Hei maasta Suomi! (Hello from Finland!)

So far we have been having a great time here in Helsinki. We flew in on Tuesday and began our week by getting off the plane, making a quick stop at our hotel and heading straight to the rink. It felt good to loosen up on the ice and skate. After practice, we took a peek at the competition arena and were impressed by the size of the rink. The venue is enormous and the arena is decorated with pink balloons and signs. This is the first ever ISU Junior World Championships and it looks like this event is going to be huge! I am so excited and honored that we are a part of it.

On Wednesday morning, we enjoyed the breakfast at the hotel. I personally was a fan of the Finnish meatballs and fruit cocktail. All the competing teams are staying at the same hotel which has given us the chance to meet skaters from all around the world. We saw some of our friends on Great Britain and befriended some skaters from South Africa. They told me it was the first time many of them have seen snow (there’s a lot of snow here!) and it is also their first competition. What an exciting way to debut their programs: at the Junior World Championships! We had a good time bonding and hopefully we will continue to meet some more skaters throughout the week. After breakfast we had another practice where we worked on sections of our long and short programs. We were satisfied after skating and later on we headed into town to do a little shopping. Many of my teammates bought “Luhta” jackets, a popular Finnish brand. I think they look very stylish in their new clothing. We ate a delicious dinner at Stone’s Pub to end the day and took a tram ride back to the hotel.

This morning we had a quick unofficial practice and this afternoon we skated for the first time in the competition arena. The rink is olympic sized and the ice feels perfect. We skated solid run throughs of both of our programs and are feeling confident for the competition tomorrow. Tonight ended with the opening ceremonies. The show was a circus theme and was an incredible experience. There were acrobats, hula hoopers, pairs skaters and lots of synchro teams. During the circus show, the announcer said, “It looks like there’s magic in the air.” I couldn’t agree with her more. I definitely think this will be an unforgettable experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can’t wait to take it all in with my teammates and compete tomorrow! Wishing great skates to all teams!

GO TEAM USA!

Dana

Skyliners French Cup Wrap Up

Time flies when you’re having fun! Au revoir France!

Our trip to France blew by and I can’t believe we’re already home. After the first three days of sightseeing and practice it was finally competition time on Friday and Saturday. Friday was the short program. We arrived at the rink early and were able to get pumped to skate by playing our animal game and dancing around. When it was time to compete we entered the arena in our shimmering lavender dresses and I could see all the American flags waving in the stands. Although this is my fifth international event, it always seems surreal to see the USA section cheering as we take the ice. Our short program felt good. We had a minor fall, but otherwise a clean skate that we were happy with. The 46.66 we received was not as high as we had hoped and showed room for improvement in both our technical and program components scores. Only 4 points separated our current 7th place position with 3rd place. With such a small gap, we knew the competition was not over yet and were ready to make a come back in the long program. To end the day we headed to “Pizza Pai” for some delicious sundaes, continuing our team tradition of having ice cream the night before the free skate. We all headed to bed excited to bring it for the next day!

At Pizza Pai

 Saturday night we put on our game faces. Knowing we had nothing to lose, we focused on taking each element one at a time, putting our best performance out there and enjoying the skate. We had a blast and a few of my teammates joked that they made facial expressions they had never made before in our program! I would definitely say we brought it that night and had a lot of fun performing! Our score was high enough to pull us up three spots to fourth place overall, which made us incredibly proud.

Performing our free skate

After the junior competition we stuck around the rink to watch senior. We signed some autographs and traded pins with other teams. It was exciting to have a little slice of fame. I ended up handing out all of my American flag toothpicks to a local Novice team from France. We also met a lot of girls from Great Britain. Saying that the senior free skate event was amazing would be an understatement. The programs were stunning and when I thought no team could be better than the last, I would see even better skating. We enjoyed cheering on Team USA, the Haydenettes and Ice’Kateers, who both skated great! The arena was packed. Even the stairs were filled! During intermissions the entire crowd danced and I could see all the different countries’ flags waving. It was like watching the entire world come together, an unforgettable and unique experience. Anyone who bought tickets for senior World Synchronized Skating Championships in Boston is definitely in for a treat!

The crowd for the Senior free skate

Skyliners with Team Great Britain

Team France

Now that we’re back in the States, we are ready to work extremely hard in these last few weeks leading up to U.S. Synchro Championships and World Junior Championships! You’ll know where to find us: At the rink!

Good luck to Skyliners Senior, Chicago Jazz, and Lexettes at Spring Cup this week!

Au revoir!

Dana

World Junior Team Selection Recap from Skyliners!

January has arrived and our competitive season is now in full swing! This weekend marked our first event of 2013, the World Junior Team Selection competition in Fraser, Michigan. We flew in Wednesday evening and I must say it was quite warm for all the times I have visited Michigan in the winter: a surprising high of 50 degrees! It was hard to believe it was January. On Thursday our team was able to relax a little in the morning before our practice at the University of Michigan. At the rink we got our feet back under us after traveling Wednesday and had a great practice. I definitely felt confident and excited to compete after we skated. Afterward we headed to Olive Garden for a team dinner to celebrate our teammate’s Sweet 16. We all enjoyed the unlimited salad and breadsticks and back at the hotel we had birthday cookies. To finish the day, we did a little team bonding by watching some funny youtube videos with our coaches and team moms. Everyone got in a lot of good laughs before heading to bed.

Friday night we competed our short. Before skating, we loosened up by singing our ritual songs, “Defying Gravity” and “The Call”, dancing to “Sexy and I Know It”, and my personal favorite, singing “God Bless the USA” to get in the spirit. Our short program performance felt amazing. I always feel so elegant in our lavender dresses and our inspiring music reminds me why I love to skate. We skated clean and earned our highest score. The kiss and cry was exhilarating as we jumped, hugged and screamed after hearing the scores. We were incredibly proud of our performance and pumped for the free skate.

Saturday we got up very early for a quick unofficial practice. Because the rink was so cold we decided to wear pants under our dresses. For official practice that morning, we decided we liked the new look and made a fashion statement by wearing the pants with dresses. Official practice went well and we got to relax at the hotel before competing. That night we were excited and ready to compete; we enjoyed singing songs and doing the YMCA before stepping on the ice. Although we did not have our ideal long program skate and had a few technical mistakes, it is always fun to perform our West Side Story program. After anxiously awaiting results in the locker room, we were overjoyed when we were told to put our skates on to greet our fellow Junior World Team members on the ice. Congratulations to the Lexettes on their great performances! After posing for pictures, we were given our worlds jackets, which was an awesome surprise. We are honored to be representing the USA in Finland with the Lexettes in March. As of now we are working hard and getting excited for the French Cup which is just 2 weeks away!

Well that’s all to report for now, until next time!

Dana