In their first competition of the season, Westlock’s Spirit synchronized skating team barely missed out on winning the Rose Bowl in Calgary last weekend.
The Spirit, comprising eight girls aged nine to 13, were at Max Bell arena in Calgary on Jan. 12 for the competition, hosted by the Calgary Synchronized Skating Club.
Their routine, based on the famous Eye of the Tiger song from the movie Rocky III, earned them a silver medal. They finished a mere 0.6 points shy of bring home the gold, said coach Tracy Blades.
“It was very exciting for them,” Blades said. “They had a great skate.”
With only eight skaters, the Spirit were the smallest team competing, she said. The rest of the field had an average of 12-16 skaters, which meant the Spirit needed to up their game in order to wow the judges.
“Vividly, on the ice, it looks better to have higher numbers,” Blades explained.
With bigger numbers, the teams fill the ice more, and certain routines have greater aesthetic appeal, she said.
On the other hand, smaller teams require routines to be kept tighter and closer together.
Fortunately, the hours the girls had put into practising their routine in the lead up to the competition paid off, Blades said.
The team secured some of the bonus points available for exceeding required technical requirements in such categories as choreography and musical interpretation.
“Their presentation, they got extra marks for that, so that helped bump up their scores,” Blades said.
Up next for the Spirit is a competition in Edmonton on March 9. The team is planning to stick with the same routine, but add some extra wrinkles to it to spice it up.
“We’re basically just going to work on our level of difficulty,” she said. “That will hopefully bring us in some high marks to reach gold.”
Blades said she’s continually looking for new skaters to join the Spirit’s ranks. Although the team is currently made up of only girls, she said boys are welcome; the team is only girls because only girls have signed up.
Anyone interested in giving synchronized skating a try is invited to contact Blades at 780-349-1508.
