LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
’88 Haydenettes remember first title
I had the pleasure of connecting with Hall
of Fame coach Lynn Benson and several mem- bers of the 1988 Haydenettes, who that year won the storied program’s fi rst U.S. title. From that moment on, the organization
from Lexington, Massachusetts, has been sim- ply dominant. In late February, the Hayden- ettes secured their 25th U.S. title and eighth consecutive national crown. All of those championship teams have
their own unique stories, but the fi rst will al- ways be the fi rst, and it was fun to hear from those skaters who started this synchronized skating dynasty. The Haydenettes arrived in Reno, Neva-
da, in mid-April 1988, seeking their fi rst gold medal at the fi fth National Precision Champi- onships. The team was composed exclusively of high school-age girls from Lexington and the surrounding Boston-area suburbs. A showdown between the defending
champion Fraserettes of Fraser, Michigan, and the Haydenettes unfolded after the prelimi- naries at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. The two teams had competed a year earlier at the same marquee event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with the Fraserettes winning gold and the Haydenettes claiming silver for the second consecutive season. This year, though, things would be diff er-
ent. Led by Benson, founder (1979) and coach of the Haydenettes, the team dominated with a highly acclaimed and popular Broadway show number that, according to a story in SKATING magazine, “combined beauty, grace, energy, Ina Bauers, spirals and lunges into one compact package.” “I remember a choo-choo train move that
we had, which mimicked a move that the ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean had in one of their programs,” said skater Anna Monaco, who today has two daughters in the Hayden program. The team received a standing ovation and the gold medal. “We worked hard for many years togeth-
er to master what our coach Lynn Benson was teaching us,” skater Nicole Hayes said. “We were so excited when we won our fi rst nation- al title.” The team shared a “tremendous sister-
hood,” skater Lisa Lucy said. “Most of us girls had skated together
since 1986 and on,” skater Sif Ferranti said. “We kept losing, but we were so close. We fi nal- ly knew it was going to happen. We had the program down and trained so much and it all came together.”
One of the main highlights for the 4 APRIL 2017
Haydenettes was receiving a 6.0 score during the event’s preliminary round. “It was the fi rst perfect score ever award-
ed to a team,” skater Liz Calore said. “Standing there on the ice [there was no
kiss and cry] and watching the judges hold up the score cards was so exciting,” Monaco add- ed.
Benson, who went on to notch 15 U.S.
titles through 2005, remembered that the coach of the Fraserettes was the fi rst person to walk onto the ice and congratulate her. “When I’m asked which was my favorite
team, I say I can’t say my favorite but one of my favorites was that fi rst win at nationals,” Benson said. “Nobody who was there will forget it and I think those girls have a lovely memory to cherish.” The team stayed at the Golden Nugget —
Monaco’s mother hit a big jackpot on a nickel slot machine — and the staff there sent each member of the team a key chain that looked like a large gold poker chip, with the year “1988” and “U.S. National Championships” en- graved on it. Although the team was too young to
partake in Reno’s nightlife, they celebrated in one of the parents’ rooms, where a father made a toast to the team’s accomplishment. On the fl ight home, the plane’s captain
recognized the team on the loud speaker, and the Lexington Fire Department escorted the team as it returned to town. At a team banquet, a parent of one of the
skaters presented each girl with a gold brace- let, Ferranti said. Ferranti has posted most of those early
Haydenettes performances on YouTube, and maintains a Facebook page that connects those early teams. At press time, she was dig- ging around her house, looking for the two performances from Reno that are on a CD. She and many other former Haydenettes
have kept track of all the Haydenettes teams over the years. “We have a saying as Haydenettes: Once
a Haydenette, always a Haydenette,” Monaco said.
There’s also a reminder of that team
hanging in Cooke’s Skate Supply in Wilm- ington, Massachusetts: A signed copy of the Haydenettes’ SKATING magazine cover from June 1988. “My son gets a kick out of seeing it when
we go in there to get his hockey skates,” Calore said.
A full page SKATING magazine cover of the champion 1988 Haydenettes is included in the April digital edition of SKATING magazine.
U.S. FIGURE SKATING Licensees
U.S. FIGURE SKATING Suppliers
U.S. FIGURE SKATING Sponsors
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70