Cal Gold Wraps Things Up in France

At the beginning of this month California Gold senior had the amazing experience of traveling to Rouen, France to compete in the French Cup international competition. After the long flight we got half a day in Paris to see Notre Dame cathedral, the Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower. Then it was to Rouen for the next several days to practice and compete.

Participating in the event's opening parade and hanging out with our other Team USA members were so much fun. Our team grew in leaps and bounds while overseas and the experiences while there were priceless. We are so excited to have finished in the top half of the competition and seen the amazing international talent present on the ice.

While neither of our two competitive skates was flawless, we had some of the best official practices we've had all season and our presentation improved immensely. The team is motivated and ready to go into nationals with a renewed vigor from the experience of representing the US.

One highlight for me was watching the top senior teams compete in the free skate after we had competed. Many of my teammates had never had the opportunity to see teams like Team Unique of Finland skate before. I love seeing the choices that teams make in their choreography and style and it reminded me not only how much I love to participate in this sport, but also how beautiful it is to watch.

Written by:
Emmeline Weinert - Senior Blog Writer
Senior Team Member 2010-Present
Co- Captain 2011-2012
USFS DREAM Skater 2011-2013

Novice Team competes at Sectional Championship

The novice team competed at the Pacific Coast Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships in Plymouth, Michigan the week before last. After a rough early morning official practice, the team came together for many hours of off-ice practice. We made a list of all the sections of the program where we were unsure of the counts. The coaches clarified the counts and together the team ran through the sections again and again. We ended the day with an awesome unofficial practice. The team was definitely ready to compete. After some more off-ice practice in the morning, we headed to the rink confident with “a fire in our bellies,” as Coach Falkowski would say. Our great skate earned us a 12-point improvement from our last competition and the silver medal! The team was really proud of the accomplishment, especially since most of the points were earned through our off-ice the previous day. Our only disappointment was that President Obama didn’t come to watch us skate, even though he was staying in the hotel next door.

Written By: Emma Hamilton - Novice Blog Writter
Novice Team: 2011-Present
Senior Team: 2011 - Present