Congratulations to Ice Force One for successfully completing the 2002-2003 season with a pewter medal finish at the National Synchronized Team Skating Championships held in Huntsville, AL in early March 2003. Ice Force One's fourth place showing in a field of twelve strong adult masters teams from across the country caps a successful competitive season that also included a silver medal finish at the Eastern Sectional Synchronized Team Skating Championship held in Charleston, SC in late January 2003 and a bronze medal finish at the Cape Cod Synchronized Skating Classic in mid-December 2002. The team is now gearing up for the 2003-2004 competitive season, which will be the team's fourth season as a USFSA qualifying adult team in the Masters Division. Ice Force One is coached by Head Coach Kathy Hurd Carrillo, Assistant Coach Stacey Heckel, and assisted by Technical Coach Ellyn Kay. The team is based at the Cabin John Ice Rink with Sunday night practices during the prime competitive season. Any interested adult skaters who are 25 years old or older are welcome to inquire now regarding the 2003-2004 season. The team will hold an open practice on March 30, 2003, 7:00 p.m.-10:30 p.m. at the Cabin John Ice Rink. The team will also hold further open practices during the spring. If you are interested in learning new skating skills to complement your other ice skating, yearn for excitement, travel and adventure, and enjoy the company of others on and off the ice, please contact Gina Pace for more information.

We are proud to inform you that PICS has just successfully completed its first season in the collegiate division, and we are now excitedly planning for next season and want YOU to be part of the process! There is only growth improvement for this team in the years to come. As a regional team, we have the entire D.C./Baltimore metro college population at our fingertips and can offer you the best of both worlds - great educational opportunities and a great synchro team. Let me give you a quick history of PICS and then update you on some upcoming events.

We began practing in mid-October (yes, it was a little late in the season) after assembling the team at the beginning of the fall. It's been a long road practicing only once a week for an hour at a time and dealing with the regular ups and downs of a start-up team, but in 5 months, we were able to pull it all together for great year. PICS competed in January at the Eastern Sectional Championships in Charleston, SC and earned a bronze medal in the collegiate division. Six weeks later, PICS became the very first regional team in any division throughout the US to compete at the US National Synchronized Team Skating Championships in Huntsville, Alabama and the first and only regional collegiate team to exist in the country.

Being a regional team provides us with many advantages and opportunities. We can represents multiple schools instead of just one and have no geographical restrictions on what schools can participate so as long each skater is enrolled in a full-time undergraduate or graduate program. As long as you can get to practice, you can be on the team! Presently, we have skaters from Georgetown University, George Washington University, University of Maryland College Park, and Catholic University. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg and we want to expand that list! Most of our skaters have figure skating clubs set up on their respective campuses that provide us with some funding, and we are working to gain more support from our schools for the upcoming season. If you go to a school without a skating club -- No Worries!! We can certainly help you to set one up and you can skate on PICS without it as well! Our hope is to pull from as many places as possible!

Many of you had expressed great interest at the beginning of last year in joining PICS, but were unable to join due to prior committments. In hopes of getting the word our earlier and to introduce you to the team and Carrie and I, we are hosting two open-house practices in the next 3 weeks. Both will be held in College Park, Maryland at the Wells Ice Rink (5211 Paintbranch Parkway). The first of these is:

Sunday, March 23, 2003
Off-Ice 4:00pm-5:30pm
On-Ice 4:45pm-5:45pm

The second is tentatively scheduled for:
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Off-Ice 9:15am - 10:15 am
On-Ice 10:30-11:30
(This one may change - we are trying to get rid of the early Sunday morning!)
These are great opportunities to see what the team is all about. We will be available before and after both sessions to answer any and all of your questions. If you have friends who are interested as well, BRING THEM! We welcome anyone. If you don't live in the area, or cannot make it to either of these sessions, don't worry! We will not be having official team selections until next September after the start of school. This is purely for your informational benefit.

In terms of next year, we have many great plans. We will be moving to better training facilities, hopefully increasing our amount of on-ice and off-ice time, and preparing to travel to San Diego, CA for Nationals! Many exciting events lay at our footsteps and we hope that you consider becoming part of our team.

Please feel free to contact either myself (bsj4@georgetown.edu) or Carrie (Synchrosk8coach@yahoo.com) if you have ANY questions. I will be keeping you posted with specific information regarding team selections and next year's practice schedule as it comes in. Also, we may be able to arrange for you to visit your school of choice with one of our skaters if you'd like to tour a specific campus! We will do whatever we can to show you what our area has to offer!

Brienne Johnson Coach Pentagon Inter-Collegiate Synchronized Skating Team

For more information or questions about the PICS Skating Team, please contact Brienne Johnson

Starting in the month of October 2001, the Ashburn Ice House will be forming new synchronized skating teams. There will be at least one Youth team, one Teen team and one Adult team. Practices will be from 6:00-7:30PM on Monday nights. For further information, call Holly Eisenhour at 703.924.4301.

The National Blades Synchronized Skating Teams will hold their 3rd annual open house/tryouts on Thursday August 16th, 2001 from 5:50 p.m.- 6:50 p.m., and on Thursday August 30th, 2001 from 7:00p.m.- 8:00p.m. Both will be held at SKATEQUEST of PRINCE WILLIAM, 5180 Dale Blvd. Dale City, VA. Please bring your skates and come join our team in the wonderful world of Synchronized skating. We will be having 3 teams this year to include a TEEN TEAM, (13yrs and up), YOUTH TEAM, (8-12 years), and a brand new YOUTH INTRODUCTORY FORMATION TEAM, (7yrs and under). The youth and teen teams will compete in both ISI and USFSA competitions this year, including the Eastern Synchronized Skating Championships to be held in Lowell MA in January. The youth introductory team will compete in 4-5 ISI competitions this season. For information please contact one of our coaches, Margie Jenkins, 730-8423 x 104 Marina Khaltourina,730-8423 Teresa Yuengert 730-8423 x 152

Original file name: WFSC.g