SCNY Winter Classic Report

[sk8pics]

I skated yesterday in the Winter Classic competition at Chelsea Piers and I had an awesome time! Everyone was so nice, the skating was great, and the people running the event did a great job! I wanted to write a little about the highlights of the competition for me... Maybe the others of you who were there will add your comments as well!

First, I was so nervous! And I had only gotten a few hours sleep because people in my hotel seemed to think slamming doors all night was a good thing! But a little adrenaline does wonders, and I got through the day just fine. I skated the 9 am practice, which is when I met Raine. (Sorry I didn't get to talk to you more, but I was just a little freaked out!) Although the session was quite crowded, I really had no trouble doing everything I wanted to do, and I never felt like I was going to be run over. It was really nice. Mostly folks in the competition, but a few regulars, too, trying to have their lessons. The ice felt so nice, and faster than what I am used to. One of the first things I thought to myself was, don't push so hard! It really took very little effort to build up any speed. I was really glad I'd skated the practice to get used to that. And I skated really well, too, which was nice because I hadn't had great practices the previous few days.

Then came my first event, pre-bronze free skating. I was so happy to find a friend from last summer's Skate Wilmington had also entered. It just was so nice to have a friendly face to skate with! Anyway, this was the event that I was so nervous about, because the elements in it were hard for me. But I went out and did everything within my normal range of ability. The one foot spin was not my best ever, but neither was it my worst, and I was so relieved! Two funny things: for the first time ever in that program, I exited the one foot spin properly and stepped forward from the back edge, and then I forgot what I was supposed to do!:roll: Just for an instant, and then I remembered, but it was pretty funny. Then, I forgot my ending and started doing the ending in my other program! Halfway through it, I realized and just flung my arms out and then skated off the ice laughing. Someone came up to me later and said she liked the ending, and I just laughed and said, "That wasn't what I was supposed to do!" But I was so happy to get through it without any serious problems. And since there were only two of us, I got a silver medal, which is just beautiful.

My second event was interpretive. I was less nervous in some ways about this program because it wasn't as hard for me as the other one, but I actually shook through the whole program. But I did everything just fine and I was SO happy.:) I was especially happy with my jump sequence (waltz jump -falling leaf--half flip) that I did without any hesitation or problem. My coach told me after that he was very proud of me, and that I hadn't backed off of anything and had done my 3-turns without skidding first to slow down. 8-) I was so happy. That event had 9 people and was quite fun and well skated! I was 9th, which is fine, but one judge put me 8th!!! :D Which thrilled me to no end.

So it was just a wonderful experience. People came from up and down the East Coast, I talked to someone from Indiana and someone else from Boston. And there was a guy representing a club in the United Kingdom! And my coach commented in a bemused tone that he hadn't expected to see an adult pair from Estonia! Everyone was great and so supportive. And my coach did a great job taking care of both of his students; it was great to have him there.

Another cute moment: After my first event, I was putting my skates away and these two people sitting behind me in the bleachers leaned over and congratulated me on my skating. We chatted, and I asked them if they skated, too. And they said, a little wide-eyed, "No, well, we're in the beginner class here!" I just had to laugh, and think, oh just wait!

It was nice to meet Raine and RNsk8r. RNSk8r did really well! I was sorry I didn't get to see you skate, Raine! But I'm sure you had fun, too. Oh, and it was great to see the folks from the Skating Club of Central NY; they are really nice and fun to watch. I hope to see all of you again at another competition!

Snaps to the Skating Club of NY folks for doing a great job, and to all the competitors and spectators for making it a fun experience!

Happy skating everyone!
Pat

[Debbie S]

Congratulations, Pat! Sounds like you had a great time. You didn't happen to see Gold Ladies, did you? My coach, Claudia Brown, skated in that event.

It's good to hear Wilmington has pre-Bronze at their summer event. Based on how my pre-Bronze moves are going, I may not be able to compete at the Ches Open. :( It's good to hear that I'll have at least one competitive option this summer. Are you going to do that comp again this year?

[sk8pics]

Debbie- Yes, I did see Claudia skate. She did well; a few jump landing problems. I don't know how she placed, though. It was a nice event to watch.

As far as Wilmington goes, they had a compulsory moves event that was pre-bronze/bronze, and maybe the same for a spin event. I forget right now. Last summer I did the moves event and interpretive. But I'm going to email the person who was running it before and ask them to run pre-bronze free. What the heck, the worst they can say is no.

I sympathize over those pre-bronze moves; they are certainly not all easy! You know, you might want to ask if the Ches. Open folks will let you skate anyway. You never know...

Anyway, I will probably do Wilmington again. Assuming we can come up with a good interpretive number, that is! And depending on what other events they have.

Pat

[Raine]

Thanks for starting this thread, Pat. It was very nice to meet you. I noticed that you had a world-class competitor as your coach. ;) And a big thank you to the SCNY who did a great job running this event. I loved the fact that four practice sessions were available before the event started at 10:00 am.

The competitors that I met were all so nice, and I really enjoyed watching the skating. Many competitors skated to the kind of powerful classical music that I would like to skate to myself someday, and I was truly inspired by the music and the expressive qualities demonstrated by many of the skaters.

I hadn't competed in a while, and had only run through my program maybe six times with the music. I felt rusty in terms of performing, and I got a case of the shakes--a combination of nerves and the frigid air. I bailed out of my camel spin, then messed up a few things, so was shocked and thrilled to medal in my event.

I didn't get a chance to watch my event, but I definitely got the impression that the quality of skating has improved in my age group.

Happy Skating,
Raine

[RNsk8r]

I had a great time too, and again a big thank you to SCNY for putting on a very well run event. My excitement began on Friday. My coach got us up there to skate the 11 o'clock session on Friday morning, and guess who was also skating on that session? None other than Brian Boitano! One of my coaches pointed it out to us right before we got on the ice. That was the first time I've skated with anyone that known before. It was pretty exciting. I skated amazingly well at that practice all things considered, and did my first totally clean runthrough of that program. I didn't skate quite so well during the competition as I would have liked, but overall I was quite pleased. It was better than I skated two weeks ago at the WFSC comp. I lost the landing on one of my lutz's, but other than that, no major problems. I ended up second out of two, but I did get one first place ordinal, and if I hadn't fallen, I might have gotten more than that. Though to be fair, the girl I was competing against had two axels planned, she landed one of them and didn't fall. My goal for my next comp. in a month is to put the axel back in, and land it. Anyway overall I was very pleased. Sk8pics did a great job from what I saw; I wasn't totally paying attention, because she skated right before I did. I can't wait until next year!

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations, all of you!

Pat, how do you do 3-turns without skidding to a stop first???? If only I could crack that one.....

[Stormy]

Will results be posted online, does anyone know? I'm curious to know how a few of my friends did. :)

[flo]

Congrats to all!

[sk8pics]

Raine --Congratulations on your medal, that's great! I would have introduced you to my coach, but I was a little freaked out at that moment, LOL. A few people asked for autographs, but not when he was busy with either of us so that was nice.

RNsk8r --Thanks for the compliment. I know what you mean about not being able to watch so easily right before you skate! I'm glad you did well and had fun!

Mrs. Redboots --Well, according to my coach, you just do it. He didn't mind if I glided a little longer before turning, he just didn't want to see any snowplowing to slow down. I found what worked for me was to actually lean first on my right inside edge, so I curved to the left, then step forward onto my right outside edge and do the turn. I also have practiced a lot of 3-turns done from a glide instead of a standstill. But I always need to pick up that right foot and then step onto it do to the turn; it doesn't work if I try to just push into the turn directly from a glide. I should add that this only works for me on a RFO3, but I'm planning to get the LFO3 into the same shape!

Stormy --I don't know if they're posting any results. You could email them and ask. There was an email address with the online schedule/information.

Happy skating everyone!
Pat

[pennybeagle]

I had a great time at the competition! I didn't get a chance to meet anyone from this board there, but I did meet several people--including one who flew in from LA for the competition! I had many surprises:
1) I somehow placed 2nd in the Bronze class I freestyle despite the fact that I did not have a lutz combo or a flip combo
2) I wasn't freezing to death skating despite the fact that I was wearing a short-sleeved dress (and ususally I skate in about six layers!)
3) I wasn't nervous! 8O
4) I finished ahead of my music (usually I am behind)

All in all, it was a very fun competition, and it was so great to see so many adult skaters!

[skaternum]

Originally posted by pennybeagle
3) I wasn't nervous! 8O
...
All in all, it was a very fun competition, and it was so great to see so many adult skaters!

So share your secret! How did you manage to not be nervous??

And I agree generally about adult comps. Aren't they just the best gatherings of cool adults you've ever seen? 8-)

[sk8pics]

Originally posted by skaternum
So share your secret! How did you manage to not be nervous??


I need to konw the answer to that, too! And congratulations Pennybeagle!

Originally posted by skaternum

And I agree generally about adult comps. Aren't they just the best gatherings of cool adults you've ever seen? 8-)

Yep, they sure are. I'm still smiling, and looking forward to next year!

Originally posted by Pennybeagle
4) I finished ahead of my music (usually I am behind)

Yeah, I was a little ahead of my music at one point, too! Funny what a little adrenaline can do, and that probably helps with the not-freezing part, too!

Pat

[pennybeagle]

In preparation for this event, I tried in earnest to simulate the competition in practice. My first time skating without gloves, for instance, was a shock in itself. Then, skating in my dress (weeks before the competition). Also, I would go out on the ice, warm up for exactly 4 minutes, step off, then stand around off-ice for about 5 minutes, and then get back on and immediately skate my program. THAT helped a lot, and so when the day of the competition came, it was really like something I'd done over and over again in practice.

My coach was also NOT at the competition. For some people, having a coach around helps. For some reason, I tend to get MORE nervous if I think he's watching (not that I think he'd be disappointed in me if I didn't do well or anything--he's definitely not the type--but I think it's the same principle of why I can always seem to do things perfectly in practice, but when it's time for my lesson, it goes out the window).

But really? I have NO idea why I wasn't nervous. I'm ususally a basket case. ;)

[skaternum]

Originally posted by pennybeagle
For some people, having a coach around helps. For some reason, I tend to get MORE nervous if I think he's watching (not that I think he'd be disappointed in me if I didn't do well or anything--he's definitely not the type--but I think it's the same principle of why I can always seem to do things perfectly in practice, but when it's time for my lesson, it goes out the window).



I'm exactly the same way. Even for local competitions, I don't have my coach "officially" be there. I do allow her to watch, though. :P

[sk8pics]

Originally posted by pennybeagle
In preparation for this event, I tried in earnest to simulate the competition in practice. My first time skating without gloves, for instance, was a shock in itself. Then, skating in my dress (weeks before the competition). Also, I would go out on the ice, warm up for exactly 4 minutes, step off, then stand around off-ice for about 5 minutes, and then get back on and immediately skate my program.
Yes, I did similar things. I discovered the whole "glove effect" when I was doing my pre-bronze free skating test, and I made a point of skating without them a couple of times before this event. My coach also planned the warmup and we practiced that, too.

Originally posted by pennybeagle

My coach was also NOT at the competition. For some people, having a coach around helps. For some reason, I tend to get MORE nervous if I think he's watching
I know what you mean; that happens to me sometimes, too. But I like having my coach at competitions with me if possible. He's very soothing and of course he holds all my stuff for me! And buys me water when I can't seem to find my water bottle. :roll:

I'm glad to see everyone had a good time!
Pat

[Mrs Redboots]

I, too, don't find I need my coach around - I used to like it if he was there, now I'd almost rather he wasn't.

[dani]

There were a few events where I "borrowed" flutzilla's coach (thanks!) and I find that situation ideal. I like having someone that can spot things going wrong and provide inspiration. However having my coach there is a different situation, because we try to "work" on whatever is happening. When my "coach away from coach" isn't available, I rely on friends like flutzilla and skaternum to keep me sane.

However, my coach has borrowed skaternum's classic advice (which I hope makes it into her AN rules ;-) whenever I skate:

Don't Suck!

;-)

Hugs!
Danielle

[skaternum]

Originally posted by dani
However, my coach has borrowed skaternum's classic advice (which I hope makes it into her AN rules ;-) whenever I skate:

Don't Suck!



I think it's always good advice that most coaches forget to tell you. In my world, things are black or white -- no gray areas. You either suck or you don't. So don't suck. :lol:

[LWalsh]

Hey does anybody know who the video company was at this event? I didn't buy the video when I was there but now I'm thinking I should have.

Lara

[sk8pics]

Lara- The video company is Hall of Fame Video Productions, email address is Hall_of_Fame@go.com . Phone is 518-505-6072.

Pat