... especially those of us heading to Geneva, IL to compete at Midwestern Sectionals! Our rink is sending two teams: Diamond Edges who are competing at the Junior Classic division and Sapphire Ice, my team, and we are competing at the Adult Masters division.

Not entirely sure what to expect, this is my first trip to Sectionals, and my first USFSA synchro competition, which I'm sure is much different than ISI Synchro Championships. I don't know what to expect in terms of our placement (we are one of 11 teams competing in out category), but we have done well in previous Senior Adult categories for ISI. I'm just hoping to skate well, and have a good time.

I'm also pretty happy that I will be competing at the same competition as some of the girls I used to skate with up in Michigan. The girl who taught me my first ever jump, a waltz jump, is competing at the collegiate level along with the girl who taught me my first spin. I'm proud of them for turning out to be not only great skaters, but intelligent, great adults and can't wait to see them skate with their team.

So good luck to anyone, everyone who is going. And please, if anyone has any advice as I'm preparing to pack (the thought that is going into packing for 3 days is mind-blowing), your thoughts will be cheerfully read!

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

Wang chung!

I don't skate synchro. anymore, but my club, Windy City FSC, is sending all three of its USFSA teams (Adult Intro., Junior Classic, and Teen Intro.) to Sectionals! Hey, as long as it's in our neighborhood....

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Ooh! This is my first, too! I'm skating with a Masters team out of Huntsville AL. We only have 12 members, but are so looking forward to the competition! Good luck to all and I hope to meet you Mel On Ice! We are called Southern Ice.
Becca

Anyone here on any teams representing the New England FSC.?

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FSWer

Good luck to all of the teams heading to Sectionals!!

Have a lot of fun!!!

Mel, take care of my girl for me.

I'm sending candy bars for the team.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Skate well, everyone! Have fun!

good luck to you too Becca, I will look for you. Our team is down to 10 skaters, we had one go on semi-permanent hiatus with the adoption of her daughter and one on the injured list.

Gary, you rock with your 1 lb. bars of chocolate. And don't worry, I will be right by Sue's side for most of our program, I'll take care of her.

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

Wang chung!

But she'll be there cheering for you!!!

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

I highly doubt anyone from the NEFSC teams would be on here.
They're all pretty young.

I am going to Easterns in Providence, competing in Adult Intro. I can't wait!! Good luck to everyone.

I'm competing for the first time this year in Adult Masters -- our team is called the "Portland Rosettes". We have twelve on our team.

Anyone else going to Pacific Coasts in SLC?

I am really nervous!!

icedancer, me too! Is 12 right around the normal size for an Adult Masters team?

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

Wang chung!

icedancer2 -

I'm a member of Seattle Ice and we'll definitely see you there at the end of this week!

Have fun!

Oh boy!! Some competition!!

Mel, I think they like to see more than 12 on the teams -- I know last year our team only had 8 and the judges told them we needed more skaters (which is why I was coerced to join) -- we would love to have 16 I think!!

We only comete ISI, but at our Christmas show we had 20 skaters on our adult team. We'll see how many carry over this spring. I think the maximum is 24?? Is that right?

I do think the max is 24. I'd love to be on a team that big, but we are having trouble fielding 12. Getting geeked, we are leaving for Chicago tomorrow afternoon!

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

Wang chung!

You should be getting some sleep after that 11 pm to midnight practice your team had last night.

And then you have to get up at 3:30 on Friday morning to make it to your 10 minute practice ice session by 5:00 am.

Maybe I should be glad I didn't make the team. I like my pillow too much.

The candy bars are in the bag and waiting to be delivered.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

looking at the order in which we are being farmed in and out of the locker rooms, looks like my team is 2nd out on the ice. At least we won't have to be nervous for long. I think Southern Ice is first! Closed judging, so I don't know if we have to worry about the judges "saving" marks for other skaters. We're Adult Masters, the likelyhood of any of us getting 6.0 is pretty slim!

Gary, would it be in good taste to send a couple of bottles of non-alcoholic sparkling grape to the Diamond Edges so they can toast their success, no matter how they finish? I know that's how we Sapphires operate, but we, ahem, drink the harder stuff. I'm going to buy a couple of bottles for them and take it with me to see if the rest of the team wants to send it over to the girls from us.

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

Wang chung!

Hmmmm.... you know the skaters parents better than I do. Just so no one thinks you're promoting drinking.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

I already edited myself. I think I'm going to grab a couple bags of hershey's kisses instead.

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

Wang chung!

Nothing like a "kiss" after a performance to make the world right.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Mel, are you taking your camera?

Be sure to have someone taking pictures while you're on the ice.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Oh, and let's not forget about announcing too...

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

Wang chung!

Sounds like everyone had a great time in Chicago, no matter where they placed.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

But let's start with the good, which there was alot! We skated this program the best we had ever skated. No one fell, no one missed a cue, there were no major errors, and we were confident, and everyone was happy and crying afterwards. And 3 of the judges placed us higher than 10th. And we got some 2.5s! And to think we skated a clean program with relatively good speed and still placed last, that just says great things about adults at this event as a whole.

The bad? I wished I could see the judges notes. I think we were very technically solid, with good elements and transitions, but other teams were beyond that and did more complex, cooler stuff, like showcasing teammates doing single skating moves. We also fielded the smallest team at 10; I think the next largest team had 14. That makes a big difference in creating a prescence on the ice. We were also up against some serious big guns - the team that won have won the Masters National title like 6 times. And boy did they deserve it -- they got a standing ovation, esp. from the other adult teams in the audience.

It's hard, we are in a transitional period. We consistently win gold or silver in ISI events, but USFSA is vastly different. Heather, our coach, watched Adult Intro, and said we would have placed well in that competition, but I think we as a team are ready to move beyond that. We just have to learn from what we saw, and know what we can do, and pay our dues at this level until we can progress.

Still, I'm proud of what we accomplished. We made friends with the teams from Traverse City and Becca's team from Alabama. Becca rocks, by the way, thanks for the pin, I owe you one! I got to see some girls I used to skate with compete for Michigan; and they won gold, and looked wonderful. I was looking for them and they were looking for me, and big hugs were exchanged in the lobby.

Can't win if you don't compete, right? And you can't compete if you don't skate... lesson learned. I think we still get a competitor's medal or certificate in the mail for having competed at sectionals.

Go us!

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

Wang chung!

Midwestern Synchro Sectionals was fun! The coldest temps I've ever seen in my life...9deg below early Friday morning!!! Don't usually run accross that stuff down South! Melanie, you are too cute! I hope your team can get more members again. It's so nice to see such enthusiasm for Adult skating. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces. It seems that more and more Adult freestylers are adding synchro to their agenda, and now I know why..tons o' fun! I look forward to more competitions. Are any Masters teams competing in Nashville?
Becca