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I smiled at my team in the stands as I skated a lap around the rink passing flags from Finland, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. I had the honor of representing my team, and the United States, during opening ceremonies, wearing my Team USA jacket and waving an American flag.

I am a synchronized skater on The Colonials based out of Acton. We have girls that join our team from all over New England. Cassie Angelakis and I are the only team members from Concord. Everyone describes our sport as the Rockettes on ice. We have a team of 20 girls, flying around in formations, on blades a quarter of an inch wide, doing intricate footwork in perfect synchronization. To accomplish successful performances we practice more than 10 hours a week as a team all year round.

Last week my team represented the United States of America at Worlds in Nottingham, England. We earned the honor, along with one other team from the United States, back in January at the World Qualifier, which was held in Lowell. Teams from all over the country came to Lowell to battle it out for a spot on the USA World Team. Placing second in the short program and winning the long program made us one of the top two teams in the country, and secured us our trip to Worlds.

Qualifying for Worlds was an accomplishment in itself. My team had never qualified. In 2006 we placed second in the short program but did not skate very well in the long, which allowed Chicago Jazz, the only team to represent the United States at Worlds every year, to edge us out of second into third. This year was no exception for Jazz, but it was for The Colonials. Finally it was our year.

The qualifier was one of the first competitions of the year, which made the course of our season a little confusing. We had to peak for the qualifier. We put everything we had into our performances that weekend. But after we succeeded in qualifying we still had an entire season ahead of us. We had our international in France, the National Championships in Colorado and Worlds within five weeks. The flow of the season was new to us as competitors and athletes.

Before I knew it we were in England and it was time to begin practicing. We walked from our hotel to the rink for the first time wearing our new light blue Team USA jackets. We passed Team Canada in their matching red jackets on our way and it made me feel like we were walking around the Olympic village.

Our first practice was an hour long. We were all jet lagged and hadn’t gotten much sleep on the plane, but somehow we managed to practice really well. There was pressure to perform well at every practice because we were always being watched. By practicing well we would make everyone aware of our presence.

Even though our team has competed internationally for more than a decade, we were not well known at Worlds. Being the underdog was much less stressful. We were at Worlds to skate the best we possibly could and to soak up the experience. We didn’t care about placement or the outcome of the competition because we were satisfied just to be there.

One of the coolest parts of competing internationally is off ice warm up. Every team does it a little differently, and it’s interesting to see and hear other countries’ routines. On my team we do a calm warm up, but we break into an intimidating, upbeat dance, and then do a stretch circle while blasting music from “Step Up.” We get pumped up by performing it, but it’s especially awesome when other teams watch. We warmed up next to Finland a few times during the week, and I was in awe of how graceful each skater was even off the ice. The area outside the National Ice Center in Nottingham was perfect for teams to run around, stretch and do team activities, such as our personal favorite “Musical Indian Chief.”

On the day of opening ceremonies, our team was getting ready to eat lunch at our hotel when Anu, our choreographer from Finland, walked into the lobby. We all stared in disbelief.

Anu’s teams were the 2006 World Champions in the Junior and Senior levels, but this year her team didn’t qualify for Worlds. Her team wasn’t there, yet she flew from Finland to support us. Anu was the inspiration for our short program to Michael Flatley’s “Celtic Tiger.” Our coach Merita had been telling us all week to skate with a little Finnish in us to make Anu proud. Little did we know that Anu would be there. She never lets us down.

After a few days of practice sessions, team meals and a little bit of shopping, the competition was under way. It was great to have Anu in the locker room when we were preparing to compete. We did our usual rituals such as blasting music, cheering, the perfect run through, the squeeze and the tribal dance. The tribal dance was a tradition that we started at the beginning of the season when our whole team gets in a circle and we take turns dancing in the middle. Our team leaders gave us speeches about how proud they were to have us representing the United States, and finally it was time to compete.

I wasn’t nervous at all. We knew our programs better than I have ever known a program in my life. We trained them longer and harder than any year in the past. We were confident and ready to show the world our program no matter how we compared to the other teams.

We skated a strong, clean program with no mistakes. Getting off the ice after the short program we had no regrets. Our scores went up, but all that really mattered was how we felt about our performance. We had our team picture taken and we asked Anu to be in it. After the picture we watched a team from Finland compete and were in awe of their precision and grace. Finland always has the best teams in the world, and we were able to see firsthand. The scores went up and we were shocked because we placed ahead of them. We ran back to the locker room yelling and screaming.

While we went to dinner our coach and one skater stayed behind at the rink to do the draw for the freeskate. When our coach arrived she had us all huddle around: There had been a software error on the computers and it turned out we were not in sixth place after the short program, but seventh. The news didn’t phase us, though. We were happy with our performance and there was nothing we would have changed.

The next day we competed our long program to songs from the Broadway musical “Wicked.” It was our last of everything. Our last time competing as a team. My last time competing on my team. The day was emotional, especially for the eight seniors. We did our warm up, our last perfect run through, I got my last “be awesome” hug from my coach. We stepped onto the ice for the last time. We nailed our program one last time.

We were all overwhelmed with emotions. We were proud to be at Worlds, and we were proud of the way we skated our program. We were also upset that it was our last skate as a team because our team this season had a special bond. I was sad to be experiencing things for the last time. I wasn’t ready to leave my team and my coaches.

Sitting in the stands after we finished competing was still a mix of emotions. Happiness and excitement soon joined the mix when we found out that we pulled up two spots in the freeskate, finishing fifth overall. We became the highest placing first time World competitors from the United States, and with Chicago Jazz placing third, we also became the highest overall placing U.S. World Team in history.

The festivities of the week still weren’t over. We went to a James Bond themed competitors party and celebrated with skaters from all over the world. We spent our last day together touring London visiting sites such as the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and of course, Harrods. It was a week that I will never forget with a team that will always be in my heart. As we like to say “One Team. One Tribe. One Family.”

For more information about The Colonials Synchronized Skating Teams, and information regarding tryouts for the 2007-2008 season, visit www.colonialsynchro.org.

Nicole Davies is a senior at Concord Carlisle High School and student intern for The Journal. She has skated with The Colonials for eight years.