Many sports are more enjoyable for the participants than they are for spectators. However, one sport that is beautiful to almost anyone who watches it is figure skating. It’s incredible to watch these talented young athletes as they glide effortlessly across the ice in a way that’s both athletic and graceful. Unlike contact sports like football, basketball, and baseball, the aim of figure skating is to please the people who are watching them. I imagine it’s difficult enough to skate perfectly when you’re skating along or in pairs, but when it comes to group synchronized skating, it’s super challenging. Their breathtaking routines leave those of us watching on the edges of our seats.
When it comes to figure skating, synchronized skating is a stricter form of the sport and involves teams of between eight to 20 people competing together. In 2015, at the World Synchro Championships, a skating team called NEXXICE won not only the competition but the hearts of the audience with their stunning performance. NEXXICE represents the Burlington Skating Centre from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The senior team is a 10-time Canadian nationals championship team and they’re the first Canadian team to win the World Championships in 2009. But they didn’t stop there. This spectacular team took the title again in 2015.
Their routine was nearly six-minutes long and by the time they were finished, the crowd was on their feet. You can hear this group of enthusiastic fans actually screaming within seconds of these young athletes beginning to skate. The team consisted of 16 members, including 15 girls and one young man. The group started out huddled together in the center of the ice rink as they waited for their music to begin playing. The song they skated to was “Mud” by The Road Hammers, and their routine synchronized beautifully with the music.
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NEXXICE was coached by Anne Schelter and Shelley Simonton Barnett to win this competition. Watch these talented young performers below as they skated their way into the hearts of a nation in Hamilton, Canada.
