SynchroNice / Fourth Edition / 2019

to be the best team in our country :). We always strive to get good results and upgrade our result. WHAT ABOUT THE BEST IN THE WORLD? Hahaha, why not, everybody is trying to be the best in the world, that goes for us as well, but having fun is also important. DO YOU HAVE ANY AMBITION TO BECOME A COACH OF A FOREIGN TEAM? No, not really, I had a short coaching experience in Austria but that was a long time ago, now I’m happy where I am and we skate without a specific goal, we just want to have fun, enjoy our skating and survive as a team. IS SYNCHRO ANY POPULAR IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC? In the larger skating clubs with a lot of skaters it is, but we are only a small country. HOWABOUTTIME ONTHE ICE FORYOUR PRACTICES? That is not difficult at all, there’s plenty of ice, or at least it’s available, but it is always difficult to have enough skaters on a good skating level and at the same time around the same age. DO YOU TRAVEL OFTEN WITH THE TEAM? Yes, and we saw some beautiful cities together: Milan, Budapest, Salzburg, but our absolute favorite was certainly Can­ ada when we visited for the 2017 Junior Worlds. What a great atmosphere! IS THE TRAVELING WHAT YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT SYNCHRONIZED SKATING? Of course, the traveling is very nice, but what I like most is that it’s still a new discipline on the ice. So many skaters on the ice at the same time gives you lot of opportunities to be creative and because of all the traveling I met so many colleagues and new people who became dear friends over the years. HOW OFTEN DO YOU GET A CHANCE TO PRACTICE? Well, we practice about 4 or 5 times a week with a min­ imum of 9-10 hours on ice. IS THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU? Hmmm, it’s okay but I wouldn’t mind a few extra hours on ice, but then you would need more time, more ice and of course, the most important more money. WHO GETS TO CHOOSE THE MUSIC AND THE COSTUMES IN YOUR TEAM? That’s always a difficult project, the taste of us coaches is of course different from the skaters’ tastes, so we try to find something that everybody loves. First the coaches get together to choose some music and a theme and then we talk with the skaters about it. Their opinion is always very important to us, so they help to make the final decision, but in the end… the coaches decide. The right balance is the magic word here. IF YOU WOULDN’T BE COACHING SYNCHRO SKATING, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU BE DOING? Coaching in Syn­ chronized Skating isn’t a full-time job in our country anyway, so my full-time job is coaching singles, pairs and the work for our club, but I do have one experience, in creating the choreography for a musical on ice here in the Czech Republic, which, by the way, is running as we speak, and which is enormously popular back home. Choreography, that would be a nice job as well. BUT DO YOU HAVE HOBBIES BESIDES SKATING? I love to spend time with my family and 1-year-old grandson of which I’m the proud grandmother and sometimes in my garden. IF YOU LOOK AT OTHER TEAMS, IS THERE MAYBE ONE TEAMMORE FAVORITE THAN OTHERS? All the top teams are great and a joy to watch. I like the Finnish and Swedish teams with their creative ideas, Canada and USA for that matter are great as well and the Rus­ sians I like very much for their skating skills. WHAT IS YOUR OWN STRENGTH AS A COACH? I am always very precise with skating skills and I bring in some nice ideas I take with me from coaching Singles. I SUPPOSE THEN YOU’RE A GOOD COACH AND YOUR TEAM SHOULD BE HAPPYWITH YOU? Hahaha, you’d have to ask them :). OBSERVING YOU NEXT TO THE ICE RINK WHEN YOUR TEAM IS ON, YOU ALWAYS LOOK CALM, MODEST AND TOTALLY IN CONTROL, IS THATTHE REALMIRKA? Totally in control… naturally because of me being the coach, but if the coach doesn’t look calm…Who will? The real Mirka is a person who loves to chat and have fun but to be honest, my life is totally devoted to skating. WHAT IS IT WE CAN WAKE YOU UP FOR OR IF NOT, WHAT MAKES YOUR HEART BEAT FASTER? Waking up for I don’t know but my heart definitely beats faster before competitions. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU REALLY DISLIKE OR HATE? Hmmm, that would probably be some of the habits teenagers have nowadays. THE OLYMPIC DREAM IS SET ASIDE FOR A WHILE, BUT EVERYBODY KEEPS TELLING US SYNCHRO SKATING HAS EVOLVED ENORMOUSLY. WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO KEEP PROGRESSING? We have to keep improving our skating skills, that’s very important. The matter of extra money will be an issue but also our will to cooperate with other coaches from other skating disciplines. Take for instance dance and pairs coaches, they could teach us so much about skating techniques and lifts and so on, Synchronized Skating would surely benefit from that. HOWWAS THIS SEASON SO FAR FOR THE TEAM? We did the competition in Belgium in November and it was ok for start of the season, we finished 3rd place and in our own country we did the Santa Claus Cup in December and finished 1st place, so overall, I’m satisfied. WHAT’S YOUR NEXT COMPETITION? Well, first we’re here in Salz­ burg to do the Mozart Cup, then we have our nationals in February and Budapest Cup at the beginning of March and then of course there’s Junior Worlds in Neuchatel in Switzerland. We’re looking forward to all of them. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO GIVE TO THE SYNCHRO COMMUNITY? Not really, but I can’t stress the impor­ tance of skating skills enough and of course… your good health is most important. Well Mirka, it has been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much for your time and good luck here in Salzburg and the other competitions, we will be following you.  ‘The right balance’ is the magic word here. SYNCHRO NICE 39