Sean Kay. Angela Yang. Alexandr Kirsanov. These people were among those killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 5342. The story was heard around the world, but what some people are unaware of, is that it affected a smaller community much more. Among the passengers were young ice skaters, coaches, and family members traveling from a national development camp for the best skaters in the country. For Chloe Ramcharan ‘26, this tragedy hits on a personal level. Ramcharan competed against Kay in multiple skating competitions, and everyone she knows seems to have some connection to the crash.
The skating community is small and tight-knit compared to other sports. Competitive skaters know and compete against skaters from all over the country on a regular basis. Ramcharan has been immersed in this community since before she could remember, and she has been skating with the same teammates for over ten years.
“It’s just really devastating because of all the pure talent that was on that flight and everyone was just so young,” Ramcharan said. “I think it’s really important that the media is publicizing our community a lot because it’s just so tragic and these skaters were some of the best, youngest talent in the country.”
Ramcharan has made lifelong friends from the sport, including Shira Hanauer ‘25. They skate together on the junior team of the Hockettes at the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club.
“My favorite part [of synchro] is my teammates,” Ramcharan said. “It’s genuinely such a strong, like bond we have because we’re together for so long. We’re practicing together, late nights and early mornings and that kind of thing, like all the time together. They’re what keeps me staying at synchro because they’re my best friends.”
The team consists of 18 junior skaters aged 12 to 16, and the skaters come from as close as Ann Arbor, or as far as Ohio. Some skaters drive three hours each way to get to practice every day.
“We really get to know each other really well and we all share the same goals and aspirations, which really drives me and drives everyone to work as hard as they can together since it’s a team sport,” Hanauer said.
Being a synchronized skater comes with a demanding schedule. Ramcharan and Hanauer practice three times a week with their team, as well as individual practices with private coaches. This adds up to five to six days a week at the rink for an average of four hours per practice. On weekends, they can be at the rink for up to nine hours.
“It’s definitely hard because we also have to miss a lot of school,” Hanauer said. “But it’s really about communicating with teachers and finding out what works for you in terms of getting work done. Like, maybe you have to do things on the bus rides instead of talking to your friends and it’s taught me how to manage my time really well.”
However, aside from the skaters, the team’s success is also attributed to the coaches who work with every skater. The Ann Arbor Hockettes Junior Team is coached by Lindsay Clark. Clark has been involved in the synchro world for her entire life and she has coached the Junior Team for the past five years.
“I really like to work with juniors because they’re still developing their skills,” Clark said. “So it’s a challenge, but I also really enjoy the fact that we’re working together and trying to help them to reach their goals and, I think it’s a little bit easier to train a new skill than it is to teach an old one. But I think this sport teaches them as well as myself how to work with everyone.”
The beginning of the season starts with months of prep work. The team does not start competing until the fall, so they start by improving foundational skills before creating a routine.
“The team actually goes up to Canada to train with an international Canadian senior team who is known to be one of the best in the world for their technique,” Clark said. “And two of our coaches skated for that senior team, so they’ll continue to teach that technique all spring long.”
The past fall, the Hockettes team competed in the Boston Classic in Boston, Mass., and the Fall Classic in Irvine, Calif. These competitions are some of the biggest of the season, and the team must pass a certain score threshold to be considered for Team USA. Then, the International Selection Pool determines which competition the Hockettes of Ann Arbor will represent Team USA in. Since there are so many international competitions, the ISP selects multiple teams that each travel to their assigned competition.
After the Boston Classic and the Fall Classic in the fall of 2024, the Hockettes of Ann Arbor were selected to compete in the Budapest Cup in Budapest, Hungary. In early March, the team will travel to Budapest, where they will practice for the better part of a week and compete for the remaining two days of their trip. Ramcharan has high hopes for the competition.
“For Budapest, we are trying to win,” Ramcharan said. “We wanna win that one.”
An obstacle for synchronized skaters that not every athlete faces competing at an international level is funding. Every skater who represents the US is responsible for their own travel and equipment fees. Although the ISP does not cover fees, they organize the schedule and prepare to send each team overseas.
“We have to pay for all the travel fees,” Ramcharan said. “The ISP wants every team to be there for a week and they want us to be able to explore the country and have fun in that place, while still properly representing the US. They’re very strict about representing the US properly, like how you carry yourself, when you’re just like at dinner and how you talk to people and that kind of thing.”
But, before Budapest, the team will first compete in, arguably, a more important competition: the Junior Synchronized Skating Championships, better known in the synchro world as Nationals. In the past few years, the number of teams in their division has dwindled, as teams drop to lower divisions to hopefully obtain a championship in that division. The Ann Arbor Hockettes have remained, and as one of the top teams in the junior division, they are looking to place in the top five in the country.
“I think nationals, this year, I really want the team to just focus on themselves and what they’re capable of, because truly anything could happen at nationals,” Clark said. ‘I think sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves and then that does affect the outcome of the skate. So this year in particular, I really want them to just enjoy it and I want them to go out and skate the skates they know how to do and focus on that.”
After the team competes in Budapest, they have a quick turnaround. Tryouts for next season start this March, days after they return from competing internationally. As a high school senior, Hanauer will not return to the team, but Ramcharan is looking forward to the next season.
“One thing about Chloe and Shira is, it’s really clear that they both really love what they do,” Clark said. “They perform beautifully, which is really fun to watch. As a spectator watching the team, those are two people that are always gonna stand out to me and pull me into the story and make me feel something. and that doesn’t come from anything but a real true love for the sport.”
