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!