Photo Credit Cynthia Slawter Photography
By Taylor Dean
Thirty-time U.S. champions, the Haydenettes find new ways each year to push the envelope of synchronized skating.
This year is no different, but with new rule changes and more room for creativity, the Norwood, Massachusetts-based squad has new ideas in store for a year in which they hope to showcase their love for skating and enjoy every moment.
The early season began for the Haydenettes at Champs Camp in August, the first year a synchronized skating team was invited to the high performance camp. While there, the skaters worked with the same coaches as the other disciplines, enhancing their singles skills and even learning some new pairs and ice dance moves.
Fifth-year Haydenette Autumn Coulthard said it was a blessing to attend Champs Camp and have access to those crucial resources while working alongside other Team USA athletes.
“It’s really special to be held to the same standard as the rest of the disciplines,” she said. “Even when it comes to pair spins, individual spins or the jumps – and getting creative with the different lifts has been awesome.”
Beyond Champs Camp, Rosa Hahn, who is in her second season with the Haydenettes, added that the team has been working with Skating Club of Boston pairs coaches and Olympians Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir to incorporate spins, death spirals and other elements that crossover between the two disciplines. The roster of coaches and resources available to the squad at The Skating Club of Boston have helped them implement more difficult elements in their skating.
“Having that experience really helps us hold ourselves to that same standard that we really admire from the other disciplines,” she said. “It helps us incorporate that similar professionalism and performance aspects into our own skating.”
With their first competition in Budapest on the horizon, the five-time World bronze medalists hit the ground running after their holiday break. With a team comprised of many new skaters to the Hayden senior team, every moment on and off the ice matters to create a unified bond amongst the skaters.
“The skaters this year bring new talent, new skills and things I couldn’t even do at their age to the team. There’s a lot of strength and new perspectives to see how the junior division has changed,” Coulthard said.
Hahn added that every skater brings an incredible amount of talent and something new that the team hasn’t had before, so the goal is unification.
“Maybe that means incorporating something that a new skater has brought or a new perspective for the skaters that have already been there,” she said. “You have to learn to adapt to skating with anybody, and we’re really focusing this year on our energy as a team and incorporating that unity and strong team dynamic.”
“The team is very new this year,” Coulthard added. “Every year it gets harder, so we’re really trying to rebuild. Especially coming off of a home Worlds year, a big focus this year has been to enjoy the performance aspect and cherish our passion and love for skating.”
The Haydenettes hope to showcase their passion for skating in two programs that incorporate very different aspects of skating. Their short program to “Claire de Lune,” performed by Imagine Music has a more lyrical, soft theme, while their free skate to “Who Wants to Live Forever,” performed by The Tenors featuring Lindsey Stirling, will have sharper, edgier movements. The songs, theming, choreography and more difficult skating skills will give audiences and judges a fresh perspective of what the Haydenettes can be.
“There’s a contrast between the two programs, and they both show our different personalities on the team and what we enjoy personally as skaters,” Hahn said. “For ‘Clair de Lune,’ we need to look like ballerinas and the program is a showcase of the love for the sport. In the free skate, it’s more our attack and our drive that shows – the energy we put behind it.
“These are very different programs than typical Haydenette years. We have this theme of embracing the joy of skating and the process this year. It’s a dream for us to be on this team and we’re all where we want to be. The idea is to not take that for granted, but be humble, be grateful, work hard and push ourselves, and that’s what is going to come out in the programs this year."
Hahn said that the goal is for each skater to be personally invested in the programs and team as a whole, so that the energy behind each piece shines its brightest. For Coulthard, part of that investment meant looking at the meaning behind the lyrics of “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
“The song is ‘Who Wants to Live Forever,’ but it can also be ‘who wants to skate forever’?” she said. “Everyone wants to skate forever, but we have to skate every performance like it’s our last and soak up every moment. I think both pieces let us do that.”
With two brand-new programs and a suite of interdisciplinary resources, the 2024 season is shaping up to be an outstanding year for the Haydenettes.
“We’re trying not to just tick the boxes,” Hahn said. “We’re really trying to come up with something that other teams may not be doing. We want to show that we’re creative people, we’re creative athletes and we’re dedicated to skating outside the box.”
The Haydenettes compete at their first international event, Budapest Cup, this weekend. Follow their results with the Challenger Series Synchronized Skating Competition Central. Later this season, the team will look to go for their 14 straight U.S. title at the 2024 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships. To purchase tickets, visit ussynchrochampionships.com.
