Synchro Teams

[Isk8NYC]

My twins were on the beginner synchro team last year.  I love the kids and the parents on that team - they're wonderful.  My girls were the only ones who had tested Moves, but it was their first year, so it was okay.

This year, the rink didn't have a beginner team.  Everyone from last year was moved up to a Pre-Juv level, and a few new girls were added at that level.  That was fine - no one felt left out.  Two of my students passed Pre-Prel moves, but it's not required for Pre-Juv, so it was nice to not be pressured to test.

Last week, the coaches looked at the rosters and realized that their pre-juv team had too many 12-and-over members.  So they asked me if they could move my girls up to Open Juv.  We were torn: they love being with their friends, most of whom are my private students.  I like being with the parents, who are fun.  We all get along really well.  We went out after synchro a few times and had potlucks at each others' houses.

We decided to move the girls so that only one family was affected, but we made everyone else promise that we can still hang out with them after synchro, lol.  It was either that or two other families had to move their daughters.  I made a point of telling all of the parents ahead of time so they could talk to their girls.  I didn't want them to show up for practice and see my kids working with another team and wonder "Well, why not me?"

We (all of the parents) emphasized that my girls have been skating the longest and had the required PPM test done ages ago.  We stayed away from the topics of stronger or better skating because it might cause resentment.

My silver lining is that their practices are right after mine on Saturdays, so we don't have to spend the entire morning at the rink.  Yay!  Plus, they practice earlier on Mondays so again, we get to leave a little earlier.  The downside is that we have to do an extra competition that requires travel.

[jumpingbeansmom]

This kind of thing is why my dd declines to do synchro this year-- it was a huge time commitment on top of her freestyle skating and they were short qualified girls (juvenile) and were really reaching to get more on the team.

:s

I just had to try that

[Sk8tmum]

A difficult decision, but, it sounds like you made the right one looking at the big picture. On a plus side, your kids may/will make new skating friends. Was this particular team a "next step" goal for them regardless? If it was, then, it's a great achievment for them to do it early.

We're in a similar situation: we had to move DS up due to a hard-won test achievement, leaving our DD behind for good, and making our life quite hectic and difficult.  Fortunately, a sensible executive took a hard look at the situation, and took a few other factors into consideration that weren't measured by tests, and gave our DD permission to skate up to DS's level in some sessions.  We are expecting some resentment from some other skaters ... however, I know that the ones who are truly friends and/or who truly know my DD and the challenges she has faced over the years in skating will be pleased for her, and happy that someone bent some rules for us. We didn't ask ... coaches went to the executive for her.

I hope it all works out well for your girls - it sounds like a good solution for you on so many fronts.