Synchronicity: The team ice skating in unison during a competition. Photo Courtesy of Jerothe Photography
Westfield High freshman Nicole Bachman isn’t an Olympian, but she is an accomplished ice skater. And on Feb. 27, she and Team Ashburn will compete in the Synchronized Skating National Competition in Colorado Springs.
A resident of Centreville’s Virginia Run community, Bachman’s among five girls from Fairfax County on the 15-member team. They skate at the Intermediate Level — the U.S. Figure Skating Assciation’s most competitive level. And this is the first time an Intermediate team from the Washington Metropolitan area has made Nationals.
“I thought we had a chance,” she said. “We had a really good season, medaled at just about every competition and got great reports from the judges and other people watching.”
In synchronized skating, team members skate to music in unison while demonstrating their teamwork, speed and ability to perform intricate formations and challenging step sequences. Comprised of girls ages 13-18, this Intermediate-level team is the top group at Ashburn. To compete on it, members typically have more than six years skating experience and have passed various tests set by U.S. Figure Skating.
The season goes from June-February, but competitions began in November. Team Ashburn competed in three Massachusetts venues, but it was a Jan. 31 competition in Hershey, Pa., that sent it to Nationals. “I was really happy,” said Bachman, 14. “It’s nice to be on a national team and know you’re going to a competition against the best teams in the whole country.”
Actually, it’s her second national event. “I went with another team from Arlington, four years ago,” she said. “But I was only in fifth grade then, so it’ll be exciting to go back again.”
She’s been skating 10 years and likes “the gracefulness of it and how pretty the skaters look on the ice. The unity of synchronized skating is really cool, and skating with your friends is nice. We all have a common goal and it’s fun to achieve it together.”
The team practices four hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays and takes weekly ballet and strength classes. Bachman also skates three days a week, both before and after school, at either the Ashburn Ice House or the Fairfax Ice Arena. She does her homework in class, at home or at competitions, while waiting to perform.
The toughest part of synchronized skating, she said, is that, “When you skate with others, if someone trips you, it may look like it’s your fault, but it isn’t. It’s also a lot of pressure. You don’t want to let the team down, so you have to look out for the others. But we’re a fun team; we’re like a big family and our three coaches are really nice.”
Synchronized skaters must also possess some particular talents. “You have to be graceful and have good posture,” said Bachman. “And you’ve got to be fast on the ice and develop the skill of properly holding onto the next person in line without bringing them down or forward.”
But they’re judged on their skating skills. “It’s important how your elements look — how clean your circles and lines are — plus your creativity and how fast you are,” she said. “It’s also about your overall presentation — how you look as a team and how well you do things in unison.”
At Nationals, the top four teams from each of the Eastern, Midwest and Pacific sections of the U.S. will be vying for the title. Team Ashburn will perform a three-and-a-half-minute routine to a medley from the TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance.” The girls will skate to a swing song, a sway song and to Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor.”
“I think we have a shot at getting into the top half of the teams,” said Bachman. “But every time we skate, we just want to improve our score. We made it to nationals and we want to do the best we can.”