SynchroNice / Third Edition / 2018

beginning of a new season there’s maximum two weeks of vacation. If Worlds are held in Europe, I of course grab the opportunity to return to France and enjoy spending time with my family, to see my old friends and teammates, and to travel around a bit. Besides that, I have to take another trip in June to take my university exams. However, the past season was an exception to the rule. Since I first joined Les Supremes, we always did the French Cup, the competition that always allowed me to see my family, but we didn’t last year. My mother promised me though, she’d come to one of my international competitions, however she never made a trip to any of the competitions. In March, I started to wonder why, so the day after our battle at the Worlds, I left my team with lots of emotion and I flew back to France. Somehow, I felt that a new challenge was waiting for me. My brother picked me up at the airport and told me that my mother was suffering from cancer. She had been hiding it fromme since January so it wouldn’t influence me in my life choices and plans. I stayed in France for a month, and I missed the first week of training. I took advantage of the inter-season to spend time with her, and I made sure she was fee- ling better before me leaving. Yes, I decided to return for another season with my team and my mom supported me in this direction all the way. Today my mother is in what doctor’s call “Remission” luckily. Still, that was quite tough on you, I can Imagine? The reason I share this in the first place it is to show that leaving home to skate abroad isn’t al- ways that easy. It can be a lifetime’s effort to finally realize one’s dreams but then anything can happen to destroy the dream again. It’s also accepted to be a little selfish. Yes, we need great strength and a fighting spirit to overcome life’s obstacles, an inner strength that will push us to advance to the end of our abilities. But I’m also very fortunate to have two families now: one in France and one in Canada and that also is a result of my skating abroad. SYNCHRO NICE 83 Now you made it to the Supremes, are there still other favourite teams? Each season, I can’t wait to see the new programs and see what other teams are able to create to make our sport even more impressive and appreciated, and I’m not just talking about the best teams. I remember at the French Cup 2010, the team that impressed me the most was Japan! To me our sport continues to evolve because we are able to recognize the strengths of other teams and let them inspire us to improve. The reason I wanted to join Les Suprêmes, was that they took a creativity and exploitation of music I loved and where able to change style totally from one season to another. It wasn’t just a nice team I picked, although I already had the chance to work with Marilyn. No, I knew that by choosing Les Suprêmes, I did not only chose a World Top 10 team, but also a lifestyle and training pro- gram that would push me to another level. How about a role model among other or previous Skaters? During all my years of skating, I have always admired skaters who knew how to differentiate themselves by their skating skills, by their techniques. I have always had a “crush” on skaters looking to push the limits of our sport. Fun thing is I never thought of being a role model myself, but at the French Cup 2016 some of my teammates nickna- med me “Super Star” because some young skaters who I guess recognized me from training in Rouen, were sort of in awe of me. This really touched me but it also made me very happy. I do hope that in my career I will be able to demonstrate that everything is possible when you believe in your dreams, that you have to work hard and never give up. I’ll try to be my own role model. We saw you in Shanghai, how did you like that? We had a tough start this season with 4 skaters seriously injured in the last 2 months before the Shanghai Trophy. However, we took on the challenge together even though we never competed that early in a season. Therefore, our main goal was to present two good programs to the audience. We were particularly proud coming in third after our short program but overall even more happy to have been able to represent Canada at this beautiful event. We left China with some good feedback on both our programs and we are already looking forward to competing again. Last year wasn’t that easy either? No, we truly had a difficult season last year, we were disappointed several times not to be able to skate at our best but what we experienced in the world cham- pionship during the long program, Wow we wouldn’t trade that experience for anything in the world. It was certainly one of our most outstanding performances as skaters but also as humans. It has made us stronger and more competitive, and we are proud of the performance we have been able to offer. Of course, and I think it’s natural that by this be- ginning of the season, we were even more motivated and determined. Of course, we took the time to review the past season, to remember the lessons learned, focus on points we needed to improve, that we missed to succeed. After that, we turned to the future. How did you like representing Canada as a team captain? Yes, after World’s in Colorado, one of the captains was retiring and going to be replaced. At the airport, some of my teammates, said to me that I should run for captain. At Les Suprêmes the girls elect their own captains. Upon reflection, I wanted to share my experience with my team and I’m very grateful to my teammates for their “faith in me” and feel honoured to represent my team as well as my second country Canada and of course I am also extremely proud to be the first non-Canadian to be elected as captain. Starting this season, I’m captain with Laurie, who’s a 6th season captain. She’s always been great at hel- ping the team, and I am pleased to be able to support her in the great work she’s doing. I guess practice is not easy? We train 4 to 6 hrs, up to 5 times a week, to be divided in on and off ice. The major training part is obviously during the weekends. The Roberto Luongo Arena, located in Saint-Léonard, Montréal is our home base. You’ll even find our logo in the ice, but it’s not uncommon to use other ice rinks in the Montréal area to gain ice hours. Once a week we practice early in the morning at an Ice rink close to the city centre and universities to allow girls to go to school or work right after practice. Of course, we have our off-ice programs like lifts, ballet, stretch and lifts, and then there’s also a sports psychologist and a nutritionist, and we also have physical tests. Quite a team? We do have quite a team yes, officially consisting of three coaches at least