Front row, left to right: Kelsey Jones, Kaitlynne Cunningham, Teresa Bravo, Renee Castagno, Alexa Allotta.
Back row, left to right: Karlee Rajaniemi, Erica Lauria, Kelsey Mayall, Erica Giarraputo, Breanne Kenney, Reagan Holmes, Shauna Wassmus, Perrey Sobba.
Not pictured: Michelle Dong and Nicole Patton.
Ever wonder who the talented Eagles skating in Conte are? They’re the BC Synchronized Skating Team! I sat down with sophomore Erica Giarraputo to learn more about this awesome team!
Who makes up the BC Synchro Team?
Right now, we have 11 team members of all grades. The team is made up of people with skating experience. Most of our members have never skated on a synchronized skating team before, but usually when they try it, they fall in love with it. Everyone who comes to tryouts really enjoys it.
What makes the team unique?
Our team can only have up to 16 skaters so our small size makes us unique. Since we are such a small team, we really get to know one another. There’s no division by grade since we are such a small team.
Where can Eagles see the synchro team perform?
We are trying to perform more next year and we especially hope to perform at Conte. Depending on the year, we have local competitions. This year, we competed in Lake Placid at the Eastern Sectional Competition – our biggest competition of the season. A lot of schools and teams from the east coast and compete there at a large range of levels. Depending on your level, your team can move onto nationals. It’s a lot of fun and there are always a lot teams there. This year, there were over 300 teams competing. Just being in Lake Placid was such a great experience. We bond as a team and go out to dinner together. We even went dog sledding together while we were there!
How many competitions do you have each year?
We try to compete as much as we can. Due to the snow this year, we were only able to participate in one competition. We usually attend three competitions.
Favorite Team Moment:
We come back early from winter break for training week. I really like training week because we are one of the few groups of people on campus. We practice for 4-6 hours a day. We hang out the whole time, order pizza, watch movies. This year, we started watching One Tree Hill as a team.
Favorite ritual:
When we are standing on the side of the rink, we sing “For Boston.” It gets everyone really excited and in the moment right before we perform. At the end of practices, we “break down” our practice. We have one person say three positive things about practice that day. It makes us realize that we really are improving every day. We also chant “Eagles On the War Path” after “breaking down” the practice.
Best memory as a team:
Last year, while we were competing at Eastern’s we went to Hershey. After competing, we went to the chocolate factory. We did the chocolate tour, got candy, and rode on the chocolate mobile. It was great to hang out as a team off the ice.