2012 US National Championships

This past weekend California Gold traveled across the continental United States to attend the Synchronized Skating National Championships in Worcester, Massachusetts. After a long flight, our Novice and Senior teams did a small amount of sightseeing at Quincy Market in Boston, but then it was all skating, all the time.

As a member of the senior team, my teammates and I were eager to improve on our scores from our international assignment in Rouen, France. Since France, our team had really amped up our presentation skills and hoped that we would see that reflected in our Program Component scores. All season we had worked hard to ensure that every member of our team understood our technical requirements, so that we would be skating smart, thinking about what needed to be done in each element. We knew going into our final skates of the season that a competition can be won or lost on those technical calls.

After several days of practice and preparation in Massachusetts, it was time for competition. In those two days of competition, we had several team talks and focus sessions, discussing reminders with one another and pumping ourselves up for the culmination of the season. We had practices both competition days between our official ice time in the morning, when the panel watched, and when we competed, to ensure that everything had been solidified.

Both our short and long programs were strong, clean skates that we are very proud of. I know that I feel incredible about how far this team came over the course of the season and how much each member grew. With a sixth place finish overall, we are pleased with out accomplishments and the wonderful season we had representing the Los Angeles area, the Pacific Coast and the United States of America. We will be cheering for the Crystallettes and Haydenettes as they represent the US once more at the 2012 Synchronized Skating World Championships! GO TEAM USA!

Its odd to have the season over, it feels so soon to me. Personally, I will enjoy sleeping in (far) past 3:30 a.m. for about a week and then be happy to trade in that lifestyle for more synchro practices!

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

Nationals: Saturday

Cal Gold supporting the Adult Team!

Cal Gold Adult Competition

It was an early morning for both Adult and Senior, but the strong practices brought confidence to Adult going into their competition and to Senior who skated their official practice later that morning. The nice thing about having competition in California is that we can do off ice outside in the warm sun! When we skated, our program was solid and powerful which made us excited for the competition later that night. When we got back to the hotel, we had a little bit of down time before we left to watch Adult team compete. And didn't we look fantastic!? Every California Gold supporter was geared up with funky glasses and headbands! They skated with a couple bobbles, but all in all, we thought it was amazing!
Then, after coming back to the hotel and resting awhile, Senior got ready for competition and headed to the rink for the last time. Off ice was intense as we got into our warrior character. When we had our skated on and stood by the side of the rink, we shouted our motto for this season: "We will rise and rise again, until lambs become lions." Our program was not the best that it could have been, but it was still enough to maintain our fourth place finish. We held our Pewter medals with pride and 14 of the 18 on our team were ecstatic to have our first Senior division National title.

California Gold Senior - Pewter Medalists

As our season comes to an end, I look back on all of the amazing memories that have come from this team over that past eight months, and I would not take back one minute of it. This was one incredible season for California Gold as an entire organization, and I am so proud to be a part of it.

Congratulations California Gold!

Nationals: Friday

Today was an awesome day starting out with short official in the morning. We had a rough first run with a problem with the music, but stepped it up for an amazing second run through. We felt confident going into short program that night. We came back to the hotel for a little bit of down time, but got right back out to cheer on the adult team in their official practice. Their program has improved so much since sectionals and have added another skater too! They are very impressive for the ten practices they've had since they started.

Fans Cheer of Cal Gold

Then, Novice got ready for their competition and the Senior team sent them off with a "tunnel" to their bus. Unfortunately, we couldn't go and scream for them in the stands because we had to prepare ourselves for short program, but we were definitely watching on icenetwork! They skated an awesome program that got all but one of their calls! We are very proud of them!

Novice Competition (watched on icenetwork)

After putting our hair up and make up on, the Senior team stepped onto the bus and to the rink for a bit of off ice before we competed. We put our skates on and got on the ice and skated a smooth and powerful short program. We were very happy with our skate and accomplished our goal of getting 3's in our G.O.E. that counted. We are sitting in fourth place right now and ready to blow the judges away with our long program Saturday night!


GO GOLD!!!

Nationals 2011

The U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships are upon us once again, but unlike other years, they take place just a short drive from our rink. This weekend, in Ontario, California, Novice and Senior Short are on Friday night and Adult and Senior Free Skate will be on Saturday Night. We are so thrilled to have the chance to perform for our friends and family in a national competition, so come out and support us and our fellow synchronized skating teams!

Congratulations California Gold!

Both of our teams did spectacular at the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships. Our Senior Team placed 8th after the short and 6th after the long.

Our Novice team placed 8th overall and had a great skate!

Thanks for the support of our family and friends who came to watch us and even those who cheered from home! We love you!

If you didn't catch our programs, you can watch them on www.icenetwork.com.

Nationals Pre-Competition

So, here we are in Minneapolis, Minnesota! We arrived in the afternoon on Wednesday and had a little down time before going to eat dinner in the hotel. The senior team left to go to their first practice (at 10 pm) in the competition arena. We thought the ice felt super sticky and slow, but we later found that it was easier to skate when the ice was cut.

The next day, Novice woke up early to skate an unofficial practice and then their official practice right after that. Senior also had an unofficial practice on Thursday. When getting on the ice, we had a little stumble. Brittany C. and Ali stepped onto the ice with their blade guards on! We also ended up going to the Mall of America! We split up and wandered around the mall (and amusement park) and I'm pretty sure both teams ended up in Forever 21 at some point during their visit! After that, we got all fancy in our black sweaters and dress pants and went to a delicious dinner at Olive Garden. Falling into a small food coma, we went to watch the last few Junior teams do their short. We went back to the hotel and fell asleep.

In the morning, Senior got ready for short program official which went extremely well! Novice and Senior both had unofficial practices at the practice arena. We then returned to the hotel for a Panera lunch and some downtime. Novice got ready for their competition and went downstairs to be greeted by senior team. We wished them good luck in their competition and we're now getting ready for short program. The Senior team couldn't be there for the Novice competition, but we'll be there in spirit (and watching them on icenetwork!)

The Land of 1,000 Lakes...

Tomorrow morning both the Senior and Novice teams will hop on a plane and make our way over to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we will be competing in the 2010 U.S. Synchronized Team Skating Championships! Good luck to both teams! We promise to keep everyone posted as the excitement unfolds!

Love,

California Gold