With the United States Figure Skating Association's (USFSA) National Skating Month campaign just coming to an end and the excitement of the Olympics Winter Games just around the corner, ICELAND skating rink - a Long Island landmark for ice sports and recreation - keeps the enthusiasm burning with a series of exhibitions staged by the talented coaches and figure skaters of its resident training school, the Peter Burrows Skating Center.

First up to start the series on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 11:50 a.m. are the Ice Devils, a synchronized skating team, coached by Manhasset resident and Burrows' faculty member Liz Eldredge, who has been at the forefront of the sport's development here on Long Island for the past six years. The senior team's members (Eldredge also works with a junior development team), range in age from 12 to 16, and hall from towns across Nassau and Queens Counties. This year's competitive seniors are: Paige Ellison and Kim Hollingsworth of Baldwin; Jessie Shoaf, Bayside; Heather Franz, Lauren Johnson and Ashleigh Whitfield, Freeport; Eve Hochhauser, Long Beach; Amanda Iseppon, Nicole Iseppon and Morgan Waisner, Merrick; Kelly Gallagher, Pt. Lookout; Rodenellie Pleuvoise, Gabrielle Sylvain, Valley Stream; Jennifer Garton, Nikki Silver, Wantagh; and Joanna Mosenson of Woodbury. The Ice Devils are annual holiday performers for the Town of Freeport's Recreation Center and the Long Beach Arena. They have also commanded center ice at the Nassau Coliseum for the New York Islanders. The exhibition at ICELAND marks the team's final appearance before competing at the Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid on Feb. 24 - 26.

Synchronized skating is a relatively new sport, but one that offers the figure skating athlete an opportunity to experience his or her chosen pursuit as part of a team, and not just as an individual. As a result, it has been widely embraced by parents eager to encourage their young skaters, who often train in relative isolation, to participate in a more sociable activity. Sychronized skaters frequently continue to compete as members of college teams.