Who here is a Synchronized Skater?

[FSWer]

Say,since I'm a realy big Fan of Synchro. myself. I thought I'd start this topic. I was just wondring who here is INDEED a Synchronized Skater. Please include your level and how may years of Synchro. you have.(Team is optional).

[Isk8NYC]

I added a poll, FSWer.

I skated Open Adult this year for the first time in many years.

[Clarice]

I'm a synchro skater, if not necessarily a very good one.  I skate on an Open Adult team.  This was the third year we've had enough people to compete.  The team started about 5 years ago, but the first couple of years we could only do numbers in our club shows because we didn't have enough people.

[jjane45]

For me syncro is a whole different universe, more so than ice dance. Will someone be so kind  to give a quick overview of testing / competition levels or requirements for U.S. syncro, especially for adults, please?

I am afraid of skating with people - will usually abort spins / jumps if there is people (including coaches) in my bigger than average comfort zone. But guess syncro has more moves (not sure if still true?) so there is a possibility I may consider it in the future.

[Kim to the Max]

I marked other I skated on an adult team a few years ago and LOVED it! Back as a kid, it was precision and the club across town had the team and it wasn't big...got to college and some of the girls who I thought were a bit snobby from that club formed a team and looking back, I wish I had done it... fast forward to 2007... I had just started skating again and my coach was skating on an open adult team and tried to get me to do it. At that point, I wasn't feeling all that confident with my skating ability and money was an issue, so I declined. The next year, I did it and loved the skating part of things! Last year, I knew that I was looking for a new job and I wanted one where I could live off campus (aka: would cost more money, and I needed to buy furniture, etc.), so I decided not to do the team because the travel expenses would have killed me. This year, I start work at 8am and the team practices until midnight and that is just not feasible for me, so I declined again this year. Coach and I really want to do it again (we are slightly a package deal...she stopped because she had a baby), but we want to either create a second adult team for this area with higher level skaters in mind while leaving the current team for less advanced skaters or we would like to see some of the people who are currently skating on the existing team cycle out (one word: drama).

In addition to wanting to skate again, I serve as the staff advisor for the open collegiate team where I used to work (I told a little white lie to be able to continue...there are a private university and a state college almost literally on the same land...they share just about everything including clubs and orgs. I used to work for the university, but now I work for a private company...but my company was hired by the college to manage their new residence hall...so it is as good as working for the college and club sports doesn't need to know...plus...I am on payroll at the rink as an instructor ).

[FigureSpins]

There are no "synchro" tests, per se, in the USFSA, although there are Basic Skills tests.  Very few teams really use them unless they have a huge synchro population to draw from.

One of my skating parents is a lawyer by trade.  He understands the rules better than the coaches, I think.
He's just awesome.  Our coaches said that the synchro rulebook/handbook isn't complete.  Apparently there are clarifications that weren't written into the rulebook yet?  (I don't know how accurate that statement was.)

USFSA Synchro Home Page: http://www.usfsa.org/Programs.asp?id=44
Required Elements: http://www.usfsa.org/Content/synchro%20required%20elements.pdf
Levels: http://www.usfsa.org/Shell.asp?sid=20401
Rules and regulations: http://www.usfsa.org/New_Judging.asp?id=357



Most of the USFSA groupings at the lower levels are based on age, not test level. 
The TEAM'S age is based on the "majority of members' ages." 
If you have a team of nine skaters in Pre-Juvenile, at least five have to be under 12 years old.

Teams are 8 to 20 skaters, with alternates allowed.

The higher-level teams are based on age and Moves in the Field test level.
The Open Juvenile teams I saw at the Dr. Porter competition ranged from pre-teens to high school seniors.
I believe everyone had to pass Pre-Preliminary Moves, but I don't think there is an upper test limit.

Everything below Intermediate is judged under 6.0; Intermediate and above are IJS events.

There are Sectionals competitions with qualifying events for teams that wish to compete at US Nationals.

[FigureSpins]

There's a synchro promo video on the website here: http://www.usfsa.org/Programs.asp?id=44

I received a DVD copy in the mail for my DD's and myself, I guess because this was our first time entering Sectionals.

One note: as in pairs and dance, men are very much coveted in Synchro, lol.

[davincisop]

I filled in last October for a show since one of the skaters was not able to be there. I learned the routine in one practice, and now I'm a full member of the team as of January 1st. I had to wait to finish up school before I could commit myself to the practices on top of my freestyle skating and my part time job and my internship and now coaching LTS(I'm one busy girl).

[jjane45]

Thank you very much, FigureSpins!

[LilJen]

The terminology is very confusing in that they use "novice, intermediate, junior" and such and the terms do not mean the same thing as test levels.

We're currently working toward getting our adult (ISI) formation team to divide into a USFS Open Adult or ISI Synchro Dance for those who are comfortable with more than just marching around (and are bored to death with just marching around,  ).

[Isk8NYC]

It is confusing, ITA.

I haven't seen an ISI synchro competition since before we moved.  Are they very different in their groupings and events?

[FSWer]

wHAT DO YOU MEAN Jen?

[Clarice]

wHAT DO YOU MEAN Jen?

In the US, skaters need to pass certain Moves in the Field tests to be eligible for different levels of synchronized skating teams.  Jen is commenting that the names of the test levels don't match the names of the team levels.  For instance, to be on a Senior team, the skater has to pass at least the Novice Moves in the Field test.  Teams can set higher requirements on their own, though, and the best Senior teams require that skaters pass the Senior Moves test.  US Figure Skating allows lower tests for each level so that it is easier to form teams.  A Senior team has 16 skaters on it, and in some places it would be really hard to find 16 skaters who have passed Senior Moves, but it might be possible to find 16 who have passed Senior or Junior or Novice.  It does get really confusing.

[Pačiūžos]

There are also age requirements, so even if you have an 11-year-old who has passed Novice moves, you'd want her to skate on your Juvenile team (no one over age 12) and not on your Junior Team , even  though she'd be over-qualified for a typical Intermediate team. It's all very strategic and parents can be really crazy and aggressive about getting their darlings on a higher-level team, while coaches have very good reasons to game the system if they can, meaning the youngest kids with the highest skills are actually "held back" onto lower level teams. Imagine dealing with groups of pre-, mid-, and just-post-puberty girls and their moms. In a subjective sport where ideally, no one is supposed to be more noticeable than the rest. During my years as a synchro mom, I saw some amazingly "together" synchro coaches who really knew how to handle it, and I saw some who got eaten alive.

[Isk8NYC]

The age groupings are really wacky in some of the levels.  Open Juv requires a Pre-Prel Moves test and MOST of the skaters on the team have to be under 19.  That means you have have a team of mostly 12 year olds paired against a bigger team where just short of half the members can be of drinking age!  (Ask me how I know.)

USFSA Synchro Team Definitions

[Pačiūžos]

I think USFS really makes every effort to create opportunities for skaters at every age and skating level to get involved in synchro, hence all the assorted team levels, qualifying and non-q, or "developmental." But it sure can seem byzantine at first glance. OTOH, I understand it quite well now, and when I was assigned an article to write about youth soccer leagues, I was totally lost; THAT system made no sense to me at all, but synchro does, LOL.

[JHarer]

I'm not a synchro skater, but tonight I got to watch some of the teams competing at this weekends championship rehearse; they are amazing. I love how synchro looks, it's so pretty.

[katz in boots]

I am in an Adult Synchro Team.   There are no test requirements for Adult Synchro in Australia, but all must be 18+ and 75% of the team must be 25+.
There are set age & test requirements for the non-adult synchro teams though, even at the LTS level, which makes it difficult in a small skating community.

I am surprised just how much I enjoy synchro! 

[Skittl1321]

I skated two seasons on an ISI Adult Synchro Team (plus another season where we did an exhibition, but didn't compete). 

The team had been around for a number of years before I joined, but recently folded because so many skaters moved away.

I loved synchro but as a "lefty" skater, it could be very frustrating (since I am low level, and my counter-clockwise turns aren't too hot.)  I thought about trying out/joining a team that is somewhat nearby, but my inability to turn, plus transportation costs/driving in the snow made me decide not to.

I really miss it.

[JHarer]

I am afraid of skating with people - will usually abort spins / jumps if there is people (including coaches) in my bigger than average comfort zone. But guess syncro has more moves (not sure if still true?) so there is a possibility I may consider it in the future.

I am the same way, but I think synchro is so amazing. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to try it.

[Elsa]

Another lefty here and my CCW moves aren't good enough right now.  Maybe after I have a few moves and dance tests under my belt I'd consider it (if there's even a team around here).

[PrettySk8Dress]

I have been skating adult synchro every winter season since about 1987. I have skated on both USFS and ISI teams. The last team that I skated on was a USFS Adult Open. Sadly, I was not able to skate synchro this last winter because the USFS adult team that I belong to was disbanded due to lack of interest, and with not even enough skaters to even make the eight member minimum. I love synchro, but there just is not enough consideration given to adult synchro skaters.

[LilJen]

It is confusing, ITA.

I haven't seen an ISI synchro competition since before we moved.  Are they very different in their groupings and events?

ISI groups mainly by age (with confusing names such as "junior youth, youth, senior youth, teen," [seriously, what's the difference between senior youth and teen??] etc). They also have a "formation" event. Very little actual "skating" is allowed--for example, you cannot skate backward on one foot (two-foot turns are ok, sculling backwards is ok; 3-turns, mohawks, back crossovers, back chasses are all illegal), and there are no FS elements (jumps, spins, lifts). There tends to be a lot of marching around, but it's a good way to learn the basics of skating with a team, guiding, how to keep a line straight, counting, and is great for all ages and ability levels.

ISI also has synchro skate (there are compulsories and free programs) and synchro dance. You don't have to be above or below a certain freestyle level to compete on these, which is nice.

There are also nice little categories if you don't have enough people to form a team (I think usually 8 are required) for 3-7 people: ensemble, freestyle synchro (every person on the team performs every element from a specific FS level), team compulsories (elements from a specific FS level are performed by different people on the team).

[*synchrodreamer*]

I'm a synchro skater too, but I'm not from the United States.
This was my 5th synchro season. I was on a junior team for two years and 3 years on (two) different senior teams.
I love the beauty of the sport and I've met a lot of friends due to skating.

[SynchKat]

While I'll always think of myself as an ice dancer first, I voted for being a synchro skater as that's what I do most now.

In Canada for adult there are no test requirements. 

To me synchro is fun.  It's fun to be on a team.  It is scary at first, I took it up as as adult but it's worth it. I tell everyone they should give it a try.  Dance will always be my first love but synchro is awesome.