After a three-year break, The Sound of Synchro is back.
When OneTeamMVMT launched the podcast in 2023, the goal was to create space for conversations that could educate, connect and inspire the synchronized skating community. Season 1 featured conversations with skaters, coaches, choreographers and other voices from across the sport, exploring everything from synchro’s history to athlete experiences and mental performance.
But producing a podcast takes time, planning and capacity — and like many of OneTeamMVMT’s initiatives, it became difficult to sustain alongside everything else happening behind the scenes. After the first season, the podcast went on hiatus.
Now, with synchronized skating entering a new chapter, we felt it was time to bring it back.
Why now?
With Synchro9 confirmed for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games and the 2028 Winter Youth Olympic Games, there is a lot for the synchro community to learn, discuss and navigate.
For athletes, parents, coaches and fans who know and love traditional Synchro16, this new discipline brings plenty of questions. What will Synchro9 look like on the ice? What skills will athletes need? How will the new competition format work? And how might this development shape the future of synchronized skating?
There is excitement around the opportunities Olympic inclusion could bring, but there are also uncertainties, differing opinions and understandable questions about what this change means for the sport.
We see an opportunity for The Sound of Synchro to help make sense of it all.
A podcast for the Journey to Synchro2030
Season 2 of The Sound of Synchro will focus on Synchro9: exploring the new format, unpacking the questions surrounding it and helping the synchro community understand what we know as the discipline develops.
The goal isn't to pretend we have all the answers. It's to create a space for thoughtful, accessible conversations that help people learn, consider different perspectives and follow this new chapter in the sport with a better understanding of what's happening.
Hosted by OneTeamMVMT founder Lisa Carriere alongside Finnish coach Milja Sarkkinen, the podcast brings together different perspectives on the sport, from the bigger picture of synchro's development to the practical realities of coaching and skating.
New episodes of The Sound of Synchro will be released every other Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, bringing you new conversations and insights as we follow the journey to Synchro2030.
We'll explore the questions people are asking, talk through what excites us and acknowledge what we're still unsure about. As more information becomes available and the first competitions unfold, there will be plenty more to learn together.
Episode 1: #WhyNotSynchro…9
Our first episode is called #WhyNotSynchro…9 — a nod to the viral #WhyNotSynchro hashtag that gained traction around 2013, when members of the synchro community were asking a big question: why wasn’t synchronized skating in the Olympics? Why not give it a shot?
More than a decade later, synchro has made it to the Olympic stage. But not quite in the way many people originally imagined.
The addition of the “...9” is intentional. The original campaign was about getting the sport we knew and loved into the Olympics. Today, that Olympic opportunity has arrived through a reimagined format: nine skaters instead of 16, new program requirements and a different approach to competition.
And that raises a new question: Why not give Synchro9 a shot?
In this episode, Lisa Carriere and Milja Sarkkinen explore what this new discipline means for synchronized skating, including:
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Is Synchro9 still synchro? What makes the sport what it is, and what changes when a team goes from 16 skaters to 9?
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What skills will athletes need? Could singles skaters, ice dancers and experienced synchro skaters each bring different strengths to the ice?
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What will make Synchro9 exciting to watch? We discuss street dance, performance elements and the introduction of a battle-style competition round.
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Can Synchro9 and Synchro16 learn from each other? Could new ideas influence the wider sport while each discipline maintains its own identity?
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What are we excited about — and what are we still unsure of? We share our perspectives on the opportunities, challenges and questions ahead.
We know Synchro9 isn't the same as the synchro many of us have spent years skating, coaching, watching and loving. It changes what teams can do and what the sport looks like on the ice. It's understandable that not everyone will immediately embrace those changes.
But Synchro9 is going to the Olympics, and with that, it offers an opportunity to introduce synchronized skating to new audiences, explore different ways of performing and competing, and see what the sport can become in this new setting.
We don't have to pretend it's the same sport we already know. We don't have to have every answer. We can acknowledge what's different, ask questions and still be open to being surprised.
Why not give it a shot? It might just win you over.
Listen to the first episode
The return of The Sound of Synchro is part of OneTeamMVMT's ongoing commitment to education, collaboration and athlete development. As the sport moves toward Synchro2030, we want to help our community stay informed, ask better questions and be part of the conversation.
Listen to Episode 1: #WhyNotSynchro…9 and join us as we explore this new era of synchronized skating.
[Listen to The Sound of Synchro on Spotify HERE]
New episodes drop bi-weekly on Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m. ET. Follow OneTeamMVMT on social media for podcast updates and more educational content as the journey to Synchro2030 continues.