Mozart Cup 2012

As a very exciting weekend draws to a close, team U.S.A. stands proud of many accomplishments made over the past few days in Saluzburg, Austria. ICE'Kateers senior team placed 6th with two strong skates against many world level teams. Miami University junior team; also with two very solid programs, placed 7th. The weekend, in conclusion, was a great success for team U.S.A..

Saturday morning the ICE'Kateers woke up early and headed down to the rink for official practice for short program. We focused a great deal on making sure the technical panel could see all of our elements clearly and correctly during the session. We had two solid run-throughs; leaving rink feeling very confident for that evening. Back at the hotel we rested for a short time, but began our hair and make-up preparations early enough so we would be able to get back to the rink in order to watch Miami junior team. The junior team performed wonderfully, and we were so glad we got the chance to watch and cheer them on. Following the junior division, we went to warm up, and then took the ice.
We were pleased with our short program that night; overall it was a fairly strong skate. Although we did have some small mishaps in the routine, the ending product was something we were very much proud of. We left the rink that night looking forward to coming back and competing in the free skate. I think it's also important to mention the support of our fans here in Austria, as well as from the ones back in the U.S.. Their enthusiasm was truly spectacular; we really could not ask for better friends and family to be there for us.

Today the schedule was pretty similar; we woke up, had breakfast, went to official practice, rested, cheered on Miami, and then competed. The free skate was another solid performance for us; we did have a collision on one of our intersections, but we recovered well and completed the program without letting it affect us. Following the senior devision, every junior and senior team entered the ice for the awards ceremonies. This was a really great experience for all of the teams. I believe that is one of the best parts about international competitions; the chance to meet and interact with skaters from different countries. We were able to talk to a lot of the girls from team Austrailia, among other teams, we took pictures with them and got to meet their mascot "Kevin the Kangaroo"; which was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we're looking forward to a free day of touring and shopping around Salzburg! We had a really wonderful time here so far, and are definitely sad to leave such a beautiful place, but are excited to get back home and start working hard for nationals!

GO U.S.A.!

Linnea

Free Skate from Austria

Hi All!

Drawing last for the free skate, the Haydenettes got to sleep in for the first time all week! We had a wake up call to head to the rink and watch the Lexettes official practice. The Haydenettes were so proud of them! Their official practice was so strong and impressive and we knew they were determined and ready to compete! Upon return to the hotel the Haydenettes completed our hair and make-up for our official practice. Official practice went very well, and we returned to the hotel anxious to watch the video to see what we could improve on for the night's competition.After our competitions preparations, we got to the rink and heard the Lexettes had improved to a third place finished, we were thrilled for them! We had a nice warm-up and we were so excited to put on our fishnet tights! With our new favorite quote from free skate, "It's a life, it's a style, it's a need, it's Burlesque." we were ready to debut ourfree skate to an international crowd! Our skate was extremely expressive, we have improved in our second marks and are thrilled to improve with the expression. We had two falls in the no point intersection but our skaters got up and back in so fast, the team saw no effect the rest of the program. We ended the competition with a second place finish behind Finland's Marigold Ice Unity. They Haydenettes are so proud to be able to compete for the United States and we thought our USA team at this competition was so strong!

After award ceremony we were able to go back to the hotel and have some dinner and hang out at the hotel with the Lexettes and some parents! The Haydenettes and Lexettes left for Munich Airport early the next morning en route to Boston!

Salzburg was beautiful! The Alps were visible from the windows at the Eisarena in Salzburg. Being able to compete in such a beautiful country was incredible!

Keep Posted for our blogs from Easterns!

-Jenna and Noelle (photo credit: Erika Hoffman)

Free Skate Program in Austria!

What a day! As I write this, I'm sitting with my other Starlights teammates relaxing together after our post-competition dinner. We got to sleep a little extra this morning, with official practice starting at noon. We came off of the ice feeling ready and anxious for the competition. Hair and makeup began as soon as we got back to the hotel. Thankfully, the Lexettes were nice enough to lend us some sewing supplies for our hair!

At our floor practice before heading over to the arena, we worked a lot on expression and performing for both the judges AND each other. After our warm up and floor run through, we were in the locker room! Leading off the freeskate competition was a whole new experience. While there were some shaky pieces of the program, we are really excited to build off of it in the coming month before the U.S. Championships. We ended up with a fifth place finish, and were very happy with this, especially at an international competition!

We were SO proud of our U.S. teammates, with Miami Junior's 6th place finish, the Lexettes taking home the bronze medal in junior, and especially the Haydenettes and their silver medal! It was so much fun to be standing in the stands cheering 'USA!!' as loud as we could. I take a lot of pride in those three letters and representing my country is a HUGE honor!

The Mozart Cup was such a wonderful competition, and it was awesome to compete in its inaugural year. I really hope that teams in the future have the opportunity to attend and have as great an experience as I did!

-B

Short Program in Austria!

When I woke up this morning, I could already feel the excitement building! Today was the day of our short program at the Mozart Cup. After a good breakfast, we headed over to our official practice. It was strong and we were able to accomplish what we had been working especially hard on during prior practices. We left the arena in high spirits, and anxious to come back this evening! After a carbo-load pasta lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest before we began getting ready for the competition.

After hair and makeup, we all got together and each wrote down our fears and what we were nervous about for that night on a sheet of paper. Then, all together, we ripped them up and threw them away! It definitely calmed a lot of our jitters, and we began our floor practice with new confidence. We carried this new confidence into the arena, did our floor practice run throughs and warm up, and before we knew it we were in the locker room lacing up our skates!

The skate was so exhilarating! Even from our first step on the ice, we saw all of our U.S. teammates on Haydenettes, Lexettes, and Miami junior cheering in the stands, and we completely fed off of their energy. We skated a strong, clean short program, which we were extremely proud of. There is no better feeling than skating a program that you know you can be proud of, and its definitely a great way to head into both the free skate as well as the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships. We are extremely proud of our Haydenettes teammates for their second place finish and of our fifth place after the short program.

And now there is the free skate tomorrow! My teammates and I are SO excited to show off this program on the international stage tomorrow evening! At the draw ceremony, we picked lucky number 1, so make sure you tune in to the live broadcast early!

-B

Short Program Day in Austria!

Today the Haydenettes and Lexettes woke up to sunny morning in Salzburg. We ate breakfast and immediately started our hair and make-up for official practice. Once getting to the rink we were able to cheer on the Lexettes at official before we headed to warm-up. Our official practice did not start off so nice, however, we recovered and ended on a strong note!

We headed back to the hotel to watch video, and then were directed to grab lunch at the local supermarket, and rest-up!! Afterwards we started our hair and make-up and our normal traditions and we were off to compete. Taking the ice first in the senior event, we had a very energetic and strong skate, and we all came off the ice very pleased. Our goal is always to improve on our previous skate, and we felt we have done just that!


The Haydenettes then joined the Lexettes and Miami University junior to watch our fellow Team USA members the Starlights. Their short program was also beaming with energy and very crisp!

We drew to skate last in tomorrow night's free skate competition. We are very excited to debut our free skate internationally!!


Goodnight from Austria,
-Jenna and Noelle

Mozart Cup 2011 Haydenettes

Hey its Jenna and Noelle!

We arrived in Munich on Thursday morning and then drove two hours to Salzburg. All of the Haydenettes were excited to be in Austria for the first Mozart Cup! We had our first practice Thursday afternoon at the official arena, where we worked on both the short and long programs. From the ice surface you can see the beautiful mountains topped with fresh snow. It's a gorgeous sight.
After practice we went back to the hotel for dinner. Everyone on the team was amazed at how pretty the sights of the city and countryside of Austria were. We then had a Team USA meeting with the Starlights, Lexettes and several of the USA officials. Off to bed.

Friday
We woke up early for our drive to the unofficial arena an hour and a half away. We watched Nexxice junior for a couple minutes before watching our own Lexettes practice. Then the Haydenettes took the ice for an hour. We had a great practice full of energy for the competition. After our practices we took the bus to the Chapel from the Sound of Music where
the Von Trapp's got married in the movie! The town where the Chapel is located is very cute. All the buildings are different colors and the architecture is stunning. After, we went into downtown Salzburg for some shopping. Throughout the city, there was a large carnival going on where tons of marching bands from all over Europe came to play. They were wearing jester costumes and tons of face paint! We also saw the Croatian and Finnish teams while shopping in some of the popular destinations such as Zara and H&M. After a couple hours shopping we headed back to the hotel for rest and dinner.

Tomorrow is the short program! We are all excited for the competition to start! Good luck to all the teams :-)

Jenna and Noelle

Our First Day in Austria!

Hi, everyone! We’re finally here in Austria! After a relatively smooth flight across the Atlantic, my Starlights senior teammates and I arrived in Salzburg around noon. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then were on our way for a walking tour of the city (to take in some of the amazing sights as well as to keep ourselves awake!). The tour was a lot of fun, and the snowy weather made it all the more beautiful! After dinner, we had a team meeting with our team leaders, Bob Bauer and Karin Sherr, U.S. judge Jeannette Davey, the Haydenettes and the Lexettes; now, it's off to bed for us, as we’ll be up bright and early for our unofficial practice tomorrow morning! I’ve included a couple of pictures from our tour today.

-B