Synchronized skating team debuts at STARSkate

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The Strathmore Skating Club (SSC) performed their annual STARSkate Holiday Performance on Dec. 19 at the Strathmore Family Centre which featured their new synchronized skating teams.
The young skaters also performed individually in the non-competitive, more casual atmosphere.
“Some of the girls were quite nervous, there’s a lot of people here tonight who they aren’t used to performing in front of,” said SSC public relations chair Kathleen Beardsell. “We do have some upcoming competitions so it’s good preparation for them.”
The show ran about two hours and the synchronized team named Sleeves Up took to the ice for the final segment. The 12-girl team, wearing all black, began at centre ice with slower hand movements and slight glides. The team then upped the pace and began circling the ice, holding various poses such as balancing on one leg with the other stretched to sky, always with an element of grace to emulate the theme which was Swan Lake. On some manoeuvres, the team would split into two units before gliding back together like a flock of birds returning to formation.
Synchronized skating has the same challenges as individual skating with one major difference: timing your actions to another’s at the same time.
“Trying to work together (and) doing everything at the same time – getting that down is really hard,” said 14-year-old skater Trinity Haynes.
Coach Breanna Polet echoed Haynes sentiment about the biggest challenge being the combined timing of the team, but she is optimistic that with more practice it will get easier.
“Our goal is to work as a team, skate as a team, learn how to do things as team because in the individual skate you do your own thing,” said Polet.
The synchronized team started skating in August but the STARSkate show was their first performance in front of an audience. The skaters’ ages range from 10 to 15.
Beardsell said she hopes having the additional program will help draw more people to the sport which blends strength, balance and precision timing into an extremely fast production.
“They are expressing themselves on ice skates … their yoga, dance skills and flexibility are all necessary, otherwise they are going to hurt themselves,” she noted.