Magazine
This team from Georgia showed its talent on TV
Ice Lions Batumi are coming from Georgia a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. /Credits: Ice Lions
Ice Lions is a synchro skating team from the city of Batumi, Georgia. Initially competing as a Mixed Age team, the athletes and the coaches choose to skate at a Senior level this season. Let’s meet this national team who recently took part in the famous TV Show « Georgia has got talent ».
Interview with Tatiana Jojua, team leader of national synchronized skating team of Georgia Ice Lions Batumi.
What’s the story of your team?
Tatiana Jojua: The most interesting fact is that we are first synchro team in the Georgian sport’s history. Our team was built on 2007 just as a dance group for shows, but later we saw synchronized skating on YouTube. We tried to do some elements and added them to our show programs. After that, we understood that we can skate synchro and develop it in our country as a sport.
And then?
Tatiana Jojua: Our government supports us and we made an entry for Budapest Cup. Our result (4th place) was a shock for us because we do not have any technical specialists or someone who can help us with our program. We worked hard with our coaches to understand every detail and to make all that right. So after this competition, we felt that hard work rewarded and after some seminars and practices, we took 2nd place on our second Budapest Cup. Every reward, every new element, every new step or defeat gives us the motivation to work harder and show that things just seem impossible until they are done!
Which are your team goals this season at the Senior level?
Tatiana: It’s a very big responsibility for us to skate as a Senior team. We are going to take part in the Spring Cup 2017 and I hope we will show our best there. Also, we hope to take enough points to qualify for the World synchronized skating championships.
You took part in the TV game « Georgia has got Talent » a few weeks ago. Tell us about this experience…
Tatiana: Yes, it was very exciting for us. At first, we’ve had a good experience. Secondly, the most important thing is that television is the best way to develop synchronized skating in our country. We showed to Georgian people that synchronized skating is not non-traditional sports anymore and we can make it more popular in the future.
How did the public and the TV Show judges react to your performance?
Tatiana: It was new for the public and for the TV show judges but they loved it so much. They were excited because some of them couldn’t imagine that Georgia has a team. Of course, they knew about ice skating, pairs skating, ice hockey but nothing about this amazing sport which impressed the whole audience.
What about now?
Tatiana: After TV shows and our activities, we notice that synchro starts developing and we are happy about it! Because our goal is to make synchro more popular and of course to help our big synchro family to become Olympic!
Ice Lions Batumi are training hard to become a strong Senior team. The team is practicing five times in a week (each time 2 hours on ice and 1 hour off ice). During the competition periods, Ice Lions Batumi are working during the whole week without a day off. « Our club Batumi Sport Centre helps by providing us great ice rink, sports gym and every sports inventory that we need », adds Tatiana.
