Synchronizing Team vs TOI

My daughter's ice rink has 2 organizations that make skating close to a "team sports". One is synchronizing team. The other is Theater On Ice team. Both are in Juvenile level, which my daughter could get in. To talk about competing, they are similar. Most time they compete locally. In some years, they entered national but never win any decent place. Both practice on Saturday morning. Even the tryout will be in the same day. She wants to join one of them to compete as a team. But can't decide which one. Any suggestion?

Theater on Ice is going to be more artistic and she will learn more about that side of the sport and how to develop it better in her own skating.

Synchro is pretty self-explanatory.

This is a very basic comparison:

Synchro is more about individuals skating into formations, doing pass-throughs, and other moves, with everyone trying to keep legs, feet, arms, face, etc looking exactly the same.

Theatre on Ice includes some aspects of Syncho, yet as Ic3Rabbit mentioned - it also focuses on the artistic side of skating. Not all skaters will be executing the same moves together. For example: Some skaters may be executing jumps or spins while others are skating in the background or skating a different choreographed move.

In the past TOI included fancy, painted background sets that were pushed out onto the ice. This aspect seems to be fading away. So in some respects there is a cross-over of Syncho and TOI these days.

No such thing as a team in figure skating - if she wants to be in a team put her in a different sport; it's good for her to play multiple sports anyways. I suggest synchro if she's not very artisitic, synchro also has some shared areas with dance and pairs if that's something she's into. Otherwise Theatre on Ice sounds fun, but I've never got into it, as it's not very popular in the Great White North.

IsKAtEFaSt said:

No such thing as a team in figure skating

Click to expand...

Having participated for years in the discipline now known as Syncho, and now participating on a TOI TEAM, that statement is not true.

IsKAtEFaSt said:

No such thing as a team in figure skating - if she wants to be in a team put her in a different sport; it's good for her to play multiple sports anyways. I suggest synchro if she's not very artisitic, synchro also has some shared areas with dance and pairs if that's something she's into. Otherwise Theatre on Ice sounds fun, but I've never got into it, as it's not very popular in the Great White North.

Click to expand...

Besides teams being considered synchro and TOI, they also refer to pairs and dance as "teams" loosely.

Also, as far as "no team in figure skating" statement: I'm sure these people from the "great white north" would disagree and like to have a word.

ETA: Multi-sports don't work with figure skating very long. If the skater hopes and has what it takes to advance all the way there are many sacrifices made including schooling, and friends and family life. Multiple sports would be the first to go for many.

Ic3Rabbit said:

Besides teams being considered synchro and TOI, they also refer to pairs and dance as "teams" loosely.

Also, as far as "no team in figure skating" statement: I'm sure these people from the "great white north" would disagree and like to have a word.

ETA: Multi-sports don't work with figure skating very long. If the skater hopes and has what it takes to advance all the way there are many sacrifices made including schooling, and friends and family life. Multiple sports would be the first to go for many.

Click to expand...

I agree with saying no to multi-sports if you truly want to be committed to figure skating but playing multiple sports, especially when you're young and not committed to one sport, can help you develop athletically and help reduce overuse injuries and burnouts we often see in gymnastics or figure skating. I found figure skating took a lot of toll on my body and decided not to go through with it when I was young.

Anyways, I don't consider synchro or TOI a team sport for the same reasons I don't consider baseball or cheerleading a team sport: there's no communication or teamwork in synchro, there's no talking while you're skating and individual strengths do not contribute to the team in synchro the same way they do in basketball or football. Synchro still has elements of a team sport like a mutual respect between skaters and coaches but lack a lot of things that make a team-oriented sport. You can work on communication if your basketball team is struggling in games, but you can only rehearse the program until you get it right in synchro. Same goes for TOI.

As for the figure skating team event, I don't consider adding up points from individual performances a team sport. There doesn't have to be chemistry between the pairs team and the singles skaters for them to win the event. They won the event as a group great individuals, not as a team working together.

As an added note I have no idea who the most of people in the picture were, I don't follow competitive figure skating and the only event at the Olympics that is worth watching is hockey.

IsKAtEFaSt said:

Anyways, I don't consider synchro or TOI a team sport for the same reasons I don't consider baseball or cheerleading a team sport: there's no communication or teamwork in synchro, there's no talking while you're skating and individual strengths do not contribute to the team in synchro the same way they do in basketball or football. Synchro still has elements of a team sport like a mutual respect between skaters and coaches but lack a lot of things that make a team-oriented sport. You can work on communication if your basketball team is struggling in games, but you can only rehearse the program until you get it right in synchro. Same goes for TOI.

Click to expand...

OK, so you don't consider them team sports, but they are. All that you think isn't there absolutely is.

IsKAtEFaSt said:

As an added note I have no idea who the most of people in the picture were, I don't follow competitive figure skating and the only event at the Olympics that is worth watching is hockey.

Click to expand...

:eeking:

I'm sorry, I just can't .... This is a figure skating board. And, as a die hard Eagles, Flyers (and sometimes Sixers and maybe now with Harper, Phillies, although baseball is not my thing....) fan, I can say with certainty that figure skating is totally the best thing at the Olympics.

And advice about skating on a figure skating board, one would think, would come from people who feel the same way.

Figure skating is fun to do but the olympics is just a bunch of repetitive triples and quads. I mean, curling is fun but you don't wanna watch curling on TV, right?

Although I don't know much about curling - and I have watched it - I would like to try curling some day! Some of the rinks with NHL size ice surfaces have curling circles painted in.
(Those circles are also useful for skating lessons).

IsKAtEFaSt said:

Figure skating is fun to do but the olympics is just a bunch of repetitive triples and quads. I mean, curling is fun but you don't wanna watch curling on TV, right?

Click to expand...

Then perhaps figure skating isn't for you? With all the statements made in this thread, it has proved lack of proper information and education on our sport.

I am not one to come on here and discourage and so on but this is getting ridiculous and is an insult TBH.

-------
OP, please don't let the negative talk in this thread discourage you or your daughter from her trying TOI or Synchro.

That's interesting. The rinks for curling where I live are separate from skating rinks because they have to use a special spray to make curling ice curl-able. Never seen a curling circle on a skating rink before.

IsKAtEFaSt said:

I agree with saying no to multi-sports if you truly want to be committed to figure skating but playing multiple sports, especially when you're young and not committed to one sport, can help you develop athletically and help reduce overuse injuries and burnouts we often see in gymnastics or figure skating. I found figure skating took a lot of toll on my body and decided not to go through with it when I was young.

Anyways, I don't consider synchro or TOI a team sport for the same reasons I don't consider baseball or cheerleading a team sport: there's no communication or teamwork in synchro, there's no talking while you're skating and individual strengths do not contribute to the team in synchro the same way they do in basketball or football. Synchro still has elements of a team sport like a mutual respect between skaters and coaches but lack a lot of things that make a team-oriented sport. You can work on communication if your basketball team is struggling in games, but you can only rehearse the program until you get it right in synchro. Same goes for TOI.

As for the figure skating team event, I don't consider adding up points from individual performances a team sport. There doesn't have to be chemistry between the pairs team and the singles skaters for them to win the event. They won the event as a group great individuals, not as a team working together.

As an added note I have no idea who the most of people in the picture were, I don't follow competitive figure skating and the only event at the Olympics that is worth watching is hockey.

Click to expand...

really?

How do you think pitchers choose what to throw? There is a whole lot of communication there. BTW : communication is not for me, the most important thing to define a team sport : respect is.... respect for what every player gives to the team. I was a competitive swimmer.. pretty much an individual sport... but relays felt like a completely different sport.... during a relay i felt part of a team and felt I needed to pull my weight even more.

YMMV

IsKAtEFaSt said:

Figure skating is fun to do but the olympics is just a bunch of repetitive triples and quads. I mean, curling is fun but you don't wanna watch curling on TV, right?

Click to expand...

Yeah, so my bar friends were addicted to curling during the last Olympics. It’s also a popular sport to watch for finance people (and the best thing about having to have CNBC on all the time).

But you say baseball isn’t a team sport when it doesn’t involve communication between players. From the basic calling “mine” to the catcher recommended pitches to the pitcher there is a lot of communication going on.

I recommend that your daughter watch videos of each. Both require communication between skaters and precision to the steps and timing, but there is a lot more acting and opportunity to show creativity in TOI. My daughter has done both.

PS - I think the skaters who are in the air during the TOI lifts are big believers in teamwork