By Dan FletcherThe Daily Northwestern
As Weinberg senior Brittany Bettendorf left the ice after her last performance Saturday, she said she knew the skating team she helped start was in good hands.
In 2004, Bettendorf founded Northwestern’s Purple Line Synchronized Skating Team because she wanted to share her love of the sport with others and meet other skaters at NU.
About 250 students and community members attended Saturday’s show at Evanston’s Robert Crown Center, 1701 Main St., to see just how far the team has come since its inception.
“The team has really developed well and I know they are in good shape for the future,” Bettendorf said. “The team will do better and better every year.”
This year was the most successful in the team’s history, after earning gold medals in the open collegiate divisions at both the Midwestern Sectional Championship and the Mid-America Synchronized Skating Competition, first-year coach Kathy Janik said.
“It’s been magical, amazing,” she said. “This is the first year they’ve ever medaled, and to earn a gold medal at both events is wonderful.”
Team president and Weinberg junior Corey Merrill said the exhibition was a chance for the team to perform for the public without the stresses of competition.
“We could just go out and have fun and be a little crazy,” Merrill said.
The 14-member team skated to several of Aretha Franklin’s better-known songs, including “Respect” and “Son of a Preacher Man,” in a nearly seven-minute routine. Afterwards, individual skaters and small groups performed their own routines for about a half-hour.
Weinberg sophomore Abby Ratcheson said she went to the exhibition to see a friend, Weinberg sophomore Samantha Ridgway, perform, even though Ratcheson said she was unfamiliar with synchronized skating.
“She’s really into the sport so I thought I would come see what it was all about,” Ratcheson said.
Skokie resident Terri Bernstein said the exhibition was a good way to expose people to synchronized skating as a sport. Her daughter was part of the Skokie Village Starlights – a young amateur team that skated a routine in the exhibition.
“I think it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know about synchro, so the more people who can find out about it, the better.”
Weinberg freshman Marguerite Summer said she was impressed by the Purple Line’s performance, which she said was the first synchronized skating event she had seen live.
“I thought it was beautiful,” said Summer. “I realized I could never do that, which made it that much more impressive.”
With 14 skaters, the team remains fairly small.
Janik said the team is not for NU students alone. Although most skaters on the team are from NU, membership is open to anyone who is a full-time student at a regional university. One skater on the team is from nearby DePaul University.
Merrill said anyone interested in skating should “definitely” consider joining the team.
“It’s a good way to meet people and come out and have fun and not be too serious,” she said.
And although Bettendorf is leaving the team she founded to study medicine, she said she isn’t ready to completely break formation just yet.
“I’ll be at every one of their events I can possibly go to,” she said.
Reach Dan Fletcher at [email protected].
