The Road to Worlds: Home for the Holidays

As the 2017 calendar year came to a close, FMC Ice Sports’ figure skating, synchronized skating, and theater teams wrapped up the year by hosting several Winter Skating Exhibitions. For the teams, it was a chance to put all their hard on display for friends and family. With many pieces and performances still a work in progress, there still plenty of room left for improvement in the seven months before the ISI World Championships in July.

Southeastern Mass. (Coach Gigi Kerrigan)

On December 21, 2017, the South Shore Stars held a Holiday Exhibition in Raynham where they showcased the two Synchro Formation team numbers as well as the Theatre on Ice performance.

Coach Gigi and her skaters also held a New Year’s Exhibition followed by a family skate at Alexio Arena in Taunton. The South Shore Stars Synchro Formation team also featured at the Exhibition. There were several solo performances as well from skaters Gretta and Isabella Moniz, Bridget O’ Neil, Charlie Harrison, Nicolas Drennon, Jenna Hauvuy, Paige Dunton, Whitney Salpietro, Adriana Monteiro, Julia Mello and 12-year-old Jillian Medeiros.

Medeiros has enjoyed a successful start to her competition season, winning a whopping five Gold Medals at the ISI Icicle Invitational this past December at Navin Arena in Marlboro. Some other recent accomplishments for Medeiros include 1st place in the 2017 Little New England Championships as well as 1st place in 2017 Boston Open and 2017 Cranberry Open.

She is extremely excited to attend the 2018 ISI World Championships. Medeiros attended the event the last time it was held in Boston back in 2014. She is most excited for and anticip

ating to relive the enjoyment she experienced four years ago; meeting and making friendships with skaters from all over the world.

Jillian thoroughly enjoys her lessons with Coach Gigi, especially the challenge of learning new skills. She is an honor roll student at Dartmouth Middle School where she is a member of the robotics team and as a cellist in the string orchestra. Along with figure skating, Jillian also attends dance school. In her spare time she likes to craft and spend time with her family, friends and dogs.

Metro Boston (Coach Jess Proctor)

Competition season is underway for the Metro Boston team. Several of Coach Jess’ skaters have started the season strong by earning top finishes at the Silver Streaks Competition as well as the New England Regional Championships in the fall.

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  Skating Party with Felix at Chelmsford Forum

  Izi Hain, age 11 (Gold Medalist at the Silver Streak Competition)

• Catherine Belliveau, age 10 (Won two Gold Medals at the Silver Streaks Competition)
• Pina Yee, age 9 (Gold Medalist at the New England Regional Championships)

The skaters of the Mitchell Johannson Method, who train at Cronin Rink in Revere,recently traveled to San Jose, California. There, the group competed at the 2018 US National Championships. The traveling party included Indi Cha, Gabriella Izzo, Emmy Ma, Megan Wessenberg, Kevin Shum, Ross Miner and coaches Mark Mitchell and Peter Johannson.

Throughout the Holiday Season, the Metro Boston team held several small exhibitions and attended fun events held around the rinks. In Revere, the team participated in the “Paint the Rink” event while at Chelmsford Forum the group held a Skating Party with FMC Ice Sports mascot Felix.

The competition season picks up again for the Metro Boston team with the Viking Winter Carnival at Salem State next month followed by the Natick Competition in March.

MetroWest (Coach Donna Rozon)

The Metro-West skaters took part in three separate New Year’s Skating Exhibitions in Franklin, Natick, and Marlboro. The events served as tune-ups ahead of the 2018 Lake Placid Championships the weekend of January 4-7. On an historic stage, Coach Donna’s squad enjoyed tremendous success, returning to Massachusetts with several first-place finishers:

• Alexandra Eld (Dance Step Sequence)
• Emily Shih & Amanda Shih (Jump & Spin Silver)
• Katelyn Flynne & Francesca Verna (Jump & Spin Platinum)
• Meghan Foley (Hickory Hoedown)
• Nicole Ruffin (Interpretive Delta; Delta; Solo Compulsories Alpha)
• Sienna Ruffin (Interpretive Alpha)
• Sophia Verna (Tango; American Waltz)
• Sophie Habecker (Artistic 6; Freestyle 6; Solo Compulsory FS6)
• Habecker & Anna Ferrazzi (Jump & Spin Gold)
• The Dazzling Edge (Sr. Youth Synchronized Team)
• The Cutting Edge (Teen Synchronized Team)

Synchronized Teams

Several of Coach Donna’s skaters made the trip, including both synchro teams — The Cutting Edge in the Teen Division and The Dazzling Edge in the Senior Youth division.

Both The Cutting Edge and The Dazzling Edge teams performed for the first time on New Year’s Day in Natick before the competition in Lake Placid. Just days after debuting the routines, both synchro teams captured first place at the Lake Placid Championships event.

The Dazzling Edge (left) and The Cutting Edge (right).

Individual Competitors

Habecker competes in Freestyle 6 and Open Gold events while also helping Coach Donna by serving as a class assistant in Natick. Sophie placed first at the ISI Icicle Invitational in the Freestyle Gold competition. In Lake Placid, she won first place in the Artistic 6, Freestyle 6, and Solo Compulsory FS6 categories. She also won first place in a Jump & Spin Gold event with partner Anna Ferrazzi. In addition, Habecker also garnered third and fourth place finishes in the Artistic Final Round and Open Gold categories respectively.

Habecker’s favorite time of year is the start of the competition season. Habecker thoroughly enjoys competing against her friends from the Metro-West team. This allows Sophie to both support her friends and teammates while also raising her level of competition.

“I am really looking forward to ISI Worlds,” Habecker said. “It is so much fun seeing teams from all over the U.S. and even China.”

Mia Ci is one of the youngest members of Coach Donna’s team yet still plays one of the biggest roles. The seven-year-old features as both a member of The Dazzling Edge while competing at the Freestyle 3 level in individual competition. She just passed FS3 at the Fall I Test Session in late 2017 ahead of this competition season.

Mia opened her individual season with a 3rd place finish in the Freestyle 3 category at the Icicle Invitational. She followed up that performance by earning another third place finish at Lake Placid as her synchro team, The Dazzling Edge, captured first place.

Although Mia loves her individual routine, she is always looking forward to the next time she gets to skate with her synchro team in competition.

Western Mass. (Coach Katie Bedard)

The Western Massachusetts team has yet to begin competition this season, but has been putting together routines over the past month. Gardner, Worcester, and even Greenfield all held Holiday Exhibitions. The events gave the team its first chance to perform their routines in front of an audience.

In Gardner, Coach Katie had skaters ranging in age from 3-60 perform at the two exhibitions hosted by Gardner Veteran’s Arena. The events featured two Learn-to-Skate groups, two figure skating groups, one theater production team, 21 soloists, and one duet.

Worcester and Greenfield hosted smaller-scale exhibitions with Learn-to-Skate participants as well as the figure skating groups.

The Western Mass. team will participate in the 37th annual Winter Carnival at Salem State University to open their competition season. Among the entries are the Theater Production team and 23 individual skaters all competing in over 30 events.