Standing Out in Synchro: My Experience as a Black Synchronized Skater
“I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background” – Zora Neale Hurston
by Cydney Wong
My name is Cydney Wong and I have been skating synchro for about 14 years now. In synchronized skating, the goal is for everyone to look the same. We train to all move our heads and arms the same way and execute steps at the exact same time. We wear the same dresses (for the most part) and do the same hairstyles and makeup. Usually, you don’t want to stand out, but sometimes it’s inevitable. As a black synchro skater, this has been tough for me to deal with because I always felt that my skin color made me stand out from most of my teammates, making it more obvious if I ever made any mistakes. This pushed me to always work hard so that when I inevitably stood out on the ice, coaches and/or judges would see something positive, such as good posture or facial expression. Sometimes, though, other aspects of this sport like “skin-tone” mesh and certain hairstyles make black skaters stand out even more.
Finding mesh that matches my skin has always been a really frustrating process, because even though all of the teams I have skated on have made an effort to “match” mesh, dressmakers usually only have shades that are too light or too dark to truly match. Every season I find myself worrying about how much mesh our dresses will have and how much different my dress will look on me compared to my teammates. I also find myself worrying about how the makeup will look against my skin.
I’ve been lucky enough to befriend a number of other black synchro skaters throughout my synchro career, so I have friends I can go to with my worries about mesh, makeup, or any other similar situations. I’m glad that we are finally starting a conversation about this topic in the greater synchro community, so that we can work towards making skaters who don’t fit the skin color, body type, or religious affiliations of a “typical” synchronized skater feel more comfortable in a sport that rewards uniformity. I personally would like to see dressmakers put more effort into offering more variety in mesh, and overall more encouragement of skaters of different backgrounds to try skating.
When I was younger and I would watch the higher level teams at competitions, I felt inspired if a team had a black skater. Seeing someone who looked like me skating at the junior, senior, or collegiate level gave me faith that I could do it too someday. Unfortunately, I did not see many, and I think there are a variety of reasons why that is, but there are ways we can work towards building a more diverse skating community. Programs like Fort Dupont Ice Arena and Figure Skating in Harlem are two great examples of ways to draw kids from different backgrounds to figure skating, and I hope that as the sport progresses, we can push to increase diversity and inclusion at the higher levels of synchronized skating as well.