British Ice Skating (BIS) has announced that Nottingham’s Icicles Junior synchronised skating team has been selected to represent Great Britain at the Dresden Cup, Germany, an International Skating Union (ISU) Challenger competition.
The Dresden competition, which will take place on January 24-25, had only one place available for a British team. Elite ice skating teams from fourteen other countries will compete there. Icicles Junior were selected after achieving first place against tough competition at Skate London in November, where they achieved their highest ever score of 139.88. But the team have now topped this, breaking a British Junior record with a score of 149.62 at the most recent UK competition in Scotland, the Trophy d’Écosse.’
The team trains at Nottingham Synchronised Skating Academy (NSSA), which celebrated its 25th anniversary a year ago.
Most Icicles Junior skaters, aged from 14 to 19, have trained at the National Ice Centre, Nottingham, over a number of years but the team has also attracted skaters who travel from outside the region, including Bradford and Peterborough, and one who trained in Germany before starting at Nottingham University this term. The team trains four times a week.
The selection is a great start to the season for Icicles Junior, who have represented Great Britain at the World Junior Synchronised Skating Championships nine times.
Trained by head coaches Esther Morris and Lauren Kelly, the team perform two programmes, a short and a free, incorporating various compulsory elements, such as lifts, synchronised spins and jumps. Creative choreography is used in these complex routines so that the sixteen skaters tell a story on the ice, at speed to music, to present a seamless spectacle.
Esther said: “We have worked incredibly hard since the end of last season. To be selected by British Ice Skating to represent Great Britain at the Dresden Cup is testimony to the many hours of practice undertaken by the skaters every week.”
Lauren said: “This selection provides us with a fantastic platform from which to build this season. We will be working hard towards both the Dresden Cup and the British Championships on 10-12 January, here in Nottingham. Our scores from both of these competitions will determine whether we are selected to represent Great Britain at the World Synchronised Skating Championships in Sweden in March next year.”
Club chair Lisa Walker said: “We’re very proud of the team’s selection, but attending international competitions is unfortunately expensive and the skaters are all completely self-funded. We would love to hear from any businesses who are interested in sponsoring the skaters this season as they work towards their dream of selection for the World Junior Championships in March.”