“Lace up and tuck in your shirt,” Starlets co-captain Becky Haag tells her precision ice skating teammates as they wait in the locker room of the Barrington Ice Arena for their turn on the ice, their first performance of the season. “Everyone remember the long line footwork and smile the whole time.”
The 24 skaters line up shoulder to shoulder, standing on their thin blades as easily as others stand barefoot. With an air of confidence, the Starlets prepare to exhibit their newest routine. They hope to top their 1993 accomplishments, which included fourth place nationally and an invitation to the Snowflake International Championships in Detroit, held Jan. 6-7.
“I’m not nervous,” said Haag of Marengo, who has skated 14 of her 17 years, the last five as a precision ice skater.
A ballet on ice, precision skating embodies a group of skaters moving precisely as one in fast, intricate strokes across the ice. Unlike singles figure skating, no individual is highlighted, nor are large jumps part of the routine. Haag describes her team sport as a combination of synchronized swimming and the Rockettes on ice.
It’s a sport that has caught on in the northwest suburbs, with award-winning teams in Barrington, Park Ridge and Rolling Meadows.
In 1980, the Barrington Area Figure Skating Club became one of the first in the Midwest to start a precision skating team, a sport that was introduced competitively in the U.S., Europe and Canada in the mid-1970s.
Currently, there are a number of clubs in the northwest area, including the Starlets, which are affiliated with both the Barrington Area Figure Skating Club and the Wagon Wheel figure skating group in Rolling Meadows.
“(The team) has come from the dregs to where we’re usually first,” says Judi Schag of Lake Zurich, an assistant coach of the Starlets. “We just keep getting better and better. (Precision skating) is a lot more complicated than single skating.”
As the sport gained popularity, teams based in Barrington, Park Ridge and Rolling Meadows competed first on a recreational level with the Ice Skating Institute of America (ISIA), which is based regionally in Buffalo Grove.
Some teams also compete in higher caliber events sponsored by the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA), the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based governing body for all figure skaters, including those represented in the Olympics. Many teams compete in events for both associations, and often a skater can be a part of several different squads.
Precision skaters hope their sport soon will become part of the Olympics.
“Precision skating is gaining popularity because there are so many young children who put a lot of time and energy into skating, but only one or two will get to the top,” says Pat Jack, chairman for the USFSA Midwestern Precision Championships. That competition will be held Feb. 23-26 at the Pavilion of the University of Illinois at Chicago; winners will compete at the nationals in April in San Diego.
The Starlets, composed of 24 area skaters ages 12 through 19, compete on a senior level at ISIA competitions and at a junior level for USFSA contests. The Starlets are associated with the Starlites, a 20-member group ages 11 to 15; and the 24-member Stardusters, for ages 8 to 11.
Last spring, two Rolling Meadows teams-the Junior Rockettes, a 24-member group ages 7 to 12; and the Mousettes, a 31-member group ages 5 to 7-earned top honors nationally in their age groups at the ISIA-sponsored World Recreational Team Championships.
The Jazz Babies, made up of 80 girls ages 5 to 18, are based at the Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge and draw members from as far away as Crystal Lake and Wheeling. Last year, four of the five Jazz Babies teams qualified to compete in the USFSA National Championships.
This year, the 25 girls ages 13 and up who make up the Rolling Meadows Diamond Edges will compete for the first time against the Starlets as an ISIA senior precision team. Diamond coach Leanne Pierce is realistic about her team’s debut.
“Right now we’re concentrating on making a senior team and keeping it going,” says Pierce, 25, of Rolling Meadows. “They have a lot of work to do, but they can do it.”
Obviously, the key to precision ice skating is practice. The skaters are judged on their speed across the ice, their unison and the difficulty of their footwork as they transform their lines into circles, wheels and spins; and whether they keep in rhythm with the music.
After tryouts in May or June, teams practice several hours a week to prepare for the season, which includes about 10 invitationals between January and April. Although competition is rigorous, precision skaters have a much greater opportunity than singles to vie for the top spot because it’s a team effort.
“There’s probably no girl in this rink that will make it to the nationals in singles,” Pierce says. “The girls (as a team) have a lot greater chance to go further.”
Plus, as the Starlets discover in warm-up, they’re not as lonely on the ice.
“I like (precision) better than singles because you develop lifelong friends,” says Haag, who flips her skate high up the rink wall to do a stretch.
Teammate Michelle Barrett, 16, shakes her head and groans. Two years earlier, Barrett felt burned out from hours of practice and quit the team to spend more time with classmates at Huntley High School. But the Algonquin teen soon rejoined the team.
“Everyone was born to do something, and I wasn’t happy because I wasn’t skating,” Barrett says.
Sacrifice becomes second nature to these skaters as a burgeoning number of hockey teams, precision teams and single skaters vie for ice time at area rinks. That could mean practice at many different rinks and at odd hours.
Haag rises at 4 a.m. on weekends to drive 40 minutes from her Marengo home to practice in Barrington or in rinks as far away as Rockford, Winnetka or Northbrook.
Danger also looms for the skaters. “You’re so close to each other, it’s easy to run over a person’s hand (if they fall),” says Haag, who once tripped over a teammate and sprained her wrist.
Despite the drawbacks, Haag plans to stick with the sport. “I must be crazy, especially practicing when you’re really tired and cold and don’t want to do it but have to,” Haag says. “You just can’t quit. It’s addictive.”
As the Starlets line up for their entrance, Haag adds, “It’s definitely worth it because you have so much fun.”
The skaters lock arms and slide onto the ice for their 2 1/2-minute short program. Applause rings out as their line kicks high in unison to their music. Then Barrett slips on the ice and hurries to catch up.
After the performance, Haag hugs Barrett, who mutters “stupid” to herself and blames her spill on her skates. “Michelle, stop it,” chides Haag. “It’s exhibition. We did OK for the first time.”
Families pay for the ice skaters’ commitment in time, money and patience.
Janet Satkowski of Hoffman Estates sits on the bleachers watching her daughter Julie, 13, skate in unison with her Diamond Edges teammates at the Rolling Meadows Ice Arena.
“(Precision skating) takes a lot of time, commitment and expense, but it’s good for (Julie),” says Satkowski, who teaches biology at Elgin High School. That helps pay for expenses estimated at more than $2,000 a year, plus travel costs. “What she has learned all these years, she’s putting into practice.”
For many, the benefits outweigh the expenses, which include equipment, outfits, ice time, coaching, lessons and contest fees.
“(Skating) keeps us close together because we do all this stuff as a unit,” says Pierce’s mother, Rosanne, who has another daughter, Julie, on the team. “It’s a very emotional experience when they go and compete together and do well. Mother cries.”
Simply making the Diamond team is a dream come true for Bree Boehlke, 13, of Rolling Meadows. “I want to be in the Ice Capades because I admire Dorothy Hamill,” Boehlke says. “I really enjoy (precision) because it’s competitive and fun and no one cares if you make a mistake. It’s fun to entertain people.”
It’s even more fun to win or place in tough events. The Starlets found that out in the January international competition, where they placed eighth, the highest finish for an American team.
“We’re the best,” says Haag, who lugs her heavy sports bag out of the arena for the long drive home before returning for practice at 6 a.m. the next day. “Rock on, Starlets!”
