The Sprites Sparkle on the Ice

Every Thursday afternoon, the Sprites — the Southern Connecticut Skating Club’s beginner synchronized skating team — practice at Rink.  After warm ups, the Sprites, ten girls most ranging in age from eight to ten-years-old, practice their program — a routine set to music and that sends the group soaring around the ice, gliding with linked arms from one end of the ice to the other.

"They're young, they're a lot of fun, there are challenges with this age group, just getting them to stay focused and learn to skate holding on to each other. They're used to skating alone," head coach Gina Valenzano-Gomez said. "It's fun to watch them progress. At the first practice, parents are shaking their heads wondering, how is this going to work? But they grow so much as skaters."

"It's purely just for fun," assistant coach Val Legutko said. "Yet as they grow it is nice to watch them mature as skaters and competitors who start to take pride in their skating and set goals for themselves."

The girls benefit from plenty of ice time, both to practice their program and work with their coaches. They all are also taking group and individual classes to continue to build their skating skills.

“There’s a lot to the sport of synchronized skating!” Catherine Kolbasiuk, mother of team member Alyssa Fish, said. “I enjoy watching them, watching the girls improve and learn to rely on each other. Everything they do out there is harder than it looks.”

The team recently received a bronze medal in the Terry Connors Open in December and have upcoming competitions in Lowell, Massachusetts and Middletown, Connecticut. For the girls on the team, synchronized skating is a chance to continue to hone their skills while bonding with teammates who also love to be on the ice.

“It looked really fun, it was really fun to watch,” Eight-year-old Kathryn Berger, a student at St. Cecilia’s, said.

After three years on the Sprites, Berger can confirm that synchronized skating is just as much fun as it looks. Berger was six when she began her first season with the Sprites and had been skating since she was just three-years-old.

“I wanted her to get involved with a team sport,” Nydia Berger, Kathryn’s mother, said. “We tried a variety, but she always leaned towards ice skating.”

Kathryn, like many of the girls on the team, is also passionate about ballet — another facet of her training that clearly impacts her moves on the ice. For other girls, synchronized skating is the perfect combination of athleticism and performance.

“I wanted to be a part of a team,” Ten-year-old Alyssa Fish, a student at Westover, said.

Fish began skating at five and this is her second year on the Sprites. Ten-year-old Julie Brown, a student at Northeast, also began skating at five and started on the Spitfires, a synchronized skating team at which disbanded after her first season. She is now in her second season on the Sprites. For Brown, even pre-performance jitters can be an exciting part of the experience.

“It’s not that scary,” Brown laughed. “Especially if I know someone is watching and that I’m going to do a really good job.”

“She loves the performance part of it,” Elyce Brown, Julie’s mother, said. “Being out there and entertaining — all the practice is worth it.”

“Even when it’s hard, it’s still fun,” Julie Brown added.

As they cross the ice to their coach’s chants—push and cross, stretch and cross, the Sprites link arms, turn as a group, and link hands to form circles on the ice — and this group of young athletes make it look effortless.

“At competitions, you wind up rooting for all of the kids — you know how much time they’ve spent and how hard they work,” Kolbasiuk said.

Many members of the Sprites will advance on to Terry Conners' pre juvenile team, the Shimmers, and even to their open juvenile team, the Shadows.

"Some of the current Shadows started out as Sprites," Valenzano-Gomez said. "It's great for them to see the older teams and what it's about. They grow up here."

And even from the bleachers, it's tough for the young skaters' families and friends to contain their excitement and calm their own jitters during the program, from the second they emerge onto the ice to the moment the music ends.

“You’d think I would get used to it, but every time she sets her foot on the ice, I cry,” Nydia Berger said. “There’s such a sense of pride.”

The next tryouts for the Sprites will take place on February 28 and March 8.