Miami RedHawks Synchro Exhibition

Last Saturday I had to trek to West Chester, OH to return some items to IKEA. Oxford, OH and Goggin Ice Arena are just up the road about 20 minutes away. This gave me the opportunity to see the Miami University RedHawk Synchronized Skating teams perform in an exhibition to kick off the 2009-2010 season.

All three teams, Collegiate, Junior, and Senior, showed off their skills by running through some team drills and moves-in-the-field together. Then each team performed their programs as a bit of a tune up prior the Dr. Richard Porter Classic the first weekend in December.

The five-time defending National champions at the Collegiate level are skating to music from "Sex and the City" this season. I thought it was a fun and well-paced program.

Miami Collegiate Synchro

Next, the defending National Champion Senior team debuted their short program with a Romeo & Juliet theme. The music selections came from Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" and both Nino Rota's and Baz Luhrman's movie scores.

Miami Senior Synchro - Short

This was a strong senior program. I enjoyed watching their intensity and think this will be a great short for them for this season.

The Juniors came out for their short program debut to music from Moulin Rouge. I think their program will grow over the year. They opened with an excellent circle footwork sequence.

Miami Junior Synchro - Short

The senior team then treated the audience to a warm up of their lifts. While interesting to see them practice their lifts, it made me realize how much these varsity teams have to learn in practice in a short amount of time.

Miami Senior Warming Up Lifts

Since Miami is a varsity team, their practices start in the fall as the academic year begins. They hold their tryouts and assign teams in August and September. Most of the internationally competitive teams start the process of organizing the team and new programs in April and May! These teams are learning new routines and lifts just a few months away from competitions.

I think this is a reason why the Junior team is still searching for its first National title. The Junior team follows the ISU age levels, so the skaters are 18 and under. At a college level, this generally creates a freshman only team. (There may be a sophomore here and there who has a late fall birthday and turn 19 as the season starts.) The team only gets one season to gel. The Senior and Collegiate teams consist of skaters who skate together for at least two seasons.

I also wondered if the Senior team has several new faces on the team. Lifts are only allowed at the senior level, so maybe they needed some extra warm up with several skaters making the team after being on the Junior and Collegiate teams.

The Senior long is a medley of 1940s music from Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Cole Porter. The choreography reflected the upbeat tunes. The skaters seemed a little slow at times and the program wasn't polished yet. I'm looking forward to seeing this program grow as the skaters get familiar with the routine with time and really begin to perform and skate with the music.

Miami Senior Synchro - Long

The Juniors wrapped up the evening with their long to "Bohemian Rhapsody." Again, I thought the skaters had just learned all the choreography, but the program will be competitive throughout the season.

Miami Junior Synchro - Long

Synchro vs. Figure Skating

I loved this video posted on YouTube from Audrey in Hungary. The title is "Synchro Skating at the Olympics?"

While synchronized skating is often referred to as one of the fastest growing winter sports along with snowboarding, it's not an Olympic event like snowboarding. I believe synchronized skating will be included in the Olympics in the next decade, probably by 2018.

It takes a little bit of time and politicking to get a newish sport on the Olympic roster. Consider another International Skating Union governed sport: short-track speedskating. It became organized and officially sanctioned in the 1970s. It became an Olympic sport in 1992.

It will be fun to add synchro to the Olympics Figure skating fans will find it enjoyable to see their favorite skating moves completed by 16 skaters together. The average viewer who only pays attention to skating during Olympic years will find even more action in synchro.

Here's a preview of what to look forward to for skating fans:

Smells Like Synchro Season....

I've been noticing more postings across the "Internets" related to synchronized skating. Yeah!

Here are some of my favorite discoveries:

DC edge performed with Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill in Kaleidoscope On Ice. They performed in the same costumes they skated to Van Halen and medaled at Nationals. Kaleidoscope On Ice will be broadcast on Thanksgiving on Fox at like 4 or 5. I wonder if the world will get a glimpse of synchro-fun before dropping into a Turkey-induced doze.

Another fun find, the Haydenettes new programs debuting at Bryant Park! (For some reason, I can't get the vids embedded, but they should be hyperlinked).

Short Program - Skating to What a Wonderful World

Long Program - Skating to West Side Story

Hearing the first strands of Maria was a bit of a bummer since West Side Story themes are used so often in skating. However, this is an excellent program. I love the no hold footwork block. They threw some difficult intersections into that block too.

I also found some predictions for the adult teams at the Dr. Richard Porter Memorial next month in Ann Arbor, MI. Apparently, the posters think Louisville will be last. There is a history of last places finishes in Louisville synchro, however they don't know Louisville is fielding a coaches team at the Masters level this year. Since no one reads this blog, they'll be in for a surprise! Go Louisville RiverStars!

Skate America

Ugh, I've not been able to shake an upper respiratory thing... I missed all my skating practices this week due to this pesky cough. I set my alarm and got up at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday as I had been feeling better, and having a scheduled lesson instead of one that was snuck in due to people not showing was motivating. However, as I started to get dressed I could tell my congestion was going to get worse if I exercised in cold air. Oh well. I decided to work from home and spent some break time watching Skate America on IceNetwork. Here are some of my faves from the competition in Lake Placid:

Yu-Na Kim's short program. Love the James Bond-girl theme. She plays it well. Love how the James Bond music isn't overbearing and selections throughout the movies are used. Yu-Na built a large lead coming into the free program. Which she needed as Rachel Flatt rocked her free skate.

Rachel Flatt winning the free skate despite her last two spins not even counting. She did a combination spin, but the steps between her change of foot were too wide. This made the combo spin count as two separate spins. However, since she already completed individual spins she maxed out on spin elements. So her last 10 seconds basically didn't count. She could have just stood there and would have won the free skate. She's solid, but she still doesn't have great pizzazz and panache in her skating. Still I was excited for her.

I also enjoyed Evan Lysacek's dominating performances. The feather-hands in the Firebird short program are growing on me. I've heard they look much better in person. He seems to be focused and building a strong collection of performances in route to the Olympics.

I felt fortunate to be able to experience Belbin & Agosto's Golden Waltz in the compulsory dance. Wow! That is how waltzes on ice are to be done. I hope NBC spends time broadcasting some of the compulsories during the Olympics. The compulsories really separate the skaters, you can truly break down the skill level of the couples.

I also must say I enjoyed Adrian Schultheiss from Sweden skating in a straight jacket to Insane in the Membrane and Pac-Man. Ryan Bradley medaling after landing two quads whilst channeling Scott Hamilton was fun too.

Romping through the Far East and Midwest

A couple of weekends ago, I got up early and let the dog out. Then I plopped in front of my laptop to watch bits of the men's and pairs' competition at Cup of China. Crazy time differences, I was seeing their evening performances in my slippers over the live feed.

Cup of China was a "comeback" comp for Shen & Zhao and comeback they did. I enjoyed the free program, it was easy to watch. The side-by-side jumps were probably a bit too far apart, but overall an excellent skate.

Cup of China was the debut of some of North America's Olympic medal contenders. Belbin & Agosto won the ice dance event, Evan Lysacek medaled in the men's event, and Mirai Nagasu & Rachel Flatt had nice outings in the front of the judges and their international competition. Joannie Rochette of Canada had a disappointing short but bounced back with her superior freeskate to Saint-Saens "Sampson & Delilah."

I must say I was a tad disappointed in the Americans. Evan Lysacek skated well, he was downgraded on a jump in each program, but the programs looked good. While the music was new, his programs have come to have a predictable pattern. I was slightly distracted from that pattern watching the short. He's skating to "Firebird" and has a black outfit, with long black feathers at the end of the sleeves. It kept giving me an image of Edward Scissorhands... all in black with these big, dangling, useless hands... except with feathers. Lose the feathers Evan!

I caught the ladies short and was thrilled that Mirai Nagasu had a good skate. She managed first which was a big improvement over everything last season. I expected more from Rachel Flatt with her "Sing, Sing, Sing" short. The YouTube clip of her performance at a summer competition gave me hope that she added some pizzazz to her consistency. However, the program just didn't seem to fill the big arena their in Beijing. She somehow appeared to be skating on ice twice as big as her competitors.

Belbin & Agosto chose a Moldovian theme for their original folk dance. Then they skated to a version of Ava Maria. The Ava Maria program is beautiful and features interesting lifts, however, I thought it was an odd choice for them. Since changing coaches prior to last season, I feel they have become more confident in their technical skill which especially has helped them in the compulsory portion of the competition. However, I their programs seem like they are coming straight out the Soviet School of Ice Dancing. I don't feel they are really offering anything new to the sport. Of course, skating passionately to Ava Maria is rite of passage in skating and Soviet/Russian ice dancers have demonstrated a winning formula of angst-ridden performances. I just Belbin & Agosto could be legendary with their talent by creating something entirely new. They're playing it conservative to win, while I think if they went outside of the box, not only would they win, they would blow everyone away.

I really think Meryl Davis and Charlie White are skating outside of the box this year with their Bollywood-inspired original dance. Watching Belbin & Agosto and then Davis & White in back to back competitions proves really brings that home to me. Davis and White have excellent technique and speed and I think their originality in their programs demonstrates those skills.

Davis and White completely left their competitors in the dust at the NHK Trophy. I was in Chicago over the weekend. I got to enjoy the weather for a weekend holiday shopping spree but the hotel didn't have free wifi so I missed my morning ritual of watching the live feed from Asia.

So glad to catch up on the NHK Trophy mid-week after work. Brian Joubert is back! He looked Yagudin-like out there. There was such command of the ice and energy in his performances. I haven't really seen that from him for awhile.

Johnny Weir actually put together two solid skates in the same competition. He earned a silver souvenir for that accomplishment. Jeremy Abbott debuted his programs for the season. Love the short, "Day in a Life" awesomeness. Jeremy, note to self, ice shavings are very apparent on black outfits so don't fall on every jump in the long! Daisuke Takahashi was back after injury last season. Wow, I missed him, he's programs fill the arena. Hope those jumps make a complete recovery after injury too.

Enjoyed the Kerrs free dance to Krwling too.

I've been getting the hang of choctaws and my rockers are back to what I could do well 10 years ago. I think I may pass my junior MITF by February!