Magazine

Mixed Age teams in good shape despite losses due to the crisis


Image

Les Z'Hystérik (FRA), Team Euphoria (CZE) and Team Ice Angels (NED) answered our questions.

Synchro teams around the world are actively preparing for the 2022/23 season. Let’s learn more about the Mixed Age teams who are recharging their batteries after being impacted by the pandemic for several seasons.

"Following the Covid, we suffered a slight loss of skaters, but thanks to our efforts to maintain cohesion and good communication, our team was able to bounce back and get back on track," begins the Mixed Age team Z'Hysterik from Romorantin, France.

The French team even sees the positive side: "The lockdown situation pushed us to develop a new way of working with new exercises that we are continuing post-Covid."


Image
The key to success for Team Ice Angels is to share many moments as a team, like going to the amusement park.

Another Mixed Age team is training hard for the upcoming season. After a summer break during which each team member trained alone, the Euphoria team from the Czech Republic is organizing a training camp this month in September. "We will finish our program for the upcoming season. We are thrilled about the music for next year."

Euphoria is from Prague, the capital of Czech Republic. "We practice 3 times a week, mostly at Hasa ice rink. We have additional practices at Padok ice rink or outside of Prague," says the team. Currently, the team has 22 skaters. Some of them compete for their national teams. Euphoria team is coached by Stepanka, who recently got married to another synchro coach, and Kacka, who is also the team's physiotherapist. "We have more coaches for technical skills, ballet, and choreography."

In the Netherlands, Team Ice Angels has also successfully passed the Covid seasons. "During the pandemic, we did our best to retain our close connection as a team by doing our practices online and in small groups. We didn’t miss a lot except for the practices on the ice and the competitions, which we of course missed so much. As a team, we did a lot together and we tried to keep in contact with each other on regular basis for instance with our team days online. Because of that, we did not lose many people and are thankful that we are as strong as we are now."

For Team Ice Angels, the biggest difference is that "we now realize that being together doesn't always come naturally. we appreciate the practices, the competitions and being together even more now."

"The Covid has resulted in a reduction in the number of French Mixed Age teams from about 15 to 5 teams"
While the pandemic has not impacted the number of teams competing in the Czech Republic, the situation is different in other countries. "In the last couple of years, we always were with three Mixed Age teams in the Netherlands; after Covid, there were two teams left," explain Lotte Geerts and Noa van den Heuvel, Team Ice Angels captains.

"In France, the Covid has resulted in a reduction in the number of Mixed Age teams from about 15 to 5 teams," add the team Z'Hystérik coached by Jessica Blanche for ten years now.


Image
Euphoria: "We realized that face-to-face training is unreplaceable, and we are all so grateful to skate."

While some Mixed Age teams did not survive the pandemic, others have come out very well and emerged stronger from experience. Many of them emphasize the importance of communication and teamwork.

"We laugh every practice. It’s an excellent way to feel team spirit. We can laugh throughout difficult times together," say Marketa Sevcikova, Emma Lichtenbergova, Katerina Marikova from team Euphoria.