The Pride of Synchro

TSN.ca Staff

3/3/2003

The Grand Prix Final last weekend may have been going gangbusters in St. Pete's, Russia but I wasn't.
Instead I was happily ensconced in Montreal, Quebec much closer to home, suffering no ill effects of time change while scouting the newspapers and surfing the internet for news of the GPF results.

In case you may have thought I was comfortably enjoying the cooking antics of Emeril from my sofa, I can assure you I was still rooted to an uncomfortable wooden arena seat in the old Maurice Richard Arena. But rather than watching the escapades of some of the world's best singles and pairs skaters, I was treated to the enthusiasm and imagination of the best synchro skaters in the country at the Canadian Synchronized Skating Nationals.

Of course I was working, preparing on-site for television coverage at a later date (TSN, March 15th, 1pm et/10am pt). Although nothing about that situation is the least bit new, other parts of the experience were taking me to unexplored places.

My niece's daughter, Brittany Slaney, was competing. And I was a nervous wreck!

When my son and daughter were growing up, I thought it was criminal if a Canadian child did not learn to skate. And although my kids never expressed any desire to follow in their Mom's tracings, they accepted my skating plans for them with all the good nature they could muster. In fact we had a ball! They learned to skate, while I learned what it was like to sit quietly in the stands offering support, relishing their accomplishments and paying the bills.

They showed off their best tricks at several low-level club competitions, passing a few tests and even participating in several club ice shows, ducks and monkeys, deer and goblins as I recall, me, a dressing room mother, and their Dad, a volunteer co-producer. It was a family thing that even today makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Since then as you might imagine, I've been in more than my fair share of pressure cooker situations, summer and winter Olympic Games, more World Championships than I can count on two hands, most of them "live" situations that get my heart pounding so hard, I swear it's going to fall out on the floor. I often think there isn't much anymore, at least professionally, that can ruffle my feathers. So the fact that my stomach's butterflies were doing anything but flying in formation this weekend came as quite a surprise.

Brittany's team, Elite Edge, is from my hometown, Markham, just north of the metro Toronto boundary. As a first-year junior team, they were up against some formidable competition, almost all of the other eleven teams either seasoned junior competitors or offshoots of championship teams from other levels.

Despite their inexperience, the team had huge expectations.

To get there, they followed the formula for success. Under coach Tracey Jones, members of Elite Edge made huge commitments of hard work, time and money, agreeing to months of daily off-ice conditioning and hours of ice-time for choreography and non-stop training, not only to improve their individual skills but also to create the unison and teamwork required.

And that's only what happened on the ice.

Off the ice, planning, compromise and sacrifice were the names of the game for the individual members of the team and for their families. Constant arrangements were made for things like school, travel, and chaperoning; meals eaten in the backseat of the car on the way to practice; fundraising events produced and supervised, program themes and music selected and recorded, costumes designed and made, factors that required hundreds of hours in time and a financial investment of thousands of dollars from each skater.

That was just to make it to Nationals.

In Montreal watching their performance, an odd thing happened to me. Try as I might, I just couldn't get the professional distance I needed to do my job. You remember? The butterflies.

Brittany skated the Short Program but sat out the Free watching from the sidelines as a "skater-in-training", dressed in costume, holding the team mascot, ready to replace anyone in case of emergency. From what I saw, the team skated well, although I must confess I was watching Brit more than the team.

I was dazzled. I knew she would rather be out there on the ice. But despite the fact she wasn't one of the performers that day, her enthusiasm and commitment bubbled over the boards and from her body language, I knew she was skating every step along with her teammates.

Elite Edge finished 10th out of a field of 12.

I know they were disappointed. After all, photographs from the podium have a way of making everything worthwhile. The goal, although tough to accomplish, is easy to set.

I hope what they'll concentrate on more than their loss is the fact that they represent the top 1% of all skaters in Canada which is no shabby accomplishment. By getting there, they've ridden the winds of success and failure, taken on hefty goals and given their hearts to the cause.

Brittany … Congratulations! I'm so proud of you.

For tsn.ca, I'm Debbi Wilkes.