Miami University’s international experience at the 2012 Mozart Cup
By Megan Romeo
Miami University Junior

On January 25th, 2012 the Miami University Junior Varsity synchronized skating team left our little town of Oxford to take on the world. Okay, not the whole world, but close to it. This past weekend, Miami represented the United States as one of fifteen teams from ten different countries in the junior division at the 2012 Mozart Cup in Salzburg, Austria.

It didn’t hit me that all of this was really happening. It didn’t feel real, not even as we boarded the plane, or spent nine hours up in the air. I fell asleep on the bus to Salzburg before it even left the airport parking lot, and when I woke up an hour later, it hit me. What I saw outside my window made it all so real: a fresh layer of snow covered massive mountains, and the sky was bluer than I’d ever seen. The view was literally breathtaking. We were definitely not in Oxford anymore.

We spent our first day in Austria touring and exploring this new world around us. The team took a Sound of Music tour around Salzburg and Mondsee and spent some time shopping at the mall next to our hotel.

Then, it was time to get down to business. We had a great unofficial practice and an even better official. Before we knew it, it was Saturday night and time to compete the short program. “Representing the United States of America, Miami University!” We skated a clean program, and put out perhaps the best performance of the season. The program received a score of 38.47 landing us in 5th place.

Sunday night, the team went into competition with a “put it all out there, you’ve got nothing to lose” attitude. None of us wanted to leave the competition with any regrets, ifs, or should haves. We skated another clean program and received an overall score of 108.22 landing in 7th place. Later that night, we watched the Ice ‘Kateers senior skate into 6th place with an overall score of 119.84.

The weekend ended with an awards ceremony where all 28 participating teams took the ice. The flags of the 11 countries represented hung at one end of the arena. That moment when I was standing in a sea of skaters is the one I will cherish most from our trip. To be surrounded by people from all over the world and know that even though we speak different languages, come from different lifestyles, and seem so different, we are unified by this sport, this passion we all share.

Overall, this was an experience that no one on our team will ever forget. We will always remember the experiences we had and the friends we made. Thank you everyone at the Mozart Cup and Ramada hotel for an incredible weekend! Go Team USA!