Skating team in sync with each other

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/04/2003 (8309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FOR most of the 22 members of the University of Manitoba Synchronized Skating Club, skating on the team is a way of staying involved in figure skating while going to university.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t also pushing themselves to be the best. Competing in Brampton, Ont., at the National Festival of Synchronized Skating Championships on March 29 and 30, the U of M group came back from a rocky start in the short program with a strong free skate and finished in seventh place, says coach and founder Megan Neill. The team was one of about 50 at the national championships, having qualified after winning a bronze medal at the Western Regionals in February.

Almost immediately after returning from the nationals, Neill and the team captain and assistant captain took off for the world synchro skating championships in Ottawa, in part to get inspiration for next season.

“I’ll be there with my notepad looking for ideas for next year,” said Neill.

Synchronized skating combines the grace and creativity of figure skating with the group spirit and support of team sports.

“It’s very supportive to have 20 other girls out there with you,” says Neill.

Synchronized skaters are judged by their ability to perform required elements such as skating in circles, blocks, and pinwheels and having one group of skaters pass through another. Speed, moving in unison, foot and hand work, degree of difficulty and creativity all are added to the scoring mix.

The U of M group, dubbed Ice Intrepid, is a student club rather than an intercollegiate team. Three quarters of the members are university students, with the others being graduates, friends and high school students.

Many of the members are from communities in rural Manitoba that have strong traditions of synchronized skating, says Neill. Virden, Souris, Neepawa, The Pas and Morden have all been well represented on Ice Intrepid over the club’s four years in existence. This year, two of the skaters come from Thunder Bay, Ont.

“One year, a third of our members were from Souris,” says Neill.

Neill skated for eight years with the Springfield Shooting Stars team, and for two years coached the now-defunct synchro skating team. When she came to the U of M to study physical education, she started the campus club to keep the sport going.

“When I was going to the U of M I recognized all these girls I used to skate against going to university.”

That observation led to creation of the club, which practices three times per week on campus; twice on ice and once off ice to work on the details of choreography.

Since last fall, members of the club have prepared to compete in the regional and national championships of their sport.

They’ve also thrown themselves into fund-raising to pay for trips to competitions, by organizing socials, selling tickets to a Manitoba Moose game and collecting bottles.

It all adds up to a bonding experience for the team.

“Some of the girls on the team have said to me, ‘When I first came to university I didn’t know anybody, but now I’m always seeing people I know from the team,'” says Neill.

Assistant captain Tam Klapprat, who lives with her roommate and team captain Kylie Trembath in St. Boniface, notes that the team often performs at ice shows in Manitoba towns. This year, Ice Intrepid skated in Carman, Oakbank and Stonewall and between periods at a Moose game.

“The ice shows are good because they give us a chance to perform before the nationals,” says Klapprat.

They’ve even managed to impress people from that other on-ice team sport.

“After we skated in Carman some guys from the hockey team there asked us if we wanted to be their third line,” says Klapprat.