2023-2024 Synchro News

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Willin

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The synchro season has kicked off in style with Finlandia Trophy (SP only) and Shanghai Trophy (FS only). Being year two of a two-year rule change cycle, there have been only minor changes and teams are figuring out what they can get away with. It should be another exciting season with lots of intense programs and dark dresses on the horizon if these two preview comps are any indication.

Storylines we have to look forward to include:

Will Team Unique have a repeat of last year's spectacular season or go back to being a clear #3 in Finland?

Will Canadian teams keep being late season wonders, or are these early internationals finally going to be relevant?

With a very NEXXICE makeover in their SP for both skating skills and artistry, will the Haydenettes fight their way back to being a serious podium contender or will they stay left in the dust?

China had a Senior team do an exhibition at Shanghai Trophy, but will they actually compete internationally this year?
 
The 2023 Glacier Falls Synchronized Fall Classic will be held this weekend at Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena in Irvine, CA. (The training facility of the Anaheim Ducks NHL hockey team) www.greatparkice.com

IF YOU HAVE NEVER WATCHED A SYNCHRO COMPETITION, THIS IS A GOOD ONE TO TRY.

107 Synchronized Skating teams will compete at various levels from Aspire to Senior. FivePoint Arena is a 3000 seat NHL sized arena; it is adjacent to Great Park Ice, where Rink 1 will be used for team practices (800 seat NHL surface).

Admission at the door is $25/person for both days of competition (Friday & Saturday). Otherwise, its $15/person for one person per day. Children under 10 are free. There is NO ADMISSION charged on Thursday.

This competition may also be watched by streaming at $10 per day. Go to Coronado Productions www.coronadoproductions.net

JUNIOR and SENIOR teams scheduled to compete:

JUNIOR
  • Northernettes
  • Lexettes
  • Solstice Junior
  • Starlights
  • Hockettes
  • DC Edge
  • Fond Du Lac Blades
  • Skyliners
  • Teams Elite
  • Team Image

SENIOR
  • Haydenettes
  • Skyliners
  • Miami University
  • Adrian College

"Block Schedule":
  • Thursday Nov 9-RINK 4 (FivePoint Arena)
    • Unofficial Practice Ice 11:00 AM to 7:15 PM (NO ADMISSION FEE!!)
  • Friday Nov 10-RINK 4 (FivePoint Arena)
    • Unofficial Practice Ice 6:30 AM to 12:50 PM
    • OFFICIAL Practice Ice (Junior/Senior teams only) 1:15 PM to 4:05 PM
    • Unofficial Practice Ice 4:05 PM to 4:45 PM
    • JUNIOR SP Event 5:00 PM to 6:35 PM
    • SENIOR SP Event 6:35 PM to 7:00 PM
    • Aspire and Adult Events FS 7:15 PM to 8:40 PM
    • Unofficial Practice Ice 8:40 PM to 10:00 PM
  • Friday Nov 10-RINK 1 (Practice rink)
    • Unofficial Practice Ice 9:20 AM to 1:55 PM
  • Saturday Nov 1-RINK 1 (Practice rink)
    • Unofficial Practice Ice 6:30 AM to 11:10 AM
  • Saturday Nov 1-RINK 4 (FivePoint Arena)
    • OFFICIAL Practice Ice (Junior/Senior teams only) 7:00 AM to 10:08 AM
    • Novice and Intermediate FS Events 10:23 AM to 12:31 PM
    • JUNIOR FS Event 12:46 PM to 2:16 PM
    • SENIOR FS Event 2:31 PM to 3:03 PM
    • Aspire, Masters, Juvenile, Pre-Juv and Adult FS Events 3:33 PM to 10:00 PM
Synchronized skating is a bit different than what many of us on FSU are familiar with, but it is very exciting to watch (the Aspire teams are SO CUTE!).

When all of the teams are in the arena, the sound level will have adrenalin level peaking. Bring your earplugs!
 
That is a massive event. What a logistical nightmare coping with all those teams.

I thought dealing with teams at Australian national years ago when I was organising practice sessions was intense. 107 is mind boggling.
 
It's crazy to see what Anaheim became... As a kid I'd go every year, but as an adult who doesn't compete there's no reason.

It should be noted that Anaheim/Irvine has gone from generally beloved by West Coast teams to a symbol of USFS's apparent desire to destroy west coast synchro... After lots of negative feedback from more local teams things were supposed to change this year, but that's yet to be seen. Instead it seems like another year of East Coast and Midwest teams getting an early season vacation and stealing all the resources Anaheim once provided to West Coast teams...

@Aussie Willy While Anaheim used to be much smaller, Porter Synchro Classic is the logistical nightmare competition to end all logistical nightmares - there's something like 200+ teams every year and the rink is much more cramped (not to mention weather makes outside practice impossible). I have massive respect for the crew that runs it.
 
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Willin said:
It's crazy to see what Anaheim became... As a kid I'd go every year, but as an adult who doesn't compete there's no reason.

It should be noted that Anaheim/Irvine has gone from generally beloved by West Coast teams to a symbol of USFS's apparent desire to destroy west coast synchro... After lots of negative feedback from more local teams things were supposed to change this year, but that's yet to be seen. Instead it seems like another year of East Coast and Midwest teams getting an early season vacation and stealing all the resources Anaheim once provided to West Coast teams...

@Aussie Willy While Anaheim used to be much smaller, Porter Synchro Classic is the logistical nightmare competition to end all logistical nightmares - there's something like 200+ teams every year and the rink is much more cramped (not to mention weather makes outside practice impossible). I have massive respect for the crew that runs it.
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Wow that is amazing.

Synchro has come such a long way since it was "marching girls on ice". They even showed the Worlds on TV here in Australia as the host has the rights to the ISU events. The best thing about Synchro Worlds was being two sessions of a few hours each so it was actually an easy watch.

These days I do a little bit of synchro judging as well as data and video. Really enjoy it.
 
I wouldn’t count on a Haydenette resurgence. The move to Norwood has destroyed the familial pipeline and the “what do I do next” guarantee from the days at Hayden Recreation Center. Most of the skaters already in Norwood are there because they’re serious about singles or pairs, so there’s not much cross pollination.
 
Willin said:
It's crazy to see what Anaheim became... As a kid I'd go every year, but as an adult who doesn't compete there's no reason.

It should be noted that Anaheim/Irvine has gone from generally beloved by West Coast teams to a symbol of USFS's apparent desire to destroy west coast synchro... After lots of negative feedback from more local teams things were supposed to change this year, but that's yet to be seen. Instead it seems like another year of East Coast and Midwest teams getting an early season vacation and stealing all the resources Anaheim once provided to West Coast teams...

@Aussie Willy While Anaheim used to be much smaller, Porter Synchro Classic is the logistical nightmare competition to end all logistical nightmares - there's something like 200+ teams every year and the rink is much more cramped (not to mention weather makes outside practice impossible). I have massive respect for the crew that runs it.
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Williin, I'm not quite clear on what you are saying. Yes, the Anaheim competition, which I lovingly like to call the "John Saitta Classic", was much smaller. It was a half day, if I remember correctly. John was the figure skating director at Anaheim Ice, who came up with idea, so that his Synchro team; the IceKateers, would another local competition to compete with other teams. Travel costs, even then, were a big thing. It was a competition that was mainly California or West Coast teams, both USFS and ISI. It was a "rink" competition with help from Glacier Falls volunteers. It was maybe 15 to 20 teams each year.

Over the years it has grown and ISI was become pretty much non-existent here. Glacier Falls took full "ownership" of the competition a few years ago but we still have a close relationship with "theRINKS" organization (the owners of Anaheim and Irvine as well as many other rinks in Orange and San Diego counties) and together we put together a darned good competition.

Yes, many teams from other parts of the USA and Canada have come out to our annual Synchro competition. And it has grown and grown and grown. It has become a destination event for many teams, similar to Porter (which is the "Granddaddy" of them all).

A few years back, it was an ISU event; "The California Cup", I believe it was named. But, while the growth has occurred (we had to move it to Irvine because the size, Anaheim was just too small), we have made sure to take care of and work with our West Coast/So Cal local teams. They are very important to all three of our competitions that we host.

Where's the love Williin? :)

PS-For the first time in quite sometime, USFS Pacific Coast Synchro Sectionals will be held separate from Mids Synchro...it too will be held in Irvine, but it will be hosted by All Year FSC.
 
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Aussie Willy said:
That is a massive event. What a logistical nightmare coping with all those teams.

I thought dealing with teams at Australian national years ago when I was organising practice sessions was intense. 107 is mind boggling.
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Willy, I have been the practice ice coordinator for this (and other) competition and you are correct; it has been mind boggling, indeed!
 
@crzesk8dad There is love in the form of fond memories, but no love in teams from more privileged areas coming and taking away the value of the competition. If you're old enough to remember when it was basically the "John Saitta Classic" you'll know why I think it's better to call it the "Josh Bab Classic" But seriously the first year any big non-Pac Coast team came it was the Skyliners Jr/Sr and Josh Bab threw a giant hissyfit about the competition being incompetent in front of volunteers and West Coast teams - and yet he kept coming back and drawing more teams with him.

Among issues I know West Coast skaters/coaches have:

Now that SMISC has shelved their competition/critique, this is the only competition West Coast teams have to be scored prior to Sectionals. East Coast/Midwest teams have 3-5+ competitions they can choose to attend prior to Sectionals to get feedback. SMISC may bring their's back, but that's very maybe at this point.

And speaking of feedback, with such limited competition experience pre-Sectionals most teams relied of Anaheim to get critiques. Non-qualifying teams could get feedback from the judges about their competition skate at the end of the day - which was vital to improving. Qualifying level IJS teams could get both that and a 20 minute monitoring session to go over levels and other ways to improve their scores.

Both of these avenues of feedback have been scrapped. Why? Because now apparently it's only able to be given to the Junior/Senior teams - which, due to USFS rule changes making a Junior/Senior team on the West Coast basically impossible, are Eastern/Midwest teams that have a plethora of competitions and judges to get feedback at. Not only that but while there's pretty much only one team with reliable judging feedback on the West Coast (Del Sol), I know many midwest teams have judges come throughout the season to give feedback. After last season, where Pacific Coast teams were even further behind than usual due to poorly worded rule changes and fell further behind because Eastern/Midwest teams were able to actually get those rules explained well and get good feedback about them, West Coast coaches were hoping these critiques and monitoring would return. But nope, still all about the East Coast/Midwest teams deciding to take a vacation instead of staying closer to home and the West Coast teams get shafted again. The excuse for them coming used to be that there were no competitions as early as Anaheim each year to get feedback. But now there are. So there's no real excuse.

In addition, Anaheim always had a fun and festive atmosphere. It was a chance for West Coast to compete with West Coast. Especially given that the rule changes have forced many of the USFS teams that didn't fold due to the rule changes to stay Intermediate or below, those categories are crowded - and a lot are now crowded at Anaheim with teams skating down from the East Coast/Midwest. There were straight up cross skaters from JUNIOR teams competing Open Juv at Anaheim last year. The West Coast teams no longer have any chance to win at their one and only club competition.

Oh, and West Coast synchro has always been looked down upon. And while there used to be some bullying in the stands, now it's gotten bad even at the hotels. I heard rumors about bad behavior and bullying from a few of the Senior/Junior teams at the Hotels last year, and I saw some of the younger East Coast/Midwest teams openly trash talking the West Coast Teams. It's no longer a friendly and fun family reunion. It's just sad.
 
@Willin - so, what's stopping the Bay Area clubs/teams (or from any other part of the Pac Coast section) from organizing a Synchro invitational comp that is for west coast teams? It's not the fault of the other sections that they have more competitions. And it's certainly not fair to them for wanting a trip to sunny SoCal in mid-November.
 
@Karen-W There just aren't enough teams to have one. SMISC had there's but only maybe 2-3 USFS organizations would show up for a total of maybe 5-10 USFS teams total. They do allow ISI teams to bump up the number. It's expensive to run a competition, especially given USFS makes it impossible for West Coast people to become synchro judges, making it even more expensive because you have to fly everyone out. It's not worth it cost wise unless you're dedicated to the cause, and there's not enough dedication. With a lot of teams on the West Coast shrinking and/or going defunct in the last 5-10 years due to rule changes, it can be hard to justify hosting. A "small" midwest or east coast comp will still have 30-50 teams. ETA: Forgot to add the ice time problem: ice rinks in the Bay are closing (Berkeley, Belmont, San Mateo, etc) or being converted to primarily hockey rinks (All the sharks rinks, Dublin, though that might close soon too). The Bay Are competition moved rinks twice in part due to both of these things. But even then with fewer rinks and those rinks making more money off of hockey, ice time is too expensive and hard to financially justify hosting such a small competition.

And certainly you can't blame them for wanting to go to California, but also you can blame the organizers for catering to them and ignoring the local teams that built their competition into what it became. Or perhaps USFS for shrinking the sport on the West Coast and limiting the ability of judges on the West Coast to judge synchro.
 
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crzesk8dad said:
Willy, I have been the practice ice coordinator for this (and other) competition and you are correct; it has been mind boggling, indeed!
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You have my admiration represented by random emoticons :encore::summer::rollin::swoon:

Appreciate reading these posts. :)
 
I volunteered two world synchro events and loved it. The crowds are awesome. I enjoyed also volunteering at our Canadian championships especially with the inclusion of synchro.
 
@Sk8mom123 Wow! That's crazy. With two USA teams as well - depending on who they send - it could be really stacked. I'm actually really surprised Canada is sending their Top 2 to the same competition.
 
The synchro challenger series is kicking off and the worlds podium seems like it will be a tight race! Honestly this season is shaping up to be really exciting.

At Budapest Cup the top 3 (Hayden, Les Supremes, and Rockettes) are .61 apart with #4 Team Unique being only 1 point back. I'm shocked Hayden is on top, but I was thinking it was looking like they got a new skating skills coach last year and were adjusting to that style - so maybe it's fully entrenched this year? Lee Chandler coaches Lexettes but wasn't working with the Haydenettes for lord knows what reason, so maybe he's finally in the mix for them as he should've been since he started with the organization. Their skating skills were what was holding them back the last few seasons - and even here they were the lowest of the top 3, but they're not as far back as they were.

At Mozart Cup MIU was 7 points back from those teams! NEXXICE is another shocker so far - they looked very messy at Nationals despite their relatively simple programs. Idk if they have a lot of new skaters this year or what, but lately their boringness/simplicity and heavy reliance on skating skills hasn't been paying off as much as it once did. Add messiness to that, and when the other top teams are doing more complex things in a cleanlier manner you'll always lose.
 
Willin said:
The synchro challenger series is kicking off and the worlds podium seems like it will be a tight race! Honestly this season is shaping up to be really exciting.

At Budapest Cup the top 3 (Hayden, Les Supremes, and Rockettes) are .61 apart with #4 Team Unique being only 1 point back. I'm shocked Hayden is on top, but I was thinking it was looking like they got a new skating skills coach last year and were adjusting to that style - so maybe it's fully entrenched this year? Lee Chandler coaches Lexettes but wasn't working with the Haydenettes for lord knows what reason, so maybe he's finally in the mix for them as he should've been since he started with the organization. Their skating skills were what was holding them back the last few seasons - and even here they were the lowest of the top 3, but they're not as far back as they were.

At Mozart Cup MIU was 7 points back from those teams! NEXXICE is another shocker so far - they looked very messy at Nationals despite their relatively simple programs. Idk if they have a lot of new skaters this year or what, but lately their boringness/simplicity and heavy reliance on skating skills hasn't been paying off as much as it once did. Add messiness to that, and when the other top teams are doing more complex things in a cleanlier manner you'll always lose.
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The Synchro CS started last weekend per the USFS Int'l Assignments page with the Skyliners coming in 2nd at the Lumiere Cup. Any thoughts/observations on that competition?

Our junior teams seem to be doing well too. Skyliners were 1st and Team Image 3rd last week. Not sure how the junior teams did at Mozart Cup or Budapest Cup this weekend.
 
@Karen-W Honestly the most interesting thing from my perspective is how consistent MIU's scores are (70.XX and 145.XX) this week and last week - and how consistently they are behind the other two Finnish teams. It used to be them and the Rockettes were a clear 1-2 with Team Unique occasionally sneaking into a worlds spot. Last year and this year they've been a clear #3 to the other two. Idk if it's a lot of new skaters, a coaching change or what, but it's more than just Team Unique getting better. MIU has also had a lot more falls than usual.

Skyliners is still a clear #2 to Hayden. They had a chance to be even with Hayden, but USFS wouldn't let them and that chance has passed then by. They're not bad, but they're also not where they were 5 years ago. Top 10 at Worlds for sure, but not a podium threat any more.

US Juniors had a bit of a weaker weekend this week, but they also have tougher competition and still did very well. Unlike Seniors, USFS is happy to let Juniors play out organically and it really makes all the teams stronger. They're the best deep field in the world. The Top 2 Finnish teams won out this week, but they weren't against our best Juniors (Image/Skyliners/Elite) and even then they didn't win by much.
 
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Short program results from the Hevelius Cup for senior - https://pzlf-wyniki.pl/2324/CSSYPOL2024/SEG001.htm

Haydenettes were amazing. Marigold also great short. Canada teams seem to be battling it out for the world's spot. Nexxice seemed to miss a few levels but lovely skate and sitting in third. Nova is about three points behind after a fall. Looking forward to the long programs!
 
Event info/links for the 2024 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships (Wednesday, February 21 through
Saturday, February 24 in Las Vegas, Nevada): https://www.usfigureskating.org/event/2024-us-synchronized-skating-championships
All senior, junior, senior elite 12 and collegiate-level events will be livestreamed on Peacock. Events can be accessed on Peacock for 72 hours following their conclusion [added note: Junior SP replay is available now].
...
Juvenile, intermediate, novice, adult and masters events will be available on the U.S. Figure Skating YouTube Channel.
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@Simone411 and @ice coverage also posted about Synchro Nationals in the TV Alerts forum thread, starting here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ule-on-nbc-peacock.111059/page-5#post-6556735
 
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Just watched the Elite 12 SPs and I really like the triangular intersection element they do versus the straightline one we see with the 16-member teams. Very cool!
 
Watching Elite 12 the discipline is a mistake.

The only team I’ve seen look good as an Elite 12 is the Crystallettes last season. The other teams both domestically and internationally just look so messy.
 
Willin said:
Watching Elite 12 the discipline is a mistake.

The only team I’ve seen look good as an Elite 12 is the Crystallettes last season. The other teams both domestically and internationally just look so messy.
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I agree, and I was surprised. I guess the Senior teams are prioritized for practice time.
 
just tuned in said:
I agree, and I was surprised. I guess the Senior teams are prioritized for practice time.
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I think a huge part of it is that the skaters on the Elite 12 teams are skaters that don’t make the regular Senior teams or are from clubs/countries not big enough to have a regular Senior team.

I’m also sure many of those that don’t make the Senior team in question are wholly unwilling to do Elite 12 - in some countries they may have an alternative team/level to skate for (I’m sure some of the Haydenettes failed auditioners go to the local collegiate teams) or they may choose not to skate at all. The Haydenettes themselves get tons of funding, so it’s comparatively cheap to skate for them as opposed to other senior/junior teams; Hayden Elite 12 is not funded at all - so you’re footing at least twice the bill. There are plenty of skaters that would choose not to skate because they couldn’t afford it - or are only willing to afford it if it meant a regular worlds. Hence Elite 12 skaters may be less the B-team and more a mix of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choice level skaters.

Also, given many are coached and choreographed by people used to 16 skaters, they just can’t make a good program for a group of 12. They don’t know what looks good or how to coach it - for instance, how the lineup should work for those triangle intersections or how many to put in each line/column for things to look even.
 
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Whoa. Team Image's junior FS costumes have got to be some of the most garish I've seen outside of ice dance during a Latin RD season.
 
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