As the period draws to a close, the hockey players exit the rink and leave behind a sheet of ice mangled by their sharp turns and sudden stops.

“And now welcome to the ice for their first performance of the season, the University of Illinois Synchronized Skating team,” the announcer cries.

With that, 16 women enter the icy arena and the music begins for a crowd that is unsure of what to expect. Yet, by the end of the program, the team has grabbed the audience’s attention and earned its applause.

Founded in 2001 originally as the Illini Edge, the renamed IllinoiSkating team has been competing and performing since. At one point, the IllinoiSkating team consisted of both a collegiate and open collegiate team, but then moved up a division and transformed into a collegiate and senior team; however, this year IllinoiSkating will field only a collegiate team.

A collegiate team requires members to be registered Illinois students. A senior team is in the highest division with advanced moves and skills. The first- and second-place winners in the senior division earn the right to represent the United States at the World Synchronized Skating Championships.

Consisting of synchronized skating veterans, single skaters, pair skaters and even past ice dancers, the IllinoiSkating team has become a cohesive unit on the ice, gliding to each move in harmony.

Junior executive board member Stephanie Rydecki, sophomore in FAA, came to IllinoiSkating with both single and synchronized experience but said she prefers synchronized skating for the team characteristic.

“I really like performing and feeding off other people’s energy,” Rydecki said. “In the program, you can look, lock eyes with someone on your team, and you’ll smile more than you’ve ever smiled before. Because it’s like, ‘yeah, you’re cheesing it up, I’m cheesing it up.’ I really like performing with my girls and I really like the family aspect.”

The performance during the hockey game was the first in a series of exhibitions before the start of the competitive season.

The team will be the featured act in the annual fall exhibition Saturday at the Illinois Ice Arena at 4:30 p.m. IllinoiSkating will perform twice, in addition to a few duets and single skaters. It will then skate in the Starlight Exhibition, which will be held in the Chicago suburbs on Nov. 17.

In addition to exhibitions, the team hosts a variety of fundraisers with one taking place Saturday. From 8-10 a.m., the team will be hosting a pancake breakfast for $5 at the Applebees on 2121 N. Prospect.

Beside achieving a greater level of familiarity for IllinoiSkating with students and the community, these events help quell nerves before the competition season starts.

“No one at hockey games knows what is going on,” assistant coach and IllinoiSkating alum Carah Ferrill said. “But it is good because it’s a fresh audience that you really have to sell what you’re doing to.”

Yet, these home practices and exhibitions have drawbacks for the team when competitions arrive because of the larger size of the Big Pond at the Illinois Ice Arena.

“When we skate at competitions, it’s a little scary because we might run into the boards since we have so much room here,” Rydecki said. “We have to shrink our program and we’re not used to that. So we take that practice ice when we have competitions very seriously because we need to get into the form where we can still do our program.”

The team will start its competitive season Nov. 22-23 at the Kalamazoo Kickoff in Kalamazoo, Mich., followed by two other competitions. Midwest sectionals will be held Jan. 23-25 to determine qualifiers for nationals, which will be held in Colorado Springs, Colo., from Feb. 26 to March 1.

Freshman Ellen Gou has performed on a synchronized skating team since middle school, but she has noticed the collegiate program is faster paced. Gou still recalls how she felt the moment she truly felt like she had formed a bond with her teammates, which is critical to synchronized skating.

“Completing our first runthrough was great,” said Gou. “I don’t even remember what practice or what day it was. But just getting through the whole program was a really big accomplishment because we had continuously done parts of the program. But finally putting it all together, it just felt really good.”

With a renewed passion from the older members and newly discovered one from the new members, the commitment has shaped an improved IllinoiSkating team, and a hope to spread the sport’s interest.

“We have just a stronger team in general,” Rydecki said. “I’m not too worried about it. We’re further along this year than we ever were last year at the first competition.”

Charlotte can be reached at [email protected].