THESE female ice skaters are part of a team of 16 about to make junior ice skating history.
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They skate for Majestic Ice Synchronised Skating at Canterbury Ice Rink, under coaches Madonna Randall, Amanda Da-Pra and Aleisha Haslemore.
Majestic Ice recently returned from the 2012 Australian Synchronised Ice Skating Championships as the silver medallists in the junior competitive division.
This outstanding result secured their nomination to represent Australia at the inaugural ISU Junior World Synchronised Iceskating Championship in Helsinki, Finland, March 7-9,. World championships are now going to be held bi-annually from this year.
The Majestic skaters will go to Zagreb, Croatia, for the Snowflake Trophy, followed by the Junior Worlds, with experts brought in from various fields to ensure the team is ready to skate at their best in Finland.
The girls are Lara Morris, a year 8 student at Bethany College; Xenia Spanicek, a year 9 student at St Ursula's College; Maddison Lawrence, 13 and a year 8 Aquanis Menai student and Jessica Chapman, 17, from Danebank at Hurstville.
Lara, 13, who started skating at eight, was thrilled with the chance to go overseas and represent Australia.
"All these training sessions and hard work have led to this and I am so thrilled to be competing," Lara said.
"All I have ever wanted was to compete in an international competition since the day I started in synchronized skating."
Xenia, 14 who started skating at seven, said she was "very privileged and honoured" to be able to represent Australia.
"It's one of the special moments I have been waiting for and I'm very grateful for having been offered such a once in a lifetime opportunity," Xenia said.
" I couldn't have excelled more in my skating if it wasn't for my coaches and how much they have sacrificed and given up for the team."
Coach Madonna Randall said: "All coaches, parents and support teams were exceptionally proud of the team's performance and are excited at the prospect of Junior World Championships on the other side of the globe."
