Our Director of Synchronized Skating:
Diana Dandro is our head coach and director of synchronized skating. She skated with the Miami University Redhawks which have won 12 National Titles and have had multiple top ten World finishes. She is from Lake Placid, NY and skated competitively for 15 years. She has coached synchronized skating at the beginner, pre-juvenile, open juvenile and Masters adult level. She has coached teams at both sectional and national competitions.
Mission Statement:
The mission of Southern Stars Synchronized Skating is to teach synchronized skating fundamentals, good sportsmanship and to build young leaders. Everything we do with the program is for the betterment of all our participants. We accomplish our mission by continually striving to become better team skaters, individual skaters, coaches and parents.
Team Commitment:
Team members and their families are committing to the team and its membership standards for the entire season. The commitment involves being at all practices on time, skaters giving the best ability at each practice, parents fulfilling their financial obligations to the team and both skaters and parents upholding the expectations stated in the membership standards. Any breach from either a skater or a parent may make the skater ineligible to skate in competition.
The Big Picture:
Synchronized skating is a team sport in which 8 - 20 skaters perform a program together. It uses the same judging system as singles, paris and dance and is characterized by teamwork, speed, intricate formations and challenging step sequences. Synchronized skating is a popular discipline both within U.S. Figure Skating and around the world. U.S. Figure Skating held the first U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships in 1984 and also hosted the first World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2000. There are approximately 525 synchronized teams registered with U.S. Figure Skating and nearly 5,000 athletes participate annually in the synchronized skating sectional championships.
To learn more about the elements in a synchronized skating program, click here. To learn more about team definitions (levels, age requirements, test requirements and number of skaters per team), click here.
Learn More:
Membership standards for the 2010 - 2011 season are available here. Please click the button below if you would like more information about SSSS or have questions about our program.
