The Grosse Pointe Unified Figure Skating team opened their season on Tuesday Dec. 1, putting on a note-worthy show in order to earn third place during the competition.

“It went good. C team got third in everything, jumps, moves and spins. And then I’m on B team and we got third in moves, third in spins and I’m pretty sure sixth in jumps,” said senior Mary Emerick. “I’m not sure how A team did, but I know we got third overall so it was pretty good.”

The team is split up into A, B and C groups. A is considered the top tear and B and C precede it.

Each skater can choose to compete in three different events: jumps, moves or spins, based on what the coach advises. Some skaters can compete in just one or even all three.

“You don’t have to, but I compete in all three. Not everyone does,” said Emerick. “It just depends on what our coach thinks you should do, like you can just do moves, or you can just do spins. Or you can do all three.”

Many of the athletes compete in skating competitions independently to get extra practice and have been skating for years. This helps with their overall performance.

“I’ve been skating since I’ve been really little so I’ve been ‘training’ I guess for a while,” Emerick said. “But at practice we warm up before we get on the ice and do off ice jumps. Then for moves there’s different levels for each move so you have to work you way up. That’s how it is for everything. A lot of us have been working on it for a long time.”

The team’s overall goal for the season is to make it to states.

“You have to make first on second overall, but one team can go, like last year C team went,” sophomore Alyssa Dall said. “It’s just based on where you level.”

School rivalry set aside, the girls get along well and are united as a team.  

“They’re all really nice and there’s not really a North-South rivalry because we’re all on the team together,” Emerick said.