Skyliners Seek Another Energetic Worlds Experience

When crowds cheer at synchronized skating competitions, their presence is invigorating. The applause and intonations throughout programs could shake the roof off any arena, and the Skyliners are no strangers to it all.
 
"The energy in that arena was like nothing I had ever felt before," Kelsey Bialo, 11-season athlete of the Skyliners, said of the 2018 World Synchronized Skating Championships held in Stockholm, Sweden. "It's been a dream of mine since I started with this to compete in an arena that has that type of energy and intensity."
 
The Skyliners were set to perform their short program immediately after Team Surprise, Sweden's national team, whose home crowd shared their pride with a ferocity that set the tone for competitors to come.
 
"There is a moment where you have to think to yourself, 'I can't let this get to me, I have to be calm like I am at practice and there's no one watching,' in order to compete and put out the performance that we want," Bialo said.
 
And so they did. The team placed ninth overall, with their goals and intentions already set on the year ahead. Seventeen members of the 2018 World team returned for the 2018-19 season.
 
"We had already developed such a strong bond from last season that we were bringing in," Bialo said. "And this season has been incredibly rewarding from the beginning."
 
Now the Skyliners are headed back to the World Championships in Helsinki after a sixth-place finish at the Mozart Cup in January, followed by a second-place finish at the 2019 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships in Plymouth, Michigan, where the team placed first for their "I Was Here" short program.
 
But the season has seen its struggles.
 
One of the toughest parts about having such close-knit relationships and several training sessions a week isn't just that occasional mistakes can happen, but also that coughs and sneezes spread like wildfire.

"We've dealt with a lot of sickness this season, which is challenging because sickness gets passed around the team pretty quickly and pretty significantly." Bialo said.
 
Skyliners athletes also balance school work, commuting to practice and international travel throughout the season, and Skyliners Coach Josh Babb echoed the challenges of the team staying strong, healthy and confident throughout.
 
"I think what I've learned as a coach is that you can't plan for everything, and everyone needs to be adaptable to certain situations, and this group is really good that way," Babb said. "Nothing really seems to have spooked them at all. Whatever has been dealt their way, they deal with it as true adults and move forward."
 
That forward momentum despite sickness came straight from the characteristics Babb sees in a good team.
 
"They're all very driven, they all work extremely hard, and they come to work every time they get on the ice," Babb said. "Their drive and their passion for being successful are what make this team super special."
 
Within the past few weeks, training ramped up to prepare for what Bialo finds to be the most exciting, yet most difficult portion of the season. 
 
"We know exactly what we need to work on, and how we can work together as a team, but competing among the best teams in the world carries a lot of weight," Bialo said. "While we have to work our hardest, we also feel the biggest sense of pride and excitement as a team."
 
The pride and excitement is a little different for Babb, who watches eagerly from the sidelines and hopes to see the team have a top-six finish at this year's World Championships.

"I trust my skaters to do what they've been trained to do. I think [as a coach], you want them to achieve what they've been able to achieve in practice, so that's the goal," Babb said. "You watch them to do what you know they can do, and everything else is just icing on the cake."
 
As the Skyliners prepare themselves for the energy and excitement of 2019 Worlds, Bialo can't help but be grateful for the opportunity, but also for the team as a whole.

"The main reason that I got into synchro was because I personally couldn't stand the idea of being alone on the ice. It terrified me," Bialo said. "So having teammates by my side provides the sense of comfort. And the chance to compete at Worlds and the experience of that would not mean the same thing to me if I couldn't do it with my team."
 
That team will take on the energetic crowd in Helsinki, starting Friday, April 12.