Two or three days a week during the winter months, Lynne Ford walks out the doors of Case Western Reserve University's Adelbert Hall and puts on her dancing shoes—ice dancing that is.

Ford, who is secretary of the university, spends several months a year competing on a nationally ranked synchronized ice skating team called the Cleveland Edges.

The 12-member team performs meticulously choreographed pieces-on blades on ice-in local, regional and national competitions.

For the past two seasons they were invited to participate in the highest level of competition-the World Competition in France-as a result of their overall performance record. Unfortunately, they could not attend because they received little notice, and the competition took place during the week before Christmas. Ford said to be invited at all is an honor in which the team can take great pride.

Ford currently participates at the master's level in the sport she describes as "a dance review on ice." The master's level requires that the majority of team members be 35 years or older and allows 25 percent of the team's skaters to fall within the 25- to 34-year-old range.

In the team's first year skating at the master's level, they placed second in the nation.

Ford's team competes from December through March. They travel mostly to the Detroit and Chicago areas, but the sport does not limit itself to cold climates. The national tournament this year takes place in San Diego, and large clubs exist in sunny spots like Florida and Texas.

Twice a week, the Edges, coached by Jeff Marshall, hold one-hour practices on the ice at the recreation center in North Olmstead, Ohio. As the season progresses, they hold a third off-ice practice to work on footwork, relative position, head-turning and other movements that need to occur in unison.

Ford said she first began ice skating as a girl in Montreal, where "you get skates with your first pair of shoes."

Although she watched skating in the Olympics, it was the social aspects that peaked her interest.

"It was more my local friends who said, 'It's a great activity, wouldn't you like to come and join it?'" she recalled.

Ford considered skating only as recreation until reading a newspaper article 16 years ago about a group forming a team of competitive synchronized skaters. It was a few years later before friend and fellow Case employee Karen Hendershott joined that team and recruited Ford.

Though Ford has skated her whole life, she insists that no experience is necessary to get involved in synchronized skating. She said her team members are open to training interested people all the time.

"There is no doubt about the fact that competing and doing well is really a lot of fun, but I don't think it is the main aspect for our group-or most groups," she said. "It is the feeling of being on a team and accomplishing. The feelings of loyalty are strong. My teammates are my buddies."

Ford also said she enjoys being on her tightly knit team because they share equally in both successes and failures. She describes "the strong spirit with our group" as one of its greatest assets.

"You always hear horror stories of teams that argue and blame each other," Ford said, "but our group has been good at celebrating the successes and joining in mistakes."

And that bond does not break after a skater retires from the team-be it to have children or because they no longer feel as though they can be competitive.

"We do stay in touch because that is a friendship that you have shared the down-and-out hard stuff with," she said.

In addition to the camaraderie, Ford said she loves that competitive ice dancing allows her the opportunity to meet people from other parts of the country.

"They'll talk about how their team is doing, or we talk about what we do off the ice," she said. "It's always amazing to see how many different walks of life people come from who get into this sport."

Ford also praises the physical-and emotional-benefits of synchronized ice skating.

"It is a really great way to relax and to concentrate on something other than the stresses or concerns of everyday life," Ford said. "Concentrating, working on something like this is a really freeing kind of activity."

Return to the online edition of the 2-12-04 Campus News.