Is anyone on here a synchro skater? Do you know anything about synchro? If you're a synchro skater and a freeskater, what do you find to be difficult in terms of balancing the two of them? I'm a freeskater and am trying to decided whether or not I should start doing synchro. It seems like fun, but I don't really know.

I skated synchro for 2 years and loved it!!!! Some of the moves are faster than freestyle; You could always just try it for a bit to see if you like it.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I do both, along with Figures and Dance. It all works well together.... Try it, you'll like it.

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If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

I hope to join synchro soon- after I get a bit better. Quarkiki2 is on the synchro team at my rink. I went to watch one of their early pratices, and she recently posted that they have finished their routine, so I should go watch again. I know she freeskates too.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

there's a reason I skated synchro for 4 years...

... I didn't want to skate it for 5 years.

There were some things I loved about the sport, like the camraderie, the improvement to my overall stroking and footwork, being able to work off my competitive nervousness with a group on the ice instead of being alone, the travel, the national competitions and winning. I have some great memories of competing all over the country with my friends and celebrating in some unforgettable ways.

But there were negatives, like being bossed by a domineering team manager, forced to enter waaaay too many competitions a season, being outvoted on choice of music, dress, hairstyle, makeup. And it was expensive to keep up with two sports, having to pay for two coaches and twice the ice. I also hated being forced to buy more than what is needed or necessary -- team dress bags, team polos, team fake hair buns, team scrunchies, team sweatpants, team scarves. I drew the line at matching skate bags and too-expensive side-zip pants. And I always started the season with two new pairs of expensive over-the-boot tights, destined to put a hole in the first pair at the first competition and nurse the other pair through the rest of the season.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

Hi! I currently skate Synchro and LOVE it -- we have a whole lot of fun out there -- our team is not the greatest adult team (thoug we're competent most of the time ) and we usually comete twice a year with a couple of rink shows and maybe a hockey halftime show thrown in there.

What I love about it? We skate waaaaay faster than I ever skate on my own. What I hate about it? We skate waaaaay faster than I ever skate on my own.

As a result of Synchro I have worked and worked and worked on my basic stroking -- forwards and backwards, good side and back. Crossovers all directions.

Initially, my goal for my Private lessons (with the Synchro coach) was to work on stuff so that I didn't hold the Syncrho team back -- our team is about 1/2 people who started as adults and 1/2 who skated as kids -- and I wanted to keep up with the ones who skated as kids. So, after almost two years of provate lessons (minus off-ice time for my pregnancy), I think I've caught up. The program we're doing right now is the first one that I am completely confident that I can do EVERYTHING in it (I'm still workuing on the tango stop, but anticipate having it down by the Christmas show).

Now, in my private lessons, I briefly discuss any issues I'm having with Synchro and demo the footwork and move on to the other stuff I'm working on -- Pre-Bronze and Bronze moves, Jumps and spins.

For me, I know that I will not be a copetitive adult skater -- I may never got out there on the ice in front of a crowd alone and I'm ok with that. I didn't ever comete on an athletic team as a kid, so I really like the camaraderie of being on a team. My team is awesome! We're really supportive of each other and get along very well -- no cattiness or crankiness. I think it's because we all just want to enjoy the experience, no matter what teh result.

Not sure if this applies to younger skaters.. but at my rink, the age level that I could be in for Synchro, you have to have passed intermediate MITF.. and umm.. I haven't even passed PP MITF.. so yeah. For no test.. the age limit is like.. 10.

My synchro was mixed of all ages...from 8 to 55 years of age. We didn't compete but did numbers in the ice shows. It was fun and challenging and we did learn a lot, sometimes beyond our current level of skating, sometimes it was easy.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I'm only 16 and this is my 10th (or 11th) year in syncro! I also do skills (trying senior silver soon), dance (half done my junior silver) and freeskate ( currently working on my gold freeskate, I have half of it passed!) I really like doing anything I can in skating, I find that it's much more exciting having different kinds of skating to work on! This year I'm going one step further and plan to do interpretive aswell, I might even compete to see if I can make it to STARskate nationals!

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~*Jenna*~ Newfie for life!!!

I skated 1 season with a local synchro team and had mixed feelings about it. There are many good & bad things to consider:

The good things:
1.) It made me appreciate my singles skating a lot more.
2.) I enjoyed making new friends & meeting a bunch of people I don't normally get to see when I am skating singles
3.) My presentation dramatically improved as I went out with each singles comp after that with a new focus: to look UP ALWAYS and SMILE!!!!
4.) My team was very competitive and the medals were beautiful.
5.) Partying with my team out of town! We had a great time & I have memories I am very thankful for & will never forget.
6.) I learned a lot! I have a very deep appreciation for synchro. It is NOT easy! I definitely learned to be more confident in my own abilities.

The bad things:
1.) Politics.
2.) The expense. It wasn't cheap having to buy all the uniforms, plane tickets, hotel, ice/coach fees, and a few hidden (unexpected) costs.
3.) It took time away from my singles skating (at least 1/2 my ice time was devoted to it since I practiced the program a lot in my singles ice sessions).

Having said all that, overall I did enjoy it. It's definitely an experience that every skater should have at least once in their life.

Kristin

As a three time national champion in synchro (and an international medalist as well), I say GO FOR IT!

I recently retired after being a synchro skater for 15 years. While freestyle was never my thing, ice dance was. I started my career as a synchro skater as a wee little 7 year old with no moves in the field, no freestyle, nothing. In the 15 years that I skated synchro (with 8 of those years being on a highly competitive team), I became a USFS double gold medalist. So it's definitely possible to balance synchro with the other skating disciplines.

Synchro really is a fun sport. The traveling, the camaraderie, the competition. I loved everything about it. You learn teamwork, discipline, etc. Not that you don't learn those things in singles, but you really get a good sense of it through synchro. There's no feeling quite like winning a title that you've worked so hard for, for so long with 24 other girls...

Honestly - try it out for one season and see how you like it. Synchro is one of those sports where you either LOVE it or hate it. good luck, let us know what you decide!

I dont know about everyone else but I find there's no trouble balencing out the two. they're really quite simelar just there's a team involved in synchro

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dont eat me

Hi,I am not a skater myself. But I can e-mail some links on Synchro. that might help. But please tell us....what level are you? That would make a great start.

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FSWer

Say while were on the subject of Synchro. I have a question. We all know that Senior Teams do lifts and flips. Because people feel they are talented enough to do the fancy tricks,etc. vers. a Novice or Junior Team who are both do basicly the same moves and are just not allowed to do them. But does anyone know what constatutes as the moves an OPEN Team would do,and/or would be allowed to do? Since as we all know it's a Team of ALL ages,etc.?

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FSWer

The rule book states that only Senior teams may do lifts, and assisted vaults (flipovers) are allowed only for Junior and Senior teams. Otherwise, the rule book says what must be included for each level, not what can't be done. So I guess that as long as you do what you have to, you could do extra stuff except for lifts and vaults that are not allowed. For all Open teams except Open Junior, the well-balanced free skate consists of 5 elements: a block, a circle, an intersection, a line, and a wheel. An Open Junior team does the block, circle, line, and wheel, two different intersections, a movement in isolation, a no-hold step sequence, one additional block, circle, line, or wheel, and 1 moves in the field element or upright spin. (Note: You tend to ask a lot of questions about what is allowed at different levels. Maybe you should get a copy of the rule book. You can buy them from US Figure Skating, or online skate supply stores like Rainbo. Anybody can buy them - you don't have to be a coach or competitor.)

? ok,I'm confused. Why are Junior Teams allowed to do Flips like the Seniors. But they just can't do Lifts?

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FSWer