Page 12—SUSQUEHANNA TIMES LR = The Skating Nolts Jeff and Suzy Nolt, Mount Joy RD 3, work harder at their hobby than most people work at their jobs. The brother & sister ice skating team practices 6 to 10 hours a day, six days a week, on and off the ice, summer and winter. After ten years of prac- tice, the duo is easily among the top fifty teams in the United States, but that isn’t good enough for the Nolts. They want to be Olympic champions. So they keep practicing. Jeff, who weighs 105 pounds, lifts Suzy, who weighs 100 pounds. He holds her high above his head while they speed over the ice. He works out with weights, and expects to grow a bit in the years between now and the 1984 Olympics. Suzy, who gets acci- dentally dropped from time Zimmerman sisters in the groove Four Mount Joy sisters have cut a gospel music record. The young women, all daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Zimmerman, Jr., 122 S. Barbara St., Mount Joy, recorded most of the album in two local churches. The accoustics in Saint John’s Evangelical Luth- eran Church in Maytown are superb, according to Sharon Zimmerman, who arranged the music. E-town Church of the Brethren was not quite as good. The accoustics in the music building at E-town College, which was the only place where a piano was avail- able, were terrible. ‘‘I had to throw a rug over the piano,’’ says Sharon. The recording was the brainchild of Tim Eshelman, a DHS grad and electronic engineering student. Tim is a souna engineer, whose credits include several commercial recordings. (He was sound engineer for the recent Lancaster County Jr. Miss Pageant). Tim approached Sharon about the possiblility if recording several months ago, and managed to talk Sharon into the idea. The Zimmerman girls had been singing with their family ever since they learned to talk, but the four of them had never harmon- ized in public. They got together at their parents’ house to practice. The family dog, Jolie Chienne, tried to help out with the high notes by howling. Kathy Milovanovic’s two year-old daughter, Chrissi, also sang along. Choosing a name for the group was not easy. The sisters rejected scores of ideas before they settled on ‘‘Andante,”” a musical no- tation meaning both ‘‘mod- erately slow’’ and “to be played movingly, with emotion.” “I kind of like the second definition,”’ says Sharon. The album is entitled “Look Beyond,’’ and that song is featured on the album. Some of the ather tunes are; ‘‘Pass It On,” “I Am the Good Shep- herd,” ‘‘Hear, Oh Lord,” and “1 Am the Ressurec- tion.” The accompaniment is simple; - Sharon plays organ, guitar or piano, and that’s it. ‘““We did them just the way we do them at home,” says Kathy, ‘‘for our own enjoyment.’’ . ‘“Electric instruments were a possibility,”” says Sharon. ‘“‘It would have been easier in a way...” ‘“...but that’s not our thing,” says Carol Witman. “We play a kind of relaxed, folk-rock style,” says Sharon. The album’s lay-out was designed by Ramona Sell of Marietta, and the photos of the group were taken by Tim Eshelman. The record will be released on the AMP label in a few weeks. To order a copy in advance, call Sharon or Becky Zimmer- man at 653-1336. ‘‘Andante,”’ a new gospel group whose first album, ‘‘Look Beyond,”’ will soon be released by AMP, has a natural, folk-rock sound. The four singers are all daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Zimmerman of Mount Joy. From left to right, the performers are; Rebecca Zimmerman, Kathy Milovanovic, Carol Witman, and Rebecca Zimmerman. to time, once developed a mild phobia about riding so high above the hard ice. Her fear interfered with her concentration. Finally, she visited a hypnotist, to have the mental block removed. The hypnosis worked, and now the team is back on the road to the Olympics. Most good figure skating teams are either, married, in love, or brother-sister teams, according to Jeff. Less attached duos tend to break up under the pres- sure of training. ‘‘One skater hit his partner over the head with a skate guard,’’ Jeff recalls. Jeff, wel Another advantage the Nolt team enjoys is the support of their family. The entire Nolt family has a stake in the two young people’s drive tow- ard Olympic perfection. Their parents, Joseph +and Lorna, have put a substan- tial amount of money into the practice(skates can cost $150, blades $100, time on the ice $.50 a minute) as well as time spent driving the two to training sessions and competition events. “It’s a family commit- ment,”’ says Joe. Another Nolt son, Joe III, 18, lends moral support to the team. Lorna spends a great deal ghing 105 Ihs., lifts sister Suzy, 100 Ibs. September 6, 1978 of time driving. Jeff and Suzy, despite their demanding practice schedule, manage to lead balanced lives. Both are good students at Hempfield High; Jeff is on the honor roll. Suzy plays piano. Jeff played the lead part in a production of Oliver at the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, and Suzy also performs in variety shows. The Nolts, though, are in show biz not just for fun; they are trying to improve their performance on the ice by getting used to exposure and learning to perform perfectly in front of thousands of people.
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