SPECIAL EDITION - 2023 JUNIOR WORLDS |
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Dear Skyliners,
Skyliners Junior has taken our team - and Team USA - to an incredible Worlds Junior Synchro BRONZE medal at the ISU 2023 World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships in Angers, France! Their spectacular "Impossible Dream" short program and captivating "Legendary" free skate amazed the audiences and impressed the judges.
“I’m extremely proud of the performances they put out this weekend. So happy they are returning home with their fourth consecutive world medal!” said Coach Josh Babb. “This team as persevered through many challenges this season, their dedication and unwavering commitment as a team produced this great achievement.“
Coach Pam May commented, "“I’m so very proud of this group of skaters for their dedication and commitment to their teammates, performances, and the love for our sport!”.
Skyliners Junior has now medaled at the last four World Junior Championships where they have competed, starting in 2018. The line earned positive grades of execution on every element! The Lexettes, also representing Team USA, finished sixth overall. Team Fintastic of Finland won the gold with 191.72 points and Nexxice of Canada clinched the silver with 188.65 points.
“The entire Skyliners family of skaters, parents, coaches and alumni is impressed and proud of Junior’s accomplishments on the world stage. Four consecutive medals at the World Championships reflects the skill, athleticism, artistry and dedication of the skaters and coaches. Some of this year’s Junior skaters initially joined our Intro, PrePre, Prelim, Juvie and Novice lines long before standing on the podium representing the USA as Junior World medalists. This success is the result of years of hard work, and is the embodiment of the vision that draws young skaters to synchro and keeps them working hard to achieve their dreams,“ commented Lawrence Cooke, President.
Team Manager, Jen Sais remarked, “Congratulations to the team for a such a fabulous season! Bringing home a gold medal at Nationals followed by a Bronze medal at Jr Worlds are extraordinary accomplishments that took much work and determination! I am so proud of them!”
Junior’s success marks the end of the season for the team. Their history-making success comes from the commitment and dedication of these talented athletes, their coaches and their families. They share their accomplishments with all of the Skyliners Junior skaters who paved the path and created traditions for continued success. A successful team demonstrates teamwork, unity, team bonding and appreciation for others and our organization aspires to teach these traits.
Find out how it felt to be a part of this historic moment in our Junior Worlds Diary, in this special issue of SkyBlast.
Junior skaters, coaches and managers - we are SO proud of you!
Go Skyliners!!
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By Yurika Sakai and Madison Jarvis
After a six hour flight and a two and a half hour bus ride, we arrived in Angers, France on a Monday afternoon. After two great performances at Nationals a few days earlier, we were feeling rested and eager for our final competition of the season: the Junior World Championships.
We took the first few days to acclimate to the time change and get a feel for the new environment, having several practices at the practice rink next to our competition arena. Of course, we also enjoyed the delicious meals and spent a few hours walking around to visit the historic sites in Angers!
On Wednesday, we had our unofficial 20 minute practice in the competition rink at 10:00pm. We had a blast getting to share the bus with Team Lexettes, fellow Team USA athletes, and exchanging handmade cards and beaded necklaces that we had made as a gift for each skater. The practice was short yet focused, and we quickly adjusted to the spacing of our elements in the bigger, Olympic sized competition rink. In spite of the late practice time, we left the rink feeling even more confident and enthusiastic for the upcoming competition.
Before we knew it, Friday, the day of the short program, was here. We started the day with a strong official practice, where we were welcomed onto the ice by the cheers of our parents, friends, and fellow Team USA supporters. It felt amazing to know that there was so much support for Team USA! When we grabbed lunch at the competition rink, where other international competitors ate in the same dining space and the windows overlooked the competition rink decorated with flags from around the world, we felt the competition excitement building up. Back at the hotel, we had some time to rest and do our hair and makeup before we headed back to the rink for the short program.
As always, we headed to the rink blasting our pre-competition bus songs and chanting the Skyliners chants. We walked past teams from Canada, Japan, Finland, and more as we entered the warmup area, and later headed to the locker room to change and tie our skates. Soon, we were stepping onto the ice, skating under bright white lights to the clamor of cowbells, cheers, and applause as the announcer said, “next to take the ice, representing the United States of America, team Skyliners Junior!” My heart surged with energy and I couldn’t help but smile as I saw red, white, and blue across the stands. I shouted “5-6-7-8” to signal everyone to take their starting position, and, after I gave the music cue, the opening notes of our program to “The Impossible Dream” began to play.
During the skate, muscle memory took over, although the bursts of cheers after each element amplified my excitement throughout. Soon, we were holding hands in the ending position, and I was ecstatic that we had gotten to show the world our beautiful program with such grace one last time. Even better was absorbing the support and enthusiasm from the roaring audience. I saw several skaters nod their heads with beaming faces as we bowed and headed to the kiss and cry. When we realized we were in second after the short, we felt proud and motivated to leave it all in the floor for our “Legendary” program the next evening.
The next morning, we woke up prepared and determined for the day ahead of us. We all met in the hotel lobby in the morning to have a delicious breakfast before heading upstairs and preparing for our long program official practice. We boarded the bus and began to sing our hearts out as we headed to the competition rink. When we arrived, we headed to the warmup area, which we shared with a team from Finland and began stretching and doing our warm up dance. After a quick run through of our program, we headed to the locker room to put on our dresses for official practice. As “Pitch Perfect” blasted through the speaker, we tied up our skates, applied our lipstick, and headed out to rink. Our plan was to run through the first half of our program with our first run through of the music, and the second half on the next. We re-did two of our elements in the second half, but all in all had a very good practice. Then, we went upstairs into the dining hall, ate lunch, and surveyed the ice one last time before competing. When we arrived back at the hotel we immediately got to work on sewing in our hairpieces and applying our makeup. In no time, the two hours that we had allotted to get ready were gone and it was time to head out. Due to some “technical difficulties” we decided to walk to the arena rather than take the bus. So, in our Team USA rugbys, starred and striped socks, and slick back buns, we began to walk through the streets of Angers. Don’t worry, we were still able to sing all of our traditional songs on our walk to the rink! When we arrived, we quickly got into the warm up area and began to get to work. Then, we sang “Defying Gravity” one last time, and it was time to compete. We entered the locker room excited and calm and got ready to perform our “Legendary” program for the final time. Mrs. Sais went around the locker room with her bag of Starbursts and Tic Tacs as she always does, and then it was time. After a brief rendition of “Jingle Bells” and “Happy Birthday” we took the ice and skated around to the sound of “U-S-A!” being chanted by our family, friends, and our USA teammates, the Lexettes. Once the score for Team Fintastic was announced, we took our starting position and the rest is history. We were proud of ourselves and relished in the moment that we had all dreamed of as young skaters. After hearing our score in the “kiss and cry” we retreated back to the locker room and awaited the knock on the door with our final placement. Following what felt like the longest five minutes in history, Josh entered the locker room and informed us that we had earned the bronze medal… the entire room erupted into cheers! We could not be more proud of our accomplishments from the season and despite the fact that our final performance was not what we had hoped for, the bond between us grew even stronger.
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While we are still finishing our amazing 2022-2023 Skyliners season...
it is time to REGISTER for SKYLINERS 2023-2024 Season... LET'S DO THIS!
2. We have a new system that we are onboarding - so you will need to fill out completely and correctly! Remember this is what we use for all of our rosters, so check all info is CORRECT!
3. We need an up to date picture, please UPLOAD one!
4. Select all of the clinics and tryouts that you plan to attend (please pay attention to the age and MIF parameters)
5. CHECKOUT- for current SKYLINERS there is no charge for clinics and tryouts.... you do need to CHECKOUT however.... use the discount code SKYLINERS2023 to complete registration and you will not be charged!
Reach out to your coaches for any questions!
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Skyliners
End of Year Party
Saturday March 18th
6:30pm
Ardsley, NY
Lanterns, Clinics & Raffle tickets are still available for sale. Stay tuned for fun buy-it-now’s throughout the week!
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These incredible lanterns from Pep Rally can be yours! Only $25 and are perfect memento of this season!
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EXCLUSIVE DOUGLAS WEBSTER SKATING CLINIC |
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Skyliners is proud to present an exclusive opportunity to Juvenile, Intermediate, Novice and Junior skaters. A chance not to be missed.
A one-hour on-ice clinic preceded by a 1.5 hour off-ice stretch class both led by Douglas Webster, world renowned and highly sought-after professional coach/choreographer.
LOCATION: Katonah Harvey RInk
DATE: April 22nd (Saturday)
TIME: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
PRICE: $150 per skater
Douglas Webster serves as the Executive and Artistic Director of Ice Dance International company, producing shows for American television, national tours, and performances for Rockefeller Center, The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Fenway Park, among others.
The clinic focuses on edges: effortless gliding execution on turns and curves, while maintaining body control, balance and proper body positioning.
Douglas teaches how to enhance artistry and combine it with the technical skills, which our skaters already diligently and tirelessly practice with their coaches.
Over the last few years, the value of artistry and performance has increased dramatically, and presentation marks are more important than ever. Skyliners’ success requires not only a perfect technical score, but also conveying an artistic story in our programs.
What makes one program a piece of visual art and another simply skating from one element to another?
It is the way figure skaters carry themselves in quick, but critical moments between and during element executions. An extended arm from shoulder to fingertips, an elongated turn of the head, and facial expressions are moments that create a story and evoke emotion that the judges and audience can connect with. This class teaches skaters how to use the “full body while skating, using all levels and planes of motion”.
Figure skating, and especially synchronized figure skating, is artistry in motion. This clinic will enhance your technical skills and elevate your performance with subtle, but essential, finesse.
Douglas will lead off ice stretching (1.5 hours) prior to the ice practice (1 hour). Full body conditioning techniques not only prevent trauma, but teach skaters coordination and balance, and body control.
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SEASON WRAP UP SKYBLAST
COMING SOON!
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Skyliners was established in 2001 by a group of parents who wanted to create the most competitive synchronized skating club in the tri-state area. In that first year, the team had three lines - Preliminary, Juvenile and Intermediate. Twenty-two years later, Skyliners has grown into one of the top synchronized skating teams in the country, now 14 lines and 265+ skaters strong. While the majority of the skaters reside in the tri-state area, we also have had skaters from Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Our resume of achievements includes 33 Eastern championships, 16 National championships, 8 International gold medals, and making history with one bronze and two Junior Worlds Silver medals.
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