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From Broadway Parade to Queen of the Streets Rockettes, one of the most long-established synchronized skating teams in Finland, was founded as the junior team of the HTK(The Helsinki Figure Skating Club) for the season 1984-85. The highest achievement of the first season and almost like an omen of their future success at home and abroad - was the gold medal in the National Junior Finals of 1986. In the 1980´s, Rockettes was coached by Seija-Maria Tuukkanen and Outi Kunnas. Rockettes´ first international competition was during the season 1988-1989 in Canada. The following year, their bags were packed again, when they and a few other Finnish senior teams took part in a competition in Sweden. The highlight of this season, however, was the Milk-Precision Competition in Helsinki. For the first time, the Finnish spectators could watch the performances of all the world´s top teams in the same competition. In the first Finnish Championships in 1990, the Rockettes were crowned Junior Finnish Champion. They also took the same title the following season. At that time, the team was coached by Anu Jääskeläinen and Outi Kunnas. The 1992-93 season saw major changes in synchronized skating at both national and international level. In addition to the free program, a technical program was introduced with the purpose of giving the teams an opportunity to show their technicalskill. During this season, Rockettes began to compete in the senior series, now coached by Pia Linnomaa. Their legendary .horror dance. brought them the Finnish Championship. In the first Nordic Championship Competition of synchronized skating, Rockettes won the silver medal and was the best Finnish team. The next season continued along the same lines, bringing another Finnish Championship celebration and a lot of happy memories. During the 1994-95 season, Rockettes took part in two international competitions in North America. The team returned home with thousands of memories and bronze medals from the Snowflake Precision III held in Detroit. The end of the season was less successful: for the first time, the team had to settle for second place in the Finnish Championship competition while Marigold of HL (the Helsinki Skaters) took the gold medal. The 1995-96 season introduced a new international profile for synchronized skating as the first unofficial World Championship competition was arranged in Boston, USA, under the title of the World Challenge Cup. Rockettes had the honour of representing Finland together with Team Unique of HSK (the Helsinki Skating Club). The fifth place achieved by Rockettes secured two places for Finland in future competitions. In the following season, the World Challenge Cup was hosted by Turku, Finland, and Rockettes gained seventh place. Rockettes meets Kaisa The 1997-98 season is remembered as the season of changes. Pia Linnomaa, the team´s former main coach, moved permanently to France and Kaisa Nieminen took charge of the team. At the same time, there were drastic changes in the team´s composition. Nevertheless, the new Rockettes were able to train hard and managed to win the Finnish Champinship and even gain success on the international arenas. The 1998-99 season is bound to be remembered by many friends of skating and Rockettes fans. With their short program to the rhythm of jive and their free program skated in the landscape of Hamlet, Rockettes won a medal in every single competition in which they took part. At the turn of the year 1998-99, the team won bronze medals in Providence, USA; later in the year, in Turku, they secured the Finnish Championship with a beautifully skated free program. But the jewel in the crown was yet to come: the first ever Finnish medal in the first-class events of synchronized skating was won by Rockettes who came third in the World Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. First ever World Championship Competition The following season again brought the world´s top teams to Finland, when Helsinki hosted the Finlandia Cup competition. Rockettes performed their new short program and came in second. There was a hard fight for the Finnish Championship; the final result for Rockettes was the silver medal. But the absolute peak of the season were the first World Championships of synchronized skating held in Minneapolis, USA, where Rockettes gained fourth place. The 2000-2001 season brought nothing but success for Rockettes. The team won both of the two qualifying competitions for the Finnish Championship, the Finnish Championship finals, and the North American International Synchronized Skating Competition in Orlando, Florida. The season then culminated in the World Championships in Helsinki, where Rockettes , after a sligthly disappointing short program, showed an immense will to win and finally gained a silvermedal. .A silver equal to gold., read one of the newspaper headlines the following day. The team entered the next season bursting with new, young energy. Having had a rather shaky first half of the season, the team found the right direction in February. The first place in the Milano Spring Cup and the 2nd place in the Finnish Championships tasted sweet after the earlier difficulties. However, the success of the final part of the season 2001-2002 was not enough to qualify the team for the World Championships. The Finnish Championships of 2002 in Helsinki therefore marked the end of the season for Rockettes. In 2002-03, Rockettes´ themes were Moulin Rouge for their free program and Rain Dance for short program. The team never quite managed to give their best performance in competitions during this season. While they won the Spring Cup in Milan, they only managed to reach third place in the Finnish Championships, again failing to become one of the Finnish representatives in the World Championships. The planning of the programs for 2003-04 began early in the spring already. The disappointments and setbacks of the two previous years made Rockettes practice more than ever. The themes for this season introduced to the ice two powerful women: Cleopatra with her willpower and determination, and and Evita with her beauty and touching life story. In spite of careful preparation, the first two competitions of the season were not as successful as expected. Nevertheless, in the Finlandia Cup in January, Evita finally blossomed and Rockettes skated straight into people´s hearts. They became second in this international competition, an achievement which kept the door open to the World Championships. The next competition was the Neuchatel Trophy in Switzerland where the team got acquainted with the new scoring system and polished up their performance for the Finnish Championships in Turku, the final test for the WSSC. Withstanding the pressure, Rockettes skated with skill, elegance, and strong will, gaining both second place in the Finnish Championships and a place in the World Championships in Zagreb. In Croatia, all went well again, and after an absence of two years, Rockettes made themselves (and many others) happy by winning the bronze medals. Great Figures Rockettes celibrated its 20 anniversary during autumn 2004. New judgement rules brought challenges to the season but Rockettes was eager to show its lyric Love Story and awesome Murder on the Orient Express. Rockettes travelled to Berlin and won the Berlin Cup. Silver was the color of the season. RCKT got silver in Prague Cup, in Finnish Championships and also in World Championships with the highest points ever to Finnish team. During the season 2005-2006 also in Finland the competitions were judged according to the new rules. The themes were: proud and sliding short program, the Flame of the Night Forces, and strong magical free program, Voodoo. RCKT won gold in Berlin Cup and silver in Nottingham where the Russian Paradis won the both Finnish top senior teams. The World Championship competition was full of surpires, RCKT was sixth after short competiton and climbed to bronze medal to also its own surprise... 16 = true ISU announced the new 16-rule. Small and dynamic group full of young energy started the season dancing in Music Video. Street life opened both the dark and scary side of the nightly streets. Rockettes returned from the European turnee with gold medal from Prague and silver medal from Rouen. Even though Rockettes was the only Finnish team during the season who did not loose to any foregin team, RCKT was not able to qualify to the World Championships (missing 0,19 points were bitter to accept). ...The story to be continued..... |