Magazine

This synchro category is more and more popular


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Team Chaotique from Finland. (Credits: S.J.Photos - 2020)

Interviewed several months ago, zoom in on three Adult teams from Finland, Great Britain and Germany.

In full expansion and development, the Adult synchro category is attracting more and more synchro skaters. Bringing together passionate members and sometimes terrific former competitors, let's meet three European Adult teams who could even make some former skaters want to embark on the adventure!

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Team Bladerunners (GBR)
"I joined Bladerunners in 2007 when the team was formed. When we started out we had 16 members with lots of beginner Adult skaters. Our first competition was the British championships and our routine was choreographed skating forwards, we placed 4th. Only 2 original members still skate in the team now," starts Gina, member of the team.

Their coach Sam Ozard creates programmes which are "fun to perform", says the team. "She is always looking to achieve the maximum levels we can score as an adult team and we like to perform to upbeat music rather than classical."

During the lockdown, their training has changed and adapted to online Zoom classes including off-ice training, yoga and stretching, ballet, hip-hop and hit workouts, along with practicing the new routines. The team members also taken part in Q&A’s organised by British Ice Skating with Robin Cousins (Olympic Champion),Torvill and Dean and Christopher Buchanan (Chair of the Synchronised Technical Committee).

"Thanks to Sam’s connections in the skating world we have had a Q&A session with Amanda Clinton a synchronised ice skating Technical Specialist and Genevieve from Les Suprêmes (Canadian 2020 champions)," Gina enthuses. As a club, they have come together for quiz nights and baking sessions.



As well as being synchronised iced skaters, team Bladerunners is also World Champion synchronised in-line skating.

"We have been training on in-line skates for nearly two years now, to supplement the limited ice time we get. Last season, we had the opportunity to travel to Italy and compete in the In-line World Opens, and we won gold! Not only did we have a great time at the competition but we enjoyed a wonderful holiday together as a team. We are so happy that we have our in-line skates to be able to keep training in the current climate, it’s defiantly not the same as the ice but it’s the closest thing."

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Team Chaotique (FIN)
Team Chaotique is a Master team (ISU Adult) from Helsinki, Finland. They have been competing in this category since 2015 and practice once a week. The head coach is Ville Penttinen, Mirjami Penttinen's husband (head coach of the senior Team Unique).

"Luckily, coronavirus didn’t affect our competition season for the moment. In Finland, the finals of the national series were held just before the situation escalated in March. And last season, we participated in an international competition, Winter World Masters Games in January," explains the team.

In Finland, Adult categories are developing year by year. Two adult categories exist; Adults and Masters (ISU Adults). "There are a lot of adult teams in Finland, and new teams are constantly coming. In general, adult skating is really popular in our country at the moment."



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Team Berlin Adult (GER)
The team was founded in 1997, initially named N’Ice Time. The coach Angela Caspary works with the skaters since 2003 and is responsible for the composition of the programs. In 2018 Sabine Hanika joined the coaching team, focusing on the technical elements and the components. Angela and Sabine are both former skaters of Team Berlin 1.

"During the season 19/20, we had 16 team members aged between 25 and 55. Our shortest skater is sized 150 cm and our tallest 190 cm. We are joined by skaters of non-German nationality, so far, we had team members from Sweden, Italy, USA, Canada, Russia and Finland. Since a couple of years, the Austrian skater Nora is a part of our team," says the team.



"Last season, we were lucky to be able to participate in all the planned competitions. Usually, we attend one national and one international competition per season," explains the National champions.

One of the last season's highlight was the Winter World Master Games. "To our pleasant surprise, we were placed 3rd behind the Czech and the Finnish team. To put a good end to this successful season, we attended the Second Cup of Dresden where we were placed 7th with our season’s best as best German team."

Synchronized Adult Skating is becoming more and more popular in Germany. This summer, there were five teams: Team Berlin Adult (Berlin), Skating Graces Adult (Chemnitz), Red Sunshine (Munich), Blue Sparkles (Höchstadt), and Just for Fun (Dresden).