SynchroNice / Third Edition / 2018

SYNCHRO NICE 45 able to continue with the Autumn Cup. And I hope that I will be fortunate enough to keep this job for the rest of my life and that I continue to develop as a coach. A nice anecdote I once heard” Have you been coaching for 20 years or have you been coaching for one year but 20 times?” meaning the- re’s always room for improvement and material to dump in the trashbin. How is your team doing anyway? This season we had a major generation-shift in all three teams. Before summer it wasn´t even sure if we were able to maintain our teams but, like often finally we did and I´m very happy and proud of all my skaters and parents who kept believing in the process. I think it’s important to start skating in a team at a young age… because Its harder to create a team out of teenage solo skaters that were each other’s rivals the season before. I see a big difference there in the results and those who started at an early age in a team have far more respect for the team and the team process. It´s also important for younger skaters to have a goal, seeing the older skaters in the team thinking; I want to skate like that or I want to be in this or that team. How about practices? We are having our struggles with ice hours, like many teams in the world. First of all, it´s never enough and besides that, this sea- son for instance our teams practice before school at 06:00 or we get the nightshift until 00:05 It´s far from ideal but we have learned to adjust and the fact is …we were last in so we really haven’t got much mandate within the club that consists of a skating school, an ice hockey club and a figure skating club. We hear that a lot, but you have to practice being able to compete , yes and it is such a great experience going to competitions, especially for the skaters but also for me. I spend most of my time alone during the season so it’s just great to get together with other coaches/friends and get inspired by them and their teams. After competition, I always return to Madrid with even more energy and new ideas. The competition itself however, I don’t like them very much. Oh, my oh my, I get so freaking nervous every time. I just hate the fact that I can’t affect anything that goes on out there on the ice, I have to trust in our preparati- ons and wait it out, unfortunately, that’s not my strongest quality, ha-ha. I like to be in control. At first this coaching gave me a very weird feeling, as I skater I LOVED competing, I loved the atmosphere, the nerves and I always stepped up on to the ice with an attitude like BAMMM look at me, Here I am. Being the coach now the competing part itself is no fun at all, no way. We didn’t talk future yet, how about your future and the future in Synchronized Skating? I think Synchronized skating is growing, there are more countries that have teams now. We have the developing camp that the ISU is organizing every year that also helps spreading the sport. We have Shanghai trophy, which is absolutely the platform where we need to be and we were in the Grand Prix final in Barcelona. and I hope that we will be back there again. Do I hear a but coming up? Yes, but then we have to be ready earlier in our season. This is really something almost every country can do way much better. This year for instance we organized Autumn Cup in Granada during the first weekend in November and it became so crystal clear that our season literally is from January until March/April. Just very few countries were prepared to compete but the common reply was “Its too early”. We have to be honest however it was unfortunately the same weekend the Finnish and the Russians held their qualifications, but still there should have been more countries than England, Belgium and Spain to compete in November. So, then you’re not worthy to be in the Olympics? Worthy of being in the Olympics? yes certainly we are, And I would love to see Synchro there because I do believe that it’s about time and WOW that would be a dream come true! But what I am afraid of is that we´re trying so hard and we adjust so much, that we might lose the beauty of what our sport initially is… 16 skaters gliding together as one. Back then when we started this journey the teams were 24 skaters than there were 20, now there are 16, will we in the end be 8 skaters doing some pair lifts and jump WHATEVER HAPPENS... IT HAPPENS FOR A REASON ‘‘