SynchroNice / Third Edition / 2018

59 little town not far from Brussels. If you’re thinking now…I heard it before this “Affligem” well, that might be correct since it’s the home town of a small but world famous Belgian Beer. I do love living in a small-town cause of the people who are all very close to one and another. And do you have any Siblings? I have an older sister, she’s a medical student. She is the reason why I started skating in the first place and she’s my big role model in many different ways. You Anja? I have no siblings, but someone very important in my life is Pacino. That’s my great Dane and no matter how big he is, he will always be my little puppy. I spend a lot of time raising my dog, he’s sort of like a brother to me. We go walking together, swimming, playing around, etc. My sister and me, we’re both real animal lovers and we used to have several cats, 2 dogs, a pony and 6 chickens. So, at the moment it’s quite quiet with only 3 little cats. Cats really make any place to a cozy home. I couldn’t live without pets . How did your skating career start Anja? I was 9 years old when I started skating. I wanted to play ice hockey, but my parents convinced me to try figure skating first. Of course, I instantly fell in love with it. So, from the age of 10 I was a solo skater always however combined with Synchronized Skating. For 8 years I skated in a Team called Apollo in the cat- egories juvenile, novice and mixed age. Then a new teamwas formed TeamTemptation. In this (Senior) team, I skated many international competitions and I’ve participated in 4 World Championships as well. After the last World Championship, I was fed up and wanted to quit skating, but after only 10 months the itch came back and I started skating again by taking part in an Ice show called Ice Fantillusion. In this show created by Kevin van de Perren and Jenna McCorkell. I performed 3 times and learned that I really enjoyed entertaining people, but be- cause I practically skated my whole life in a team, I started to miss synchronized skating and after a lot of thinking we started Team Phoenix in 2014. You mentioned your sister, Melanie? Yes correct… I was 7 years old when I started ice skating and started because my sister and I already loved roller-skating very much. During winter times, we unfortunately couldn’t roller-skate as much as we liked. That’s when our mom decided to take my sister to the ice rink. When I saw my sister on ice, I of course wanted to go ice skating as well. Not difficult to imagine that it was love at first sight. I have been skating ever since and I competed in several National competitions. For a couple of years, I combined solo skating and synchronized skating too, just like Anja. I started in a team called Ice Energy. Later when I saw my sister skating in a new team called Temptation and witnessed her first World Championships with the team in Zagreb I was blown away and had goose bumps all over my body. The after party they took me to and the convincing chat weren’t necessary to have me longing for the next season when I would be old enough to join the team. I competed in 2 World Championships with them (Colorado Springs and Helsinki). This was an amazing experience! You’ve also skated with Kevin, Melanie? Yes, Last year we performed the tenth edition of this amazing event and I’m very proud to say that I’m one of three girls that participated in every show. I love to perform, the more audience, the more energy I will put into my performance. Any Favorite teams? I am and always will be a big fan of Marigold IceUnity. My love for the Finnish team started at my first world championship in 2009. In their free program, there was a lift that went underneath another lift. That really blew my mind back then and I’ll always remember it. I was also lucky to go on a seminar held at Vierumäki Finland. I felt so honored to skate with skaters of all Finnish top 3 teams and to take lessons from the 3 coaches. This made me love Finland even more than I already did. So, Marigold IceUnity will always be my number 1. So, no favorite German team Anja? Hahaha Team Berlin1 of course, we find ourselves indeed in a unique position and that’s to be able to work with Gert Hofmann, the talented coach of Team Berlin 1. My personal role model however is my former Team Temptation I WAS FED UP AND WANTED TO QUIT SKATING, BUT AFTER ONLY 10 MONTHS THE ITCH CAME BACK AND I STARTED SKATING AGAIN. ‘‘