The True Believers - By Richard Hammond

 Tomorrow, Wednesday 24th March, the 21 skaters of Team Australia depart for the 2004 World Synchronized Skating Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Synergy, the Australian Senior Champions will represent Australia for the fifth consecutive year at the World Championships. But, it almost didn’t happen.

Synergy returned from the 2003 World Synchronized Skating Championships in Ottawa, Canada thrilled with their improved 17th place and the lasting applause of a knowledgeable and appreciative crowd at their unique paired cartwheels, walkover somersaults and combination lifts which matched the best teams for innovation and athleticism.

The return to training in June for the domestic season was a quiet affair with the retirement of over half the team after the 2003 World Championships. It became apparent that developing the team for the coming season was going to be a “one step at a time” affair.

The skaters gave up nothing in their desire to succeed. They worked tirelessly to attract new team members, raise funds and train. July, August, September and October came and went, the team grew but each step was a struggle. The arrival of the internationals kept the momentum but it was hard. We came to know the surviving Synergy skaters from the 2003 team as the “True Believers”. They had nurtured faithfully the idea that Synergy would survive, train well and make it to the Australian Championships.

On a warm Sunday night in November last year, it was announced that Synergy would again represent Australia at the World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2004. It was incomprehensible that such an inhospitable season had given Synergy such a result. Not just surviving but doing so with great flair. Synergy looked toward Zagreb. 

Training resumed in January with a few retirements and before long training was in full swing. The attraction of the World Championships was a great incentive. Then the unexpected, on medical advice a team member was forced to reconsider continued training. The Synergy Synchronized Ice Skating Club had to then seek a decision from Ice Skating Australia on an eligibility rule for international representation. The club was uncertain how to read the rule. After much consideration it was found Synergy did not comply with the rule. The nomination to the 2004 World Synchronized Skating Championships was withdrawn.

The news was devastating. The team met later with team management and the club and still with the fight and determination that had become the trademark of the “True Believers” it was resolved to appeal the decision.

 The appeal lodged, time passed and it seemed the chance to represent Australia again was slowly but surely slipping away. Two days before the competition entries were due in mid March the decision came down. The appeal had been won. Synergy was jubilant and ecstatic. It was, they said, a just reward for everything the season had thrown at them.

 The organization kicked in. Travel agents, costume suppliers, parents and club administrators went into overdrive to make the deadlines. The team gathered in Brisbane within days and with some urgency managed two months of training and preparation in just a few weeks. It has been a tough and gruelling preparation to bring the team up to standard. It is not an experience for the feint of heart or the weak of will. It has been a job for the “True Believers”