Hi, I am hoping that people might share with me their synchro experience in regard to team placement and age. Things don't always seem right to me and maybe I am just crazy.

Our rink has quite a few excellent teams including an adult team, a teenage team, a younger team, an 'in training team' and 2 intro teams (split by age).
My daughter is on Jade Blade, the lowest invitational team (the 'in training' team). She is 9 and this is her 2nd year on Jade. I was quite surprised to hear some moms with 2nd year girls (same age and level as my skater) say they did not expect to move up the following year. I was fully expecting this for my skater. She will be the right age and is working on FS 5. She has passed pre-pre and will certainly have tested at least prelim by spring. None of the girls invited last year to the next level team were as high as my daughter at the time, only older. Most of them should have moved up, that is fine with me, but it seems that my daughter gets left behind. She is on a team this year with skaters with less ability and it often seems that way. I would be very disappointed if girls older than my daugher with lower skating ability are invited next year. Please let me know if I am sounding stuck up about this. My skater places a lot of importance on advancement. Maybe synchro just isn't the way to go. Sorry for the long story and all advice is welcome.

This is really hard to answer as I don't know the teams, coaches, or your daughter. I think your best bet would be to talk to the coaches--not in a "why wasn't my daughter moved up" way, but in a "we're really motivated to keep her progressing--what are your requirements for the next level?" sort of way. Find out what they're looking for, specifically--otherwise you won't know what to focus on. Do they have minimum test requirements? Do they favor the girls who've done ice dance? Are they simply looking for older ones, so your daughter will just have to wait her turn? You need to find these things out, and then make your decision. I'm sure the coaches will be more than happy to discuss it.

On the flip side, how you present this info to your daughter is also very important. You might suggest to her that since she's been on this team before, she is now one of the experienced ones & therefore should see herself in a position of role model for the newer/younger ones. She could learn a lot about leadership & helpfulness on the team this year, if you encourage her in that role.

My 2¢--hope that's helpful!

I admit I know NOTHING about the workings of synchro.......but thought I'd comment anyway. There must be some criteria used to determine team placement, so I would ask the director or coach what that criteria is. Is it primarily age? Or perhaps moves testing level?

If I wanted my daughter to be considered for moving up, I'd ask what I could do to get that accomplished. Perhaps testing those Prelim. moves earlier might qualify her.

If placements are strictly by age, not much you can do about that. If in fact your daughter is more skilled than the rest of her training team, I would suggest to the coach that you'd like advancement to challenge her.

Our synchro team no longer exists, but at the time we had one, both age and moves test level were qualifying criteria to be on that team.

Backspin - we posted at the same time, I totally agree with you.....

Thanks for the comments. They have a skill level qualification (FS 1 for Jade, FS 3 for the next highest team) and an age qualification. She did not meet the age requirement for the next highest team last year, but not everyone who meets the qualifications gets an invite. I guess, a lot depends on how many spaces they have. She likes being a leader, but grows weary of this. She is often asked by other skaters (on or off team) for help. She likes this a lot, but when they selected team captions, they picked an older girl (13) who did not skate on Jade last year. This girl's skating level did not qualify her for the next highest team.

Well, my daughter used to skate synchro. The way the club operated was this -- whomever came over from a different club to try out, they got placed on the higher team. In other words, if your daughter and my daughter are the same age and even though my daughter perhaps is more advanced in tests passed than yours, but -- but -- you're from a different club looking to move up -- well, you've just been placed on the higher team! The reasoning for this is simple, -- new club member! Meanwhile, my daughter who's been skating synchro at the club for a few years, probably won't be leaving go somewhere else, right? (Wrong!)

Also, for synchro purposes (and I know I'll get flack for this, but this is my personal experience remember) the bigger your girl, the better. Synchro teams like taller girls -- they're more impressive looking on the ice.

Gotta disagree bigtime there. I know of some teams who have maximum height requirements. I also know of a few international-level teams who have an average height of around 5'2". It has also been my experience that the smaller skaters are the ones on the team who haul a$$, so to speak. They work so hard because of their size, smaller skaters are often some of the best on the team.

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Not always - I know a girl who is at least 6 feet tall who skated on the British national team. And what about the men? I know not so many men do synchro, but the year I watched the world finals, almost every team had at least one man on it, and many had two.

Incidentally, I think often the children are more sanguine about which team they are on than their parents. At those finals, I overheard someone's small sister say to another, "Oh, I'm not on Team X yet, I'm still on Team Y", as casually as if she'd explained she was still in year 6 at school....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

A high freestyle level does not always directly relate to synchro ability. They are as different as freestyle and ice dance.

I recently watched two fabulous freestylists attempt to do a low level ice dance together. They were in tears laughing because they thought it would be so-o-o-o-o easy and it wasn't.

The same goes for synchro.

I know of your daughter's team and coaches. Trust the coach's decision. She is just as eager to have good, experienced skaters move up when they are ready. If your daughter doesn't get moved up this year, it will only give her more experience and she can help the newer members of her team learn.

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In our region, we have a lot of synchro teams, and many girls move from club to club to get on higher level teams. Are there any other clubs your daughter could try out for next year?

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Thanks Schmeck, but I would never leave our club. We like our rink and club. It is like a 2nd home to me and my skater. There are other places, but we would never risk losing her coach - she is wonderful. I guess I just have no patience and I need to discuss this with the coaches. Now that I think about it, I think my skater has just now reached the age where the coaches see her as taking things serious enough to want her on the next level team.