OT: UM Synchronized Skaters new U.S. Champs
The University of Michigan Synchronized Skating Team took gold in the collegiate competition at the 2017 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships on Saturday night. With a Level 4 pair element and solid Grades of Execution (GOEs) on their remaining elements, Michigan finished with 88.22 points.
Miami University earned a silver medal with 86.40 points, followed by Michigan State University in third place with a score of 75.66.
U-M’s victory marks the first time in 13 years that a school other than Miami University has won the title.
Three things:
1. I didn’t know there was such a sport.
2. I didn’t know we had a team.
3. Why was our team wearing red dresses? (If I could figure out how to embed a picture I’d show you. It just seems sacrilegious.)
Congratulations on your victory, ladies. GO BLUE!
February 27th, 2017 at 8:44 AM ^
February 27th, 2017 at 8:51 AM ^
February 27th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
Any chance that synchronized skating becomes an Olympic Sport?
It is cool to watch. Your wife have any insight on this? My daughter is competing in this sport.
February 27th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^
February 27th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^
I'm not a STRONG swimmer...
February 27th, 2017 at 9:31 AM ^
February 27th, 2017 at 11:04 AM ^
Synchronized skating? I knew about synchronized swimming and synchronized diving (that one just seems silly). Are there other synchronized things that I should know about? Synchronized gymnastics, synchronized bull-riding?
February 27th, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^
Suck it Ohio
February 27th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
February 27th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
Hi all,
I'm a member of the synchronized skating team, and we'd like to thank all for the kind messages. We're very proud of the skate we put out and are humbled by the opportunity to represent our wonderful school on the national stage. We will continue to work hard and strive to improve ever more in the years to come.
I've included a link to a Youtube video of our performance below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3QcOBXdxc&t=188s
Thanks again for the support and GO BLUE
February 27th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
Just watched it. I know nothing about competitive skating (and in fact, can't even stand up on the damn things). But if you don't mind a completely uneducated opinion, that was impressive as hell.
Hail to the Synchronized Victors.
February 27th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^
and was a junior Hockette for several years before that. She skated in competitions all over the US and once in France.
You'd be surprised how many times their routines ended up with at least one girl bleeding profusely—those skates are damn sharp, and when you've got routines with lines of skaters passing through each other with one skate raised high, it's easy for somebody to get cut.
From the standpoint of teamwork, I can't think of another sport so dependent on flawless execution for success; you can have several assignment screwups on a football play and still make yardage, but just one goof by one skater can literally ruin a routine and any chance of winning.
February 27th, 2017 at 1:57 PM ^
if you are the best skater on the team, the best way to make your team better is to help the worst skaters improve. If you are so much better that you stand out, that is a bad thing. Quite a good team building and character building sport.
February 27th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
February 27th, 2017 at 3:31 PM ^
This sounds familiar to what I learned many years ago, when I worked for a week as a production assistant for the Rockettes' Detroit production company. Lots of grunt work ($100 bucks for a 10-12 hour day and all the pride you could swallow.)
One of my first jobs was assisting the production managers in marking the floor of the rehearsal hall. We had multi-colored tape lines running all over the floor, each marking exactly where the dancers were to be during each number. Those lines had to be marked with an engineer's precision. The PM told me that just one goof, one line in the wrong spot, and there'd be girls kicking each other in the teeth.
Bad enough with tap shoes - I can only imagine the danger while wearing skates.
February 27th, 2017 at 1:55 PM ^
that Michigan is a completely private team (not at all financed by the school, while Miami's team is part of a Varsity program with coaching, ice time, skates, costumes, and travel paid for by the university. This is a really big deal for the Wolverines.
February 27th, 2017 at 9:08 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:39 AM ^
Full time students. 6am practices. Four to five times a week for six months. Club sport. No scholarships.
One national champion!
I know where I was at 6am four to five times a week in Ann Arbor in the 1980s. (Hint: I wasn't skating at Yost.)
Miami (NTM) is the Connecticut basketball of women's synchro skating. Miami won 13 US championships in a row until Saturday, when Michigan re-claimed the title they last won in 1999.
Congratulations on a hard earned, well deserved, national championship! Go Blue!
February 28th, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^