God Morgon! (Swedish for Good Morning!)

Hello everyone!

I am writing you from my hotel room in Goteborg, Sweden!  After a long flight to Paris, a quick layover and a plane to Goteborg, Miami University Junior has safely arrived in Sweden!  We are all incredibly excited to be here and represent Team USA!! On our first day here, as many other teams do, we tried our very hardest to keep our eyes open! After many hours of traveling we were all exhausted, but rallied and were excited and ready to start our first practice! Before we headed to the rink we got to walk around the area near our hotel and get ourselves some lunch.  My group and I found an adorable little Italian place right around the corner from our hotel over looking the water.  It was very cute and all of the staff was so nice and intrigued with why we all looked the same.  We chatted with some of the waitresses who were very nice, ate our lunch and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for practice. It was a short but very, very good practice.  It was a great opportunity to get our feet under us after the trip and get used to this new ice.  After our practice we had our first Swedish meal!  I loved it.  We got to try some fish that was caught locally and it was all pretty awesome.  By the time we had finished our dinner we were all practically falling asleep at the table. After a short team meeting we got to head up to our beds for a good nights sleep.

The next day was the most fun of all.  After waking up early and getting in another great practice, our team was allowed four hours to explore Goteborg.  Our whole team took the ferry ride together from our hotel into the heart of Goteborg and the shopping district.  The Ferry ride was very cold but so beautiful.  Luckily there was an indoor section! Although everything was in Swedish and we almost missed our stop, we had some help and got off at the right place just in time to meet up with our parents!  Everyone split off into small groups and headed around the town.  Goteborg is an absolutely beautiful city.  Our group started off getting some souvenirs at a tourist shop.  Everyone got gifts and t-shirts and some of us got some pretty cool looking jerseys! 

From there we stopped at a bakery and coffee shop where we got some delicious croissants and amazing macaroons! The food was delicious!! I personally had never tried macaroons before but I loved them!  After our little snack we walked around the streets for a while until we found a very cool meat and cheese market.  We got some free samples, which were delicious!  After a little more walking around, we stopped was a very cute chocolate shop.  We all bought some candies to bring home; my favorite was the salted caramel chocolate.  It was so good! 

After awhile it was almost time to head back to the ferry to meet the rest of our team, but not before we got a picture of all of us and one of our dads doing spirals in front of the train station! All in all it was a great day and were looking forward to the draw tonight!

Good luck to all teams!

Sennett

Watching Team USA

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the 2013 Synchronized Skating World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts.  Although there were several DREAM team members competing, I was not one of them, and this allowed me a very unique experience. As a competitor, I usually do not have the opportunity to relax and enjoy a competition, as I experience the blur of the event. As a spectator, my eyes were opened to all the other things that go on while I am “in the zone” and focused on my job to “leave it all on the ice”. As a member of the DREAM program, I had the amazing opportunity of not only painting spectators’ faces, but also signing autographs! My fellow DREAM team members Sharon Neff, Ashley Tomich, Dana Manson, Katilyn Peterson and I met with young skaters before opening ceremonies on Friday and signed cards with our photos on them as well as programs and tickets! It was a very humbling experience and one that I will remember for a very long time.

I also had the opportunity to watch two of my former teammates, Ashley Mulhern and Audrey McQuade, compete at the World championships. Ashley, Audrey and I skated together on Skyliners for many years. Our very first year together we skated on the juvenile line and that was the first year I competed at a national championship (in San Diego, which was a very long time ago). 

One of the greatest parts of this competition was the crowd!  Because the World Championships are only held in the United States infrequently, synchro skaters and fans traveled from all over the US to be in Boston. It was great to see friends that I’ve made over the years from all different teams come together to support our fellow Team USA competitors. Throughout the stands you could see several spectators sporting both historical and new Team USA jackets. One of my former coaches, Natalie Martello, wore the one she had received when she used to compete. It’s pretty amazing how all these skaters chain together from one era to another. 

A former Miami University camp counselor of mine, Lauren Magliola, brought some of her skating students over to the Athlete Development booth while my fellow DREAM team members and I were signing autographs in order for us all to meet and share our skating triumphs. It was adorable to talk to all of her young skaters and see how much enthusiasm they have for the sport at such a young age! One of them even told me that she wanted to skate for Miami one day!  It was great to talk to them and to tell them how I had known Lauren when I was just about their age and that my dream came true when I was accepted to Miami University.

Sennett  

Introducing Sennett Cooke

Hi everyone! My name is Sennett Cooke and I am a member of the Skyliners junior team. I am currently a senior at Pelham Memorial High School in Pelham, New York. I will be starting college next fall, and I’m thinking about majoring in Athletic Training, a topic where I hope to stay involved with synchronized skating, and athletes in general.

I began skating at the age of five, when a family friend took me skating at a rink near my house. As soon as I got on, I fell in love, and made her bring me back countless times, until finally for Christmas that year, Santa brought me my first pair of skates and lessons at my current home rink.

About a year later, my mom found out my home club was starting a synchro team, something no one in my family had ever heard of, but in an attempt to get me into a team dynamic, my mom signed me up. The team was called the Skyliners and I have had the pleasure of skating for this amazing organization for my eleven years of being a synchronized skater. I have always enjoyed skating in general, but there is something about having the support of fifteen other extremely dedicated athletes behind you, any time you step on the ice, that really separates my love of synchronized skating from my enjoyment of other figure skating disciplines.

My favorite Team USA memory was definitely competing in Prague, Czech Republic at the Prague Cup. This was my very first time competing as a Team USA athlete, an achievement I had worked toward for many years. Prague is by the far the most beautiful country I have visited, (even in the middle of winter), and was an amazing place to travel to. We had one of our best skates that season in Prague, but the best part of the competition was stepping onto the ice and hearing the announcer say, “representing the United States of America” for the first time. There is no feeling that can compare to the pride one feels representing their team, their sport and their country.

When I’m not on the ice, which is very rare, I am usually spending time with family and friends, or catching up on homework. I enjoy baking and photography a lot, so anytime the opportunity arises I usually take advantage. I love the excuse of a birthday or major event to bake some cupcakes or a cake for my teammates! I have had the opportunity to participate in several community service projects, and greatly enjoy giving back to my community. I also have a job at my home rink! I do various jobs around the rink and once a week I teach group classes as well. I love working with my students. They are so much fun, and it always gives me a sense of pride that I could have some impact on a young athlete looking to begin this sport I enjoy so much.

Good Luck to everyone this season!

Sennett


Favorites:

Favorite sports team: New York Yankees

Favorite city: New York City

Favorite books: The Harry Potter series

Favorite TV show: Glee

Favorite vacation spot: Cape Cod, MA

Favorite place I’ve traveled for skating: Prague, Czech Republic

Favorite program I’ve ever skated: Skyliners Junior 2010-2011 free skate (Phantom of the Opera): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdgQ1x5dbkQ