Local teen girls take to the ice
This is part of an occasional series about the younger members of our community. If you know of a young person who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in academics, sports, the arts and literature, volunteerism or other areas, contact us at milwaukeej@aol.com.
Music blared from a sound system in the Pettit National Ice Center as 20 girls in black clothing moved smoothly on the rink, arms linked, in an intricate dance.
The three Jewish members of the synchronized skating team, called the Wisconsin Edge, were indistinguishable from the 17 other girls as they practiced the same moves over and over again, preparing for a season of traveling and competition.
Sarah Semon, 16, and Sarah Arnold, 15, go to Nicolet High School; and Kaitlin Weisman, 16, attends Homestead High School. All are serious about skating. They each spend hours at the rink every week, even when school is in session.
The sport, called “synchro” for short, involves coordinated figure skating like an ice dance with 20 participants, all of whom must move the right way at exactly the right time.
The Wisconsin Edge competes each year against 20 different synchronized skating teams from all over the Midwest, under the auspices of the United States Figure Skating Association. This past year, the Wisconsin Edge won first place at the Midwestern Championship.
Semon said it is “a really cool sport. Whenever I have to explain it to anyone, I’m like, do you know what synchronized swimming is? It’s like that, but on ice.”
The girls each started skating as young children. They began with group lessons, and later moved on to private lessons and coaches.
Arnold started group skating lessons at the age of three and began private lessons at nine. “I just started to really like it,” she said. “I kept doing the group lessons, and then I started with private lessons, and I eventually got into the team sport.”
Practice is integral to becoming a good skater, and the girls all talked about the necessity of hard work and discipline.
“You have to practice a lot,” Arnold said. “[With] some of the spins, there’s not that much your coach can tell you to do. It’s just a matter of practicing over and over.”
Learning how to skate well “takes a few years,” according to Weisman. “Just keep skating and eventually it’ll all fall into place. Eventually, you don’t have to think about it, you just do it.”
Semon also talked about the challenge of learning how to skate well. “When you learn a new skill, [it’s] really awkward, and so you work on it until it’s really smooth and practiced and easy,” she said.
And when you do it well, “It’s kind of like defying gravity for split seconds at a time,” Semon said.
The girls have to balance their practice schedules with school and other activities, which can often be difficult. Semon actually took a year off from synchro to try other things. In the end, “I decided I like synchro better,” she said.
Even though the sport is difficult and demands so much time and practice, the girls all love it.
“Doing all the footwork is fun,” Weisman said. “Getting dressed up in our really fancy costumes, performing in front of tons of people, winning — it’s all really fun.”
Each girl said that the best part of synchronized skating is making friends with the other skaters.
Arnold’s favorite part of synchro is being part of a team. “When you go out and compete, it’s not just [you] out there, you’re with 19 other girls,” she said. “And when you win and you’re champions, it’s much better to celebrate with all your friends than by yourself.”
Semon talked about the friendships forged on the ice and on long bus rides to competitions. “Everybody forms really close friendship bonds,” she said.
Weisman and Arnold said that they hope to use their skating skills on the college level, or even to teach younger skaters, in the future.
“All the time I’ve spent, it’d be kind of sad to let it go,” Weisman said.
Semon said that skating is, for her, “a present-moment sport.” Although she doesn’t know if her future plans involve skating, she said that it’s fun to do for now.
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