Audition!
April 8
Welcome to audition for Team Surprise!
If you have questions contact
Andrea Dohany tfn: +46 705 91 48 22
Karin Gustafsson tfn: +46 707 75 45 08.

Kungälv, Oasen;
Fredag 18 april 21-23
Söndag 20 april 15-18
Fredag 25 april 21-23

Kungsbacka;
Lördag 26 april 10-13
Söndag 27 april 10-13

See you there!!

We also got a question on our guestbook about what it takes to skate in Surprise and we hope the following text will give you a hint (sorry it is in swedish)

Först och främst måste du vara villig att satsa minst tre år. Det tar mängder med träning och tid för att få ihop ett stakt och samåkt lag. Därför har Andrea satt ett krav på att alla ska satsa minst tre år.
(Där kan tilläggas att flera av oss har åkt 5-6 ända upp till 10år)
Kostnaden per år ligger på ca 30.000kr fasta avgifter (terminsavgift, medlemsavgift, lägerkostnader osv.). Där efter tillkommer kostnad för utrustning, klänningar, slipning, resor osv. Dessa kostanderna varierar beroende på hur många sponsorer vi har, hur mycket bidrag och stipendier vi får och så vidare.
När det kommer till träning är det ordinarie träning 5-6ggr/vecka som gäller. Utöver dessa bör man räkna med att träna extra minst en gång i veckan hela säsongen.
Detta ligger på ditt eget ansvar att sköta. Men självklart är det bara att ta tag i närmsta lagkompis så får du hjälp.

Att åka i Surprise kräver mycket ansvar, träningsvilja och diciplin. Men samtidigt så är det en helt fantastisk resa att utveckla sin åkning till max och pressa sig till sitt yttersta för att kunna kröna ett slitigt år med ett VM-guld tillsammans med ett gäng tjejer och en tränare som man inte kan känna annat än kärlek till!
Det är teamåkning när den är som bäst.

Back home!
April 2
Now we are back home from Worlds and as most of you know we did not get the gold we wanted. Soon you will be abel to read all about our trip and comments about the competition. Until then we can inform you that the auditions is next up. Time and place will be posted on our site so stay updated. /Surprise

Counting down
March 25
Today we are leaving for Budapest, the goal of the season World Synchronized Skating Championship 2008 and yet another adventure. After a great performance at the figure skating WCC gala last Sunday we are prepared to challange the world. On the trip we will try our best to update as much as possible./Surprise

Videos online now!!
March 24
Here are some addresses to clips from Eurosport. It is the opening of the gala,our free program and the closing of the gala. Enjoy!!
(we are trying to get the opening and the commersial so that you who doesn't live in Sweden also can see it)

World figure skating championships 2008
March 20
Not only is it just a week from worlds in Budapest. This week our hometown has been invaded by the spectacular World Figure Skating Championships 2008.

Earlier this week we have been performing at the opening cermony.(wind 5min)
43skaters, 1pianoplayer (Robert Wells), 1singer (Sofia Källgren), 1 dancegroup (Twisted feet inkl. our dance teacher) entertained about 8000people in the arena inkluding the HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who made us the honor to open the championships. Tonight we were invited to a coctailparty by the Swedish Figure Skating Association and later on the pair's final. What an inspiration

Later this week we will be cheering on our Swedish skaters Victoria, Adrian and especially Krisoffer since he is our dear clubmate. Best of luck to all of You! Don't forget to watch the gala on Sunday. We will perform our freeprogram and skate with the champions in the grand finale!

!!By the way, did you know that four Surprise skaters are in the
commersial spot that are broadcasted on TV everyday before the competitions start!!

Surprise + Sponsor show = true
March 5
Every year we have a show for our sponsors and the press. But we also invite everyone we know to come. This year we had to made some kind of record because it was really a big crowd that cheered us on when we skated our short and free program. We also showed the opening ceremony show that we will skate at World figure skating Championship in Gothenburg in just two weeks. 40 skaters, a lot of speed and accessories. It all went very well and our guest single skaters, Gabriella, Nanna and Lina, did a great job entertaining the crowd when we changed dresses.
Thanks for the help, girls!
And a big thank you to all of you who showed up and all your patience when we fixed the music problem!

Over and out
Surprise


Surprise + Nationals in Jönköping = true
March 2-3
The bus that picked us up in Landvetter on Saturday morning was of the delux, extra fancy type. Allots of tables and big space for the legs and a U-shaped couch in the back. Good for a bunch of girls with a lot of sequinses to sew and stones to glue.

To skate at nationals are always something special and this year was no disappointment. Before us our club-mates in Team Bluebird and Team Spirit had skated their very best and now we wanted to do the same. With all the love we could bring we skated like we never skated our short before. Calm, confident and just taking it to the next level. The feeling after the skate was indescribable. We got a score of 81p.
That evening we were invited to a surprise dinner. We were driven to the parents of Matilda beautiful home and they served a great dinner. Thank you so much!!

The next morning we got the news that almost all the teams had got sick, except for the teams that had not participated in the skater’s dinner the night before. We didn’t want to take any risks so we made all warm up outside and all dressing in the bus. Now we were really pleased having such a luxurious bus!

When it was time for us to skate the free the arena was boiling and it felt like a mini Worlds. A deep breath and then we were off, skating better than we ever skated this program before. Afterwards it was a blur of happiness, relief, adrenaline and pride among us. And when the speaker announced a total score of 226.93 it all exploded in hugs, kisses, tears and smiles, not only in the “kiss and cry”. You can only imagine! Than we went home in our luxurious bus and started to reload for the next performance three days later.

Over and out
Surprise


Surprise + Neuchâtel trophy = true
February 15-16
It is something special that happens with the body when you enter an airport at 5.00am. Especially when you are in team Surprise, because then you know it is competition time! Weiii!!! After checking in it’s always time for breakfast and of course glue stones and sew sequinses. The decoration process on our dresses will never end! Actually it was a miracle we could even bring our new short program dresses. We have had trouble getting the fabric and when it finally arrived we had one week to sew and the dressmaker was abroad. Thank God we have such a great team of mothers that could help us. Two days before we left for Neuchâtel we went in shifts to Hanna’s house to try them out, put on skirts, make shoulder straps and draw lines were to put the decorations.

We arrived in Basel midday with one broken and one lost suitcase. But the sun was shining so we were happy anyway. After a two-hour ride by bus we reached our final destination, the beautiful and picturesque village of Neuchâtel.

Now the hunger was a fact and since the hotel restaurant could only provide us with pizza - that was what it was going to be. Erika and Victoria had some bad luck with the food although. They ordered a pizza to split and when the food was served it was raw. The girls told the waiter and he brought them a new one just 10minutes later. Great service we thought! It looked good but appearances are deceptive. It was also raw and contained a raw egg as well. Not at all what they ordered. The third pizza they got was finally well baked, not what they ordered, but it was eatable.

The competition started, like all competitions with the draw. But this time we all got to vote to approve that one team skated with one skater short. One of the Surprise skaters (don’t want to mention her name *lol*) didn’t hear the reason why, she thought they said that one skater was in church... they said she was injured. We all laughed so hard!!! We got starting no.3

At practise it was soooo cold in the arena and we realised that to be able to get eye contact with the judges we would be in the risk zone to get a crick in the neck. But since we always try to turn all things into positive experiences we decided to see it as good practise to really reach out to the audience and judges with our body language. At the competition we skated the short better than in Berlin and the changes we made from last time felt good. That evening when we were waiting for the food, we got an assignment from our captains. We were supposed to write one good thing about everyone on the team and our team leaders and Andrea. It was a great feeling to read all those good words written about you by people that really know you.

The free program we skated as the last team in the whole competition. You could really tell by the size of audience. All the teams were on the stands cheering us on. Great job guys! Although it did not help, we did not skate good at all with many misses in MIF, the last three row steps and NHSS. We also had one fall in the very end.
But what does not kill you will only make you stronger! We ended up with a total score of 196.24 and a beautiful cowbell instead of a trophy.

The Sunday in Neuchâtel was wonderful. The sun was shining and we had a great time just hanging out with the girls and enjoying the free time with charades and other games. The flight home was a small disaster. The first flight was delayed and when we arrived at Charles de Gaulle they had a special bus just for us. So after 30min of stress, checking in again, running trough the airport, getting stuck in the security check and almost missing our connecting flight, we could, just a bit sweaty, enter the same airplane standing at the same place with the same staff as we 30min earlier left. Sometimes life is ironic.

Over and out
Surprise


Read about other adventures