The following transcript was taken from an interview with Joe Blount, the President of the Board of Directors for The Skating Club of Boston. Joe was instrumental in bringing Team Excel to The Skating Club and feels strongly that synchronized skating is an important program for the club. Joe was interviewed the night of the Nationals send-off for Team Excel.

The Skating Club of Boston has a long and storied history in which community building has always been a goal. Please tell us about the importance of community building and how The Skating Club has been so successful at it.

Our goal at SCOB is to encourage positive communication, cooperation and camaraderie among the skaters, coaches and families. One of the biggest contributors to community building is Ice Chips. I call it the big melting pot, where all the new skaters get to know the existing skaters.

The Junior Activities Committee is also important. Tonight for the Team Excel Nationals send-off, there will be seven to eight servers and they are all skaters. The Junior Activities Committee (JAC) operates on it’s own but is monitored by a Board liaison. They set their own agenda and do they own thing with the support of the club. They handle the Halloween party, the Christmas party and the own event in honor of Mary-Louise Wright.

I also feel strongly that these send-offs get people together so they get to know one another – so the skaters get to know one another – because they all skate at different session and different times of the day. Over the years, I’ve observed that these things are beneficial to the club.

We hosted our largest ever Basic Skills competition two weeks ago. The competition went from 6:00am in the morning to 9:30pm at night. And we were monitored by U.S. Figure Skating. The USFSA monitor sent a nice email to Paul Crugnola (the local organizing committee chair), Susie Wherli and myself. He asked one of the skaters who was volunteering in the accounting room, how long she’d been there and how long she would stay if asked. And she said that she would stay all day. That’s the kind of thing you get when there’s a sense of community at the club.

We also see a lot of camaraderie among the skaters. I constantly get feedback from competitions, the people who know me in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, who say, we knew your team was here because they were all supporting one another.

And I’m starting to see it from the Team Excel teams too. As a matter of fact, the best thing that could have happened to Team Excel was Skatefest back in February. Because I had a lot of feedback from club members who saw the skaters and were very impressed with their performances. And that was very positive.

Readers may be surprised to hear about the wide variety of programs at The Skating Club. Please tell us about them.

A lot of people are surprised by the number of programs that The Skating Club has. In fact, someone from US Figure Skating recently asked me if we were overwhelmed by it all. And while I jokingly answered yes, the truth is that the Board views all these programs as critical to keeping the club going and building membership. If we don’t have membership, we can’t really do what we want to do with competitive skaters and teams. We’ve been really fortunate that the synchronized skating and theater on ice programs have been so popular.

Basic Skills is another program that is a high priority with us. While it brings revenue to the club, it also creates a base of skaters who are acquiring skills necessary to participate in our other programs. And the Basic Skills program has grown in leaps and bounds since September, both in Brighton and at Metrowest. We even added a new session on Sunday night in Brighton.

The only program that has not received sufficient attention is our ice dance program. It is an integral part of long range plan and we are in the middle of interviewing candidates to direct that program.

Synchronized skating has been offered at The Skating Club for a number of years. Can you tell us what it adds to the mix at The Skating Club?

Ben Wright can give you a little more history about synchronized skating at The Skating Club of Boston. We had a synchronized skating program years and years ago. The coach, I believe, was Bobby Black who has since passed away. He was a top-level singles coach but he loved to coach synchronized skating. They called it precision skating at the time.

If we could have a team at every level, that would be ideal. I’m sure that someday that will happen. But I’m very impressed with the way that Team Excel is organized and the way that Merita directs the program. The structure that her training program brings has been a very positive thing for the club. And at the Board meeting last Wednesday night, everybody was very positive. As I said, I’m really impressed and think that Team Excel had an excellent inaugural year.

Merita Mullen articulated her vision for Team Excel that included a strong developmental program, volunteerism, mentors who are passionate about the sport and, of course, training national and international competitors. How do these ideals fit in with those of The Skating Club?

Merita’s vision is directly aligned with what we want to do at The Skating Club. And as a former club member, I think she understands that. So it’s a positive thing. And in the long run, her vision will match what we are trying to do beautifully. I am pleased as is the majority of the Board.

As the club president, you are directing a number of important projects for the future. Can you tell us about one or two of them that might interest the synchronized skating community?

The long range plan is in process and a new facility is the goal. We are trying to get it up and running for 2012, which will be the 100 th anniversary of The Skating Club of Boston. I am not sure we can make that happen but it would be nice if we could. That program has taken a tremendous amount of time from several people over the last six months. We have identified a site but haven’t brought it before the membership because we are waiting to see the financial implications. The site is six miles from the club as are our other two options. Our first choice is being diligently pursued and we hope to have a major announcement soon.

Then we have a tremendous interest in what we are doing with our programs and with our satellite location at Metrowest. Even with the new facility, we will continue to build Metrowest to the best of our ability because it feeds the main club and gives beginning skaters a place to learn closer to home. I anticipate that the skaters who really become very competitive will want to slide over to the main club and practice at the main club.

We have another new program recently proposed by the coaches, Mark Mitchell, Peter Johansson, Bobby Martin and Carrie Wall. They proposed a high performance program that includes off-ice training, nutrition, on-ice, scheduling and basically anything to help skaters through the entire process of preparing for championships at the end of the long skating season. They hope the program will help skaters stay strong and healthy, cut down on injuries and help with overall wellness. That’s the goal but we’re starting slow with a pilot.

As I said, we are also trying to re-energize the ice dance program. We are considering getting it started at Metrowest and that’s still a possibility but at the moment, the Board has too many things on our plate. But we are not going to drop it because it is a critical part of our long-range plan.

We are also trying to help the skaters develop the Junior Activities Committee and increase overall participation in the club. We have a group of young high school students and some good parents who are helping.

I’m very pleased that I have the Board that I have. But the Board has been dealing with too many day-to-day operational details. To help with this, we are also investigating adding an Executive Director to help. That Director would prepare us for the new facility and get us in better shape operationally.

The future seems bright.

Absolutely!

Joe Blount is the President of the Board of Directors of The Skating Club of Boston.

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Being Treasurer of a brand new organization is a lot of work! Not as much work as the skaters and coaches of course, but still enough to make me say "Phew" each time a deadline is met.

One milestone recently met is the acceptance by the IRS for our tax-exempt status. Just because an organization is formed without shareholders doesn't mean that it can solicit and receive tax-deductible contributions. I am pleased to say that we now have that status and are permitted to accept contributions now. Donations to Team Excel might be matched by your employer too so please check with me if you have a matching gift program at your work and don't know if we are eligible. Although most gifts to charities are in cash, we are happy to accept gifts of stock too for savvy donors who want to avoid the capital gains on their appreciated securities.

Another recent accomplishment of the Board is the passing of revised Bylaws that will help us be a better organization. Good governance comes from clear rules and we now have them. More on that and our membership structure as we approach the Annual Meeting in the Spring.

The Treasurer also has the task of keeping up with the monthly payments but the more fun job of ensuring that we have the structure in place to audit our books at year-end, reconcile the bank accounts, and approve expenses as they come up. We're still actively looking for volunteers to help us with the detailed tasks of allocating expenses to the correct lines and making sure we are sticking to our budget. We use QuickBooks to process the transactions so if you have skills in that area and would like to work (much can be done at home or while at the rink on a laptop) please let me know by dropping me a line at treasurer@excelsynchro.org.

The Finance Committee is already looking to next season’s budget and learning from the lessons of this season to improve on the efficient flow of information about finances to the hardworking volunteers who make the team run.

It's been an exciting year. From the financial side it couldn't have run any smoother. Thank you to everyone for making your monthly payments as required and a special thank you for those who were in positions of leadership and saw to the efficient purchasing of what we've needed to keep the team rolling!

Gary Pforzheimer is the Treasurer for Team Excel and is therefore an officer of the Board.

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Did you go to college, and realize how much you miss skating? Well, it’s not too late to transfer to Excel University!

The Team Excel Collegiate line, jokingly referred to as Excel University, was created in an effort to provide skaters with the opportunity to pursue synchronized skating after high school. All too often, skaters sacrifice their passion for synchronized skating to pursue their education, or skaters sacrifice their education to keep skating. At Team Excel Collegiate, we combine the best of both worlds by allowing skaters to continue to skate competitively, while attending the college of their choice.

Team Excel Collegiate is unique from other collegiate teams because we accept skaters from any college or university in the New England area. This year, our team represents Brandeis University, Bridgewater State University, Brown University, Cape Cod Community College, Curry College, Emerson College, Johnson and Wales University, Merrimack College, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, Stonehill College, UMass Amherst, UMass Dartmouth, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The only requirements to skate at the collegiate level are that the skaters are full-time students, and have passed Juvenile MIF. Therefore, we even have a graduate student, making our age range 18 to 27 years old.

Having an intercollegiate team definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. Certainly, starting the team was easier since we had the whole New England area to draw skaters from, instead of relying upon the population of skaters at one school. Therefore, we were able to attract synchronized skating veterans as well as skaters who were passionate about continuing to skate, but hadn’t ever tried synchro before. However, because the skaters attend different schools it is sometimes difficult to coordinate schedules, set up carpools, and have the skaters come back for practices during break. We also do not have school funding, so we are very invested in fundraising to keep the costs down.

Unlike the other lines at Team Excel, the Collegiate line is managed by the skaters. In our first year, we have two team managers who split up the administrative, clothing, and on-ice matters. We also have many subcommittees, such as the fundraising committee, which have their own set of specific responsibilities. Running a Collegiate team requires a lot of attention to detail, problem-solving, commitment, and help from others! It isn’t an easy feat, but with the help from teammates and the other members of Team Excel, all of the tasks involved with running a team can be easily achieved.

This year the Collegiate line is skating to Slumdog Millionaire, and our program has been beautifully choreographed by our extremely talented head coach, Megan Walsh. We recently competed at the Colonial Classic, and we look forward to see where the rest of our debut year brings us. Our next competition is Easterns, and would love for you to be there to cheer us on!

Team Excel and The Skating Club of Boston are excited to host the inaugural Boston Synchronized Skating Classic. The competition will be held on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at the Skating Club of Boston. The Boston Classic will offer competition in the Beginner 1, 2, and 3, preliminary, pre-juvenile, open juvenile, open collegiate, and open adult divisions. We are pleased to be a part of the Eastern Synchronized Skating Challenge Series. This competition is one last chance to earn points for your team!

In addition to the competition, we are offering two clinics led by Merita Mullen, Director of Team Excel and coach of national medal winning and US world synchro teams, and her coaching staff. Team Excel and Merita believe that synchro is built from the ground up, and we hope these two clinics will introduce new skaters to the sport and foster a greater commitment to the sport in introductory levels. In keeping with the mission statements of both Team Excel and the Skating Club of Boston (found here and here) we hope this competition, along with the clinics, will promote and encourage the sport of figure skating and synchro, and help prepare skaters for a future on nationally competitive synchro teams.

Prior to the competition (at 11:00) we will hold an Intro to Synchro Clinic for Basic Skills skaters (Basic 3 or higher). This clinic is intended for skaters who have never before tried synchro. They will be able to spend 45 minutes on the ice learning the basics of synchro and then watch the competition, as admission is included in the clinic fee. Parents of clinic participants can also purchase discounted tickets at the door the day of the competition.

At the conclusion of the competition, we will hold a complimentary synchro clinic for competition participants and their coaches. We hope that your whole team will be able to participate, but individuals are welcome even if the whole team cannot stay. In addition, coaches are invited to stay for the clinic, with or without their team’s participation.

Team Excel is excited that the 2010 Boston Synchro Classic is a competition devoted to the foundation of the sport of synchro. Team Excel and SCOB are proud to have a solid base of volunteers with many years of practice in hosting successful competitions but we welcome any other ideas that would help to improve your team’s experience at our competition. Details about the competition and entry forms can be found at our website. Questions can be directed to Deanne Benson, Competition Chair, at info@bostonsynchroclassic.org.

We look forward to seeing you on March 27!

Krista Benson is a member of the local organizing committee for the 2010 Boston Synchronized Skating Classic and the Team Excel coaching staff.

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Team Excel is very proud to present seven synchronized skating teams during our very first season! We are fortunate to have a Synchronized Skating Director with a focused and thoughtful vision who has set organizational goals; an amazing coaching staff and off-ice trainers who prepare the skaters on- and off- the ice; and really great skaters from more than eighty dedicated families.

And as everyone will tell you, “All you need for a great skating team is the coach, the skaters and the ice!” Right?

Well ...

There are also the outfits: formal competition dress, formal practice dress, travel outfits, practice wear. Who fixes it when competition dresses arrive with the skirts on backwards? ...

And transportation: how are the skaters getting to the competition: plane, train or automobile? Who are the people movers on competition day? ...

And the care and upkeep of skaters: who is arranging to feed and care for 20 skaters when practice ice is a 7:30 AM and they compete at 9:30 PM? ...

And finances: How do we create and manage a budget in the spring providing sufficient ice and coaching for each team to prepare for national and international competitions? ...

And competitions? We have volunteers with expertise, but do we have the facility and support to host a competition in our very first season? ...

Finally, what about the future? What lies beyond the blush of the first year? How can we be a viable, strong and growing organization focused on synchronized skating for years to come?

On Team Excel, off-ice support of the coaching staff and skaters is separated into 3 main groups:

• We proudly represent The Skating Club of Boston at all sanctioned events. The Skating Club of Boston has been generous and supportive from day one in both their Boston and MetroWest facilities. The Skating Club has helped us to host a Synchronized Skating Summer Camp, invited us to Friday night exhibitions, included us a holiday showcase and, excitingly, assisted in the planning of the first Boston Synchronized Skating Classic on Saturday, March 27 to be held at The Skating Club of Boston.
• The Board of Team Excel focuses on long-term planning, strategic issues and executive decisions that will impact Team Excel for years to come. They run the organization as a non-profit 501c3 and work to ensure that the executive business and the vision of the Director of Synchronized Skating are synergistic.
• And who is lucky enough to answer the rest of these questions and thousands more? The Steering Committee! The Steering Committee performs all the daily support and operational functions for the coaches, teams and families.

The Team Excel Steering Committee includes the Director of Synchronized Skating, a Committee Chairman, 8-12 Subcommittee Chairs and individual Team Managers. Monthly meetings cover ice schedule and performance planning, competition and travel logistics, publicity and public relations, competition and team clothing, finance and fundraising, rules and policies, and updates from each team and the coaches.

The Committee Chairman facilitates the monthly meetings, coordinates cross-organizational efforts, helps elucidate barriers so that they may be removed, and takes on additional tasks where needed. The Director of Synchronized Skating brings both the on-ice perspective and more than 20 years of synchronized skating experience to the meeting. The voting members (of which, the Director is one) have the final decision on operational matters.

The Skating Club of Boston, The Board and the Steering Committee complement one another in important ways from support, stability and years of experience all the way to successfully managing team performance events. This is all done in the context of the Director’s vision to have a singularly focused synchronized-skating organization combining synchronized-skating experienced coaches, trainers and supportive volunteers with developing skaters and teams in a nurturing and value-based training environment.

I am interested in hearing from other synchronized–skating organizations. How do you manage your day-to–day, team-to-team logistics; how do you get all the work done while ensuring that you are focused on the vision of your organization? We’d be interested to know and happy to share what information we could to promote the sport of synchronized skating.

Stay Warm,
Nicole

Nicole Castro is the mother of a Team Excel Juvenile skater and a Team Excel Beginner skater and the Chair of the 09-10 Team Excel Steering Committee

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Last spring, I decided to follow my vision of a synchronized-skating focused organization that would combine synchronized-skating experienced coaches, trainers and supportive volunteers with developing skaters and teams in a nurturing training environment as the goal. It is my dream to be able to make detailed and specific decisions for my synchronized skating teams – in order to provide them every advantage to perform successfully and to the best of their ability.  To realize that dream – I needed equally strong support both off and on the ice.  To that end, Team Excel was created with a singularly focused Board of Directors and Steering Committee to help me make organizational decisions based on the well being of synchronized skaters and teams.   On the ice, we benefit from having older accomplished skaters mentoring and nurturing younger skaters, inspiring them with personal passion and excitement for our sport. Volunteerism is what supports a synchronized skating organization  and I feel strongly that this philosophy should apply to the skaters as well. The competitive synchronized skaters of today, are the technical specialists, judges and coaches of tomorrow.

A devoted, smart, supportive and large group of volunteers donated their personal talents to help me realize my vision. We were prepared to be an individual member club but were generously approached by an established and well-respected club to join and represent them.  We were able to affiliate in a manner that allowed for the support of a generous skating organization, while enabling the synchronized skating teams to have their own  voice.  The vision was coming to life.

Tryouts blew me away. Over one hundred skaters auditioned for my new organization Team Excel, representing The Skating Club of Boston. I was overwhelmed with the response. Numerous graduated skaters and family members came to assist in that process. My vision was validated and I was touched to my very soul.

We work very hard!  The Preliminary and Beginner teams learn teamwork and developmental-level yet quality synchronized skating elements and transitions.  The Juvenile, Novice and Junior teams are being challenged with difficult IJS programs. (Yes, even Juvenile as they must be prepared to be Novices and Intermediates.)  I have many supportive senior skating mentors: Lee Ann Filosa, Nikki Sullivan, Ally Bejma, Domenica Fuller, and Melissa Delano.  I do not ask – they simply appear at practice to work with the teams at all levels.  What a gift to the skaters of Team Excel!  My own daughter Katherine volunteers as off ice-dance choreographer for Juvenile and Novice. Many people contribute in many ways.

Team Excel had our First Monitoring and Competition this past weekend. I had butterflies. It was our debut! Junior Monitoring was very satisfying. Not much work to do!  Megan and I were relieved.

Then at the Thanksgiving Classic, hearing "and now, representing the Skating Club of Boston, Team EXCEL" as my Juvenile team took the ice absolutely gave me goose bumps. It gave life and breath to all of the support, the hard work, and to my vision. We won our first 2 Team Excel medals in the Juvenile and Beginner divisions. I was approached by so many coaches and synchronized-skating friends who wished me and my new organization the very best. I was touched by their kindness and consideration.  Synchronized skating really is a community and I love my community.

Reflecting on the competition, I thought to myself: "OK, here we go." We have much work yet to do, but who doesn't at this time of year? We are on our way, and eagerly working toward whatever comes.  Megan, Kristin and Krista, I am proud to have you on my Coaching Team; we keep each other going and laughing.  Skaters of Team Excel:  Great job, first time out. Let’s get to work!