Bridgewater-Raritan Grad Skates to Spain Competition

Just two years out of Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Northeastern University sophomore Alyssa Posner is preparing to represent the United States through her skating in a competition in Spain.

“The Nations Cup, being held in Spain this year, is theater on ice’s version of World,” she said. “I never thought I would be able to represent our country through my skating, and am so excited to be able to do so.”

Posner is a member of Team Excel Collegiate in synchronized skating and Theater on Ice Team, Act 1 of Boston. The latter competed in nationals in June and came in second place, earning them a spot on Team USA to compete in the Nations Cup at the end of April.

“It was something I was not expecting at all, and I still can’t really believe it,” she said.

In addition to the Nations Cup honor, the team earned the gold medal at the 2013 Eastern Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships in New York in February.

And Team Excel Collegiate of Boston is one of the pre-eminent synchronized skating teams in the Northeast, with a 21-girl squad.

Synchronized skating, Posner said, is one of her biggest passions, after already being an ice skater for 13 years.

“It is a beautiful sport, and I love being able to be a part of a team,” she said. “The team aspect was what was missing from singles figure skating for me.”

Posner has been in synchronized skating for four years.

As a member of Team Excel Collegiate, Posner said they came in first at the Eastern Sectional Championships and fourth in Nationals this year.

“This was a truly incredible season, and I am so proud and honored to have been a part of the team,” she said. “Everyone really came together and I can truly say my teammates are my best friends. Both competitions were exciting because I personally, as well as the team, had never placed that well.”

Posner said they brought home the first Synchronized Skating National Medal for their home club, the Skating Club of Boston.

“The experiences were surreal to me,” she said. “I kept thinking six years ago I was in a back brace and thought I would never skate again. Five years ago, I had never done synchronized skating.”

When she was in eighth grade, a condition in which a bone in the lower part of the spine slips out of the proper position onto the bone below it.

After wearing a back brace for several months, plus months of physical therapy, Posner was back out on the ice.

But aside from her skating, Posner is moving forward in her physical therapy studies through the university, and will be on co-op for six months during which she will be working as a physical therapist.

For two months, Posner said, she will be doing an internship in South Africa, where she thinks she will be working at Woodside Special Care Center, a home for profoundly intellectually disabled children and young adults, working in their physical and aquatic therapy program.

From there, Posner said, she will be working four months in Boston at Furnace Brook Physical Therapy.

“I am so excited to have these opportunities and am so lucky that everything has worked out thus far,” she said.

But aside from all that, Posner said she also will be focusing on improving her skating.

“My goals are to keep working at being the best skater and teammate I can be,” she said. “I have grown so much every season, and I am looking forward to continuing to improve.”