SYNCHRO NEWS

After a brilliant start to the season with three teams becoming British
Champions the hectic season continued. Three teams went to Rouen in
February, Illusions to the Junior World Challenge Cup in Milan in March
followed by Storm going to the Senior World Championships in Zagreb in
April. This has meant a huge commitment for the skaters - not only their
time but also financially. Well done to the skaters, Melissa and Fiona
supported by, dressers, chaperones and parents.

Our fund-raising efforts have helped to subsidise the cost of going to
competitions in the UK and abroad and we already have ideas for further
fund-raising events for next season. One day’s bag packing at Safeway’s
in January raised £1,200 so there are plans to approach all the
supermarkets in Basingstoke in the coming months.

After careful thought Melissa has decided to drop the Junior team for the
coming season. This will give the three teams the opportunity to build on
their strength and improve with the added bonus of not having to skate at
anti-social hours. From September Galaxys will have their own ice for an
hour each Saturday afternoon. They have done incredibly well skating on
shared ice but now need the opportunity to improve. Sparkle and Storm
members will be having a weekly half-hour session in the dance studio
with Miss Beaumont. One area she will be working on is to improve their
core strength.

Our end of season party was excellent. We extended the invites to past
team members and a number turned up. Mike Downer and John
Maishman also joined us. Skater of the Year Awards went to: Emma
Herbert (Galaxy), Victoria Van der Gucht (Sparkle), Eleanor McCann
(Illusions) and Nadia Sargeant (Storm). Sadly Scott Poulton has decided
to hang up his synchro boots but we are delighted that he is happy to
continue maintaining our website and will be videoing training sessions
for Melissa.

Synchro fees are changing from the 1 May. Some skaters will be paying
less but it does mean an increase for others. Many hours have been spent
to ensure that the increases are kept to a minimum. Fees need to cover the
cost of ice, off ice, coaching, Miss Beaumont’s classes, top up kit and two
sets of competition dresses. Our fund-raising efforts subsidise competition
costs and training camps/days and purchase of new kit.

Finally what’s ahead – test night on Tuesday 25 May, a training camp in
Scotland for Sparkle and Storm and a 30 minute session with Gary on
Thursday evenings for Sparkle and Galaxys to work on doing moves/steps
‘together’. Oh, I nearly forgot – new programmes to learn.

Sue Lewis