel Tower, Desiree took us to shop at one of the most famous streets in the world; the Champs Elysee.  Before we knew it, we were loading our bus with shopping bags in one hand and a quick Parisian dinner in the other.  It was time to continue to Rouen.

As Wednesday arrived, we headed down to the lobby for a nice team breakfast.  Soon after, we were off to the competition rink for our first practice.  It was really nice to be able to get familiar with the ice and our surroundings.  We were really happy with what we had put out there especially after an eight-hour flight and a long day of touring.  Dinnertime quickly approached and we went to our favorite pizzeria, Pizza Pai, where we also celebrated a teammate's birthday.  We surprised her with a cute card and some really good cake.  It was a fun night. 

Wednesday quickly blended into Thursday and we were up at breakfast and quickly at the rink for the next practice.  With another solid practice under our feet, we were feeling very confident in what we had to offer.  We were so excited for the competition to finally begin.  With a two-hour break, we headed back into the city of Rouen for a quick lunch and some more exploration and shopping time.  We had another successful practice that same day that left us feeling better than we did at our earlier practice.  It was nice to hear our coach, Holly, telling us how proud she was of our consistency and teamwork.  With those last practices under our belt before competition, it was time for the competitor’s parade.  It was exciting to walk the streets of Rouen with all the other competitors from different countries around the world.  It ended with a fun flashmob in front of the Palais de Justice-Rouen.  It was a blast! When that was finishing up, Katilyn and I made our way into the building for the draw ceremony with Holly.  After the welcoming speeches, the ceremony began and we found ourselves walking up to this adorable little macaroon stand where we picked a random blue macaroon. The number we’d be skating was on the bottom.  We were ecstatic that we picked twelfth to skate in the short.   We then joined our team at dinner and told them the news about the skating order for the short program.

Competition day quickly snuck up on us and we were boarding the bus for our official practice.  We met up with our team leader, Rick Perez, our team doctor, Carrie, and helping hand, Lois Long, who all gave us encouraging speeches.  Our official practice left us with positive vibes and feelings of readiness and confidence.  We were eager to show everyone a great short program.  We returned to the hotel for rest time, a quick lunch, and then got ready for the competition.  When the primping was finished, we put on our beautiful dresses and hit the road.  We took the ice and the atmosphere was incredible.  It was filled with school children, families, teams, and other spectators.  The two minutes and fifty seconds flew by and before we knew it, we were in the kiss and cry receiving our scores.  We were extremely pleased with our performance and couldn’t wait to show everyone our free skate. The long day ended with a quick dinner back at the hotel and everyone was so happy to get to bed.

Saturday was more or less the same as Friday.  We woke up and went to official practice after our breakfast.  With a quick warm-up, we were lacing our skates for our last practice in France.  Although it was not a perfect practice, we felt good about saving our best performance for later that night.  Like Friday, we arrived back at the hotel for some rest time and a quick lunch.  It was then time to primp for our unique long program.  With our crazy makeup and zig-zag parts, we walked out of the hotel to our bus.  It was time to take the opportunity to show everyone how much we had improved.  While we still did not have a perfect skate, we were incredibly proud that we had two clean skates, and overall, a successful week.  As the competition ended, we ended the day with a quick celebration with our families at dinner.  It was nice to see them after the long week. 

Congratulations to all the teams who competed this week, it was truly a great competition!  We were so thrilled that we were able to compete with some of the best teams in the world.  We want to thank Rick Perez, Lois Long, Cathy Dalton, Carrie (our awesome team doctor), our coaches, managers, and families for all of their support and love.  The Crystallettes are proud of all the immense work everyone has put forward and we cannot wait until the next competition.  Next stop, NATIONALS!!! Can’t wait to see everyone!

Au Revoir,

Sharon and Katilyn

Bonjour de Rouen!

Hello from Rouen!  

It has been a great week here in France so far for the Haydenettes as we represent the Team USA at the 20th French Cup along with the Crystallettes, Chicago Jazz, and the Lexettes.  

French Cup poster in the streets of Rouen. (Photo credit: Devin Wang)

We arrived in Paris on Wednesday morning followed by a bus ride to Rouen and an hour practice at the official rink.  It was nice to get on the ice right away, even though we were a little tired from our journey.  On Thursday, we had another unofficial practice, and then had a chance to explore the streets of Rouen.  Needless to say, we didn't mind the shopping, great food, and gorgeous architecture (especially the cathedrals), that this city has to offer!  We concluded the day taking part in the athlete parade.  It was a blast walking in the parade while mingling with our fellow US teams and cheering the whole time.  It was also really neat to see how much the people of Rouen support the event. 

DREAM Program members and Haydenettes: Lindsay and I showing our USA spirit before the Athlete Parade.

Cheering on the Lexettes!

Today we woke up ready to perform our bellydancing short program!  

We had a great official practice and then got a chance to cheer on the Lexettes as they competed their short as well.

We are very proud of our short program skate, and are currently sitting in 5th place, only .3 points out of 4th.  We are excited to compete our Count of Monte Cristo long program tomorrow and wish all teams the best of luck!

Go USA!
-Ashley Tomich

Haydenettes short program official practice at 2014 French Cup (Photo credit: David Brofsky)

Suiting Up in Salzburg

Hello again from Miami senior!

January has definitely been a jam-packed month for the world of synchronized skating! But for me, like many of you out there, I really wouldn’t have it any other way. As for us here at Miami University, we’re all back in the good ole USA and getting started in a new semester of classes (and maybe recovering from some jet lag).

Our final day in Austria was devoted entirely to the long program. We woke up and indulged in our final yummy breakfast at the hotel and began getting ready for official practice. We were 13^th to skate in a group of 14 teams, so when we arrived at the rink we were able to watch a few of the other teams before heading to warm-up. I always love to watch teams skate, but it is especially fascinating to see teams from different parts of the world perform. The programs are so unlike any you see in the United States.  

Our first run of the program in official practice was a little shaky, little stumbles here and there, a fumble in the group lift. We exited the ice feeling a little disheartened that our program was not being performed to the fullest potential, a potential we had consistently performed in practices back home. However our coach was not worried about the competition that evening, she was confident in our abilities and gave us a short pep talk in the locker room before we left the rink. We returned to our hotel with a renewed confidence and soon began prep for competition. Before meeting up with our coaches for a video review, we came together as a team and went over the expectations we held for ourselves and talked about what we wanted to accomplish later that evening. When we arrived back at the arena we were focused and ready show our freeskate to an international audience for the first time. Before entering our warm-up area we were approached by several Finnish skaters who asked us to trade the mini American flags we had in our hair for the flags of Finland that they were wearing. It was awesome to see all of the different flags that the skaters had accumulated and were displaying in their hair throughout the evening. Finally, we “suited up” and took the ice for our “Deck of Cards” themed long program. The funny thing was that as soon as our music began, many of the audience members started to sing along with the music even though it is completely instrumental. As it turns out, the piece we skate to was written by several Austrian composers, and lots of people from Europe are familiar with it.

We completed the program and were happy with the performance. However we still feel like we want to grow even more than we have over this past month of competition craziness! Once the senior event ended, all of the teams took the ice for the awards ceremony and were all organized to come together to form the Olympic rings on the ice surface. This was a really awesome sight to see, but of course with this image and with the winter Olympics coming up next month, it brings to mind the ever present question: why not synchro? Over the past year I have definitely seen an increase in interest in this sport we love so much, in both social media (#WhyNotSynchro2018) and even in national news. It is always great to see progress being made towards this goal of having synchronized skating in the Olympic Games, and it is certainly something I hope to see achieved within the next several years.  Until then, we are always honored to have this privilege of representing our country in both international assignments and at the World Championships. Being able to see new places and interact with people from different countries, all while representing the United States is truly one of the greatest opportunities we are offered in this sport.

In closing, we left the beautiful city of Salzburg in the early hours of Sunday morning and headed back to the country and school we love so much. To summarize this trip, I will look to my teammate and fellow DREAMer, Ashley Mulhern who put it so eloquently; “Five countries, 2 buses, 2 planes, 20 skaters, and 22 hours… Finally back to the one country we couldn’t be more proud to represent.”  And now that we are back, Miami Skating is definitely ready and eager get to work over the next few weeks to prepare for the National Championships!

Congratulations to all teams that competed this weekend, either at the Mozart Cup or at the Midwestern and Pacific Sectional Championships, and best of luck to everyone over the next few weeks!

Love & Honor,

Linnea 

"Let it Be" Overseas!

Greetings from Austria,

As we prepare for our final day here in Salzburg, I would like to reflect on yesterday and competing our short program at the Mozart Cup.

DREAMer Dana Manson shows off her "Bun Flag"

We kicked off the morning with a fabulous European breakfast at our hotel and prepared for our official practice. Before leaving the hotel, we got the chance to review some video from our unofficial practice the previous day. As we headed off to the rink, I was sure to hand out American flag toothpicks to everyone for their hair in order to add just one extra piece of USA flare to our outfits. Arriving at the rink, we walked through the doors with extreme confidence and excitement for what we knew we were going to do out on that ice. After

warming up, we were led to a lock
er room that was not the most ideal of setups, but we were ready to make the best of it. We skated a very solid official practice, with our USA fan club cheering us on from high up in the stands. We were very proud of the way that we had just left the practice ice and felt extremely prepared to compete.

Visiting with former USA athlete Alex Boisselle, now competing for Germany

Back at the hotel, we got ready for the short program competition, twisting our hair, gluing on eyelashes, and sewing in brand new barrettes that we were very excited to wear to for the first time. We watched our official practice footage and an inspiring pump-up video made by one of our very own DREAMers, Ashleigh Ostin. We headed off to the rink eager to compete and accomplish our goal of leaving a strong impression on the not only the judges and technical panel, but the audience as a whole as well. As we stood rink-side, we could feel the energy of the crowd and could not wait to draw them in and engage them in our performance. With USA support on both sides of the arena, we skated a powerful short program to a rendition of “Let it Be”, each of us fully invested in every movement. We were very proud of our performance and the way that we had represented the U.S. through our skate. We also got the opportunity to watch the remainder of our division from the stands and cheer on California Gold, along with the U.S. junior teams, Skyliners and Saint Louis Synergy. With the short program competition behind us, we are sitting in 4^th place with a score of 59.02, behind 3 past World Champions, Marigold Ice Unity FIN, Rockettes FIN, and Nexxice CAN.

Today is a new day and we are ready to transform and “Suit Up” to perform our “Deck of Cards” themed program to an entirely new audience, skating lucky number 13! Please feel free to tune and support Team USA from home by watching the Mozart Cup live feed at http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1743329/events/2700693

More after the long program!

Love & Honor,

Ashley Mulhern

Team USA

Miami University Senior Team