Jumps, spins, and dance patterns are just a part of figure skating. Timing it in perfect unison with a team of other skaters makes it synchronized skating.
Clarkston residents Kylee Haase, Anna Moloney and Brittany Lee train with Evolution, a synchronized skating program at Detroit Skate Club.
Evolution has seven different levels of teams: Beginner, Preliminary, Juvenile, Open-juvenile, Novice, Senior, and Adult Masters. Each Clarkston skater was on a different Evolution team.
The season began last May and they all finished this month.
Haase was part of the Novice team. Her team skated their way into second place at US National Championship in Providence, Rhode Island. The placement qualified them to be part of Team USA and to compete at Novice World Championships in Kingsbacka, Sweden, March 13-15.
Team USA took seventh place out of seventeen teams.
‘We skated very well,? said Haase.
A freshman at Clarkston Junior High School, Haase has been figure skating since she was 4-years-old. She has been part of a synchronized skating team for the past six years.
‘It was an organized team that practiced where I was skating,? said Haase.
‘It was something new. I decided to try it, and I liked it. It’s a lot of fun. It’s like a family. We have all become friends.?
When Haase is not training, she hangs out with her friends, goes to the mall, watches movies, and dances.
Haase’s classmate, Moloney was part of Evolution’s open-juvenile team.
The team took third place in the qualifying round of regionals. In the final round, the team placed 10th at Midwestern Regionals in Nashville, Tenn., on Feb. 16.
She has been skating for almost four years. She would go to the arena to watch her brothers play hockey. When she was there, she would watch the figure skaters and became inspired.
The friends she was skating with were part of synchronized skating. She decided to give it a try last year.
‘It’s really fun! We are really connected,? said Moloney. ‘In Tennessee, we roomed and traveled together. It was nice to have a support group with you.?
Besides skating, she plays the piano and paints her favorite subject, nature in oil paints. Also, she enjoys traveling up north to her family’s cottage and hanging out with friends.
Lee is a seventh grader at Detroit Country Day and was a member of the Juvenile team.
Her team came in second at the National Championships in Providence, R.I.
Lee began skating when she was 3 1/2 years old. It started out as a recreational family activity. Her family had no idea she would still be skating today.
When she was 10, she began synchronized skating.
She practices 4-5 times a week.
Also, Lee participates in ballroom dancing once a week. The dancing has helped her with steps and footwork on the ice.
She has a couple weeks until the new synchronized skating season begins and plans to will try out for Novice, the next level.
Besides skating, Lee plays the piano and violin, writes stories, and reads. She has read the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.
As part of the Evolution teams, the girls had training on the ice for two to three hours a week. Part of their team training on the ice included working together to perform perfect circles, skate straight lines, rotate wheels and intersect lines with precision and grace.
Also, they had training off of the ice.
Members of the teams were required to skate and train with their private instructors on their individual skills. As part of the individual training, the girls memorized the footwork, transitions and flow of the program.
They are getting ready for the next season to begin in May.
Tryouts for the teams begin in April.