A Berlin team competes during the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

For the first time, the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships were held at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid on March 31 and April 1, an event we should try to bring back many more times.

Each team contains about eight to 20 athletes, with a maximum of sixteen on the ice. Participants can be men or women, though most are women. Remarkable are the elegance, precision, and athleticism of the athletes.

Initially known as precision skating, the sport was started in 1956 by Dr. Richard Porter, a University of Michigan health department professor who loved to skate with his daughters and friends. He loved the sport so much that he became a lower-level skating judge. His inspiration to develop precision skating was watching Ann Arbor teen girls choreographing group skating moves to music. The teens shared their choreographed moves with fellow students by performing them between periods at their college hockey games.

Porter saw that such group activities might give young women more reason to keep skating together, building skills and friendships. At the time, there was no Title 9, which required equal participation in sports by both men and women; thus, there tended to be a shortage of sports activities for women. Porter felt that a team-based skating program would create more opportunities for women athletes than showing off their skills once or twice a year in an ice show.

Porter and his wife organized the Rockettes, the University of Michigan’s first precision skating team, with his wife designing and making the uniforms. In time, the Rockettes became very popular skating between the hockey team’s competitions at home, on the road and in Canada. Soon other colleges in the hockey league, many Canadian, wanted their own teams, which led to competitions between teams.

Germans, from left, are Natalie, Sabrina, Rebecca and Patricia — members of the United Angels from Stuttgart, Germany. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

A color home movie of the Rockettes caught fire resulting in international colleges starting their own precision skating programs. In 1976, the first international competition between Canadian and U.S. teams was held. In the 1990s, the name was changed to Synchronized Skating, as the sport became a stand-alone international sport organized under the International Skating Union. The World Championships were established in 2000.

Today, more than 600 Synchronized Skating programs in the U.S. offer competitions and training for people 8 to 80. The top teams are spread between Canada, Finland, Sweden and the U.S., but as the spread is far more expansive on the junior level, those statistics could soon change. In Lake Placid, 21 teams competed, some coming from as far away as Australia, Japan and Turkey.

Synchronized Skating is different from the annual summer ice shows that Placidians and people from neighboring communities are used to seeing. The participants are very skilled, trained athletes, and their ability to execute precise moves collectively is a marvel. The audience is more akin to an Elvis Presley audience; they are up on their feet in a flash, screaming, applauding, waving flags and tooting horns when seeing a well-executed move by anyone, but even more so if they represent their country.

But when an announcer asks for quiet to announce a score, it’s like he flipped a switch as the noise stops dead. But once reported, the chaos continues. The ECAC hockey audiences were low-key by comparison.

“I first participated as a Synchronized competition skater in this building,” said Megan Romeo, manager of events for US Skating, serving as the competition coordinator. “Lake Placid has always held a special place in my heart. I grew up skating here in the summers and eventually developed my Synchro skills here, so bringing an event of this magnitude to Lake Placid touches my heart.”

Romeo said that most of these skaters are very strong as individual athletes, and continue to train to enhance their skating skills, both because they love the sport and because the sport continues to evolve as more technical moves, including jumps, lifts, and spins, are incorporated. Developing the patterns and team rhythm skills that mirror others’ movements and gestures takes hours of practice on and off the ice and watching many videos.

“Many of these teams spend days in dance studios looking in mirrors practicing to make sure everyone is hitting the exact same angle in and doing everything in unison, and conveying a character if that, too, is required,” said Romeo. “It’s a sport that combines athleticism and artistry, which makes the sport so beautiful.”

Carla DeGirolamo, team coach at Ohio’s Miami University, started skating Synchro when she was 10 and sees things in shapes and patterns.

“When you pair that with music, shifting and moving the patterns starts to make sense in my brain,” said DeGirolamo. “We look to see what the athletes’ strengths are, what the music is telling us to do, what are the requirements for the program, and then we try to put together a spectacular package.”

Miami skater Justine Ferrer said they are always excited to learn and execute their coach’s vision. She said the key is the team members’ strong bond, willingness to put in the hours, and trust in each other’s commitment and skills. Makenna Leik said being able to mirror each other’s moves takes hours of practice made possible because they all live near each other and thus have the ability to get on the ice five times a week. Both love skating as part of a team and seeing friends and fans in the stand.

“We have lots of fun; you have to; it makes a long day bearable,” said Leik. “It can get heavy in the middle of the season, you get tired, and having fun keeps you energized, fresh and motivated.”

Stuttgart, Germany’s United Angels team members said they loved the team spirit, seeing the passion in each other’s eyes, and the power of skating so precisely with others. They also loved the venue, the “cute” city, and the people they were meeting saying, “It’s awesome to be here.”

Athletes, their coaches and fans all spoke highly of Lake Placid, loving the beauty and charm of the village and the friendliness of the people while marveling that such a tiny town has held the Olympics twice. For the Australian team, as one of their coaches told me, the most fantastic experience for most of their team was seeing snow falling out of the sky for the first time in their life. For them, that was a magical memory they would take with them.

Do they want Lake Placid to host another World Championships? You bet.

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley. He has been covering events for the Lake Placid News for more than 15 years.)