Adult Clinic in PA

[MusicSkateFan]

I know everyone is either going or just following Adult Nationals. I just signed up for the Adult clinic in PA on May 7,. Anyone else going? It is only the 2nd time they have had this clinic. Any info or suggestions would be helpful. :)

[NoVa Sk8r]

No suggestions from me, but I want a full report when you get back (especially on the spins part)!

[Skate@Delaware]

I'm going! I'm really psyched-since my new skates are in and I've been skating and wearing them ALL the time to break them in (before our rink closes-can't decide if I'll wear them for our show). My husband is going also, although he is not as excited as me (he just started learning 1-foot spins).

We have about 10 adult skaters at my rink-we are a real tight group-very supportive of one another (so different than the younger generation).

I am just looking forward to a great time, hoping to get lots of info/advice/help. I am bringing a little tape recorder (like I used in college) because I have a hard time remembering things..... I don't think that will be a problem, and taking lots of notes (off-ice), and writing everything down that I can remember!!!

Terry

[hippo]

The seminar will be loads of fun. You get to meet other adult skaters in all levels. Suggestions....

1. Dress in layers. Remember that you'll be doing off-ice activities too, so make sure your bottom layer is light. Oh, and don't forget to bring gym shoes. At the other end of the spectrum, there are going to be times during the seminar where you are going to be standing on the ice listening/watching the presenter. That's when you tend to get really cold, and that's why you should have plenty of layers available.

2. The rink does have a full-service snack bar. There are plenty of restuarants near the rink, but there normally isn't enough time to go out for lunch. You can either bring money for lunch or pack your own.

3. Don't eat too much for lunch. A heavy meal will make it very difficult to move afterwards.

4. Keep an open mind and look for new ideas. Remember that there are different techniques for teaching things. There might be times where it seems that what the presenter is saying totally contradicts your coach. Give it a try. Some things work for some people, and other things don't. In every seminar that I've done, I've had at least one breakthrough. Usually it was the result of trying something that my coaches have never suggested.

5. HAVE FUN!!

[starskate6.0]

Well it may seem odd but Im at Nationals and can't seem to sleep tonight so I thought Id chim in here. :D I skate in Aston and for those of you who need some info, here's a couple of tips. Aston has 4 ( count 4 ) sheets of ice. Staff and club is extreamly friendly toward Adults. ( I should know). ;)

The food is like no other rink you will skate at . There is all kinds of salads, fruit and otherwise most day's, a full grill, specials every day, fresh baked cookies, ( oat meals are my favorite) and all at a price that won't break the bank. The pro-shop is gearing up to have a section completly dedicated to figure skating, clothing, workout cloths etc. That should be ready by then as well. :D

Every coach at ice Works is or has been a National or Olympic coach or skater. Liz Manley, Ushie Kesler, Elizabeth Hollet, just to name a few and many others. There is an attitude toward your success at this rink towards all skaters and Adults are not ignored or treated any dirfferent . In fact Ice Works has been activley persuing its adult program and this years Halloween event for adults will be bigger and better than last year. If you have the programe from Nationals , check out the full page add. ;)

No if your wondering, " does this guy work there" the answer is no, I don't Im just a skater who has been treated with great respect at Ice works and I am given a lot of support every day Im on the ice from the people, coaches and club members, who have becomee great friends. There's not a practice session goes by when a coach doesn't yell out at me and correct me on something Im doing, to help me make it right.
In closing Im sure you will find your experience at Ice works during this seminar will be a great one. See you there. :D

[HelenC]

This seminar sounds great. Is anyone from NYC planning to go? Maybe we could carpool?

[Skate@Delaware]

Thank you Starskate6.0 for the info! We are sooooo excited to be going this year! My coach has been there before just to skate and has nothing but glowing praise for the rink and the instructors of the course. The food sounds wonderful too (beats hot dogs and greasy fries)!

Good luck at Nationals! "Our" ice dancers are there, and have placed third so far in their division.

Terry

[mikawendy]

I'm going, too, and very excited about it all! Starskate--thanks for posting Elizabeth Hollet's e-mail--I e-mailed her and asked her some questions and got an immediate response.

I will probably have Sharpie in hand to ask Don Jackson for an autograph--I skate in Jacksons and love them!

[starskate6.0]

I'm going, too, and very excited about it all! Starskate--thanks for posting Elizabeth Hollet's e-mail--I e-mailed her and asked her some questions and got an immediate response.

I will probably have Sharpie in hand to ask Don Jackson for an autograph--I skate in Jacksons and love them!

Ill be going to, so long as I can get the time off work to do it. I should be able to do it. See you there. :D Please tell Elizabeth I recomended the event to you. She is one of my coaches and does wonders for my footwork. I also work with Liz manley on the footwork as well and she is realy good on the jumps. ;) It really paid off in my Interpretive event this year.
I won the Masters men interp with it. ;)

[flo]

Hi,
I couldn't get on the registration site, is it closed?

[mikawendy]

Hi,
I couldn't get on the registration site, is it closed?


The site said that registration closed today, but I don't know if that meant for on-line or completely. You might be able to e-mail Elizabeth Hollett to inquire (starskate posted her e-mail in a different thread recently).

[Skate@Delaware]

I looked at the brochure and the reply date was 25 April-maybe you could call? I don't know how many people they have signed up or how many they have room for-I would call. Good luck!

[starskate6.0]

If your still interested in going contact elizabeth Hollet at ice works
Tell her I sent you..... I think its ehollett@iceworks.com Il try and get in touch with her tonight. ;)

[flo]

Thanks,
I registered! See you all then, it's time for some fun.

[phillyskater]

I looked at the brochure and the reply date was 25 April-maybe you could call? I don't know how many people they have signed up or how many they have room for-I would call. Good luck!

Hi all! The registration deadline has been extended until May 4. Here is a direct link to the registration page: http://www.iceworks.net/figure_clinics.shtml#adult

From what I hear, they are expecting a great turnout! Hope to see you there.

philly
(another IceWorks Adult skater...and StarSkate6.0 fan!)

[starskate6.0]

Im going too... Glad to hear your going Flo Ill see you there :D :mrgreen:

[flo]

It will be great to see everyone. I would have liked to have spent more time visiting at Nationals, but had to dash home to take care of things. It was worth it, I just accepted a new position. See you!

[Skate@Delaware]

Wow-it's almost time and I'm sooooo excited! I hope I can sleep the night before! I can't wait to meet everyone!

I'm a little nervous about being only Adult 3 but at least I know someone at a lower level than me (hubby at Adult 1/2 hoping for some good edge stuff). I'm hoping to get some good info/help/advice on everything (and hoping that my elusive scratch spin magically re-appears) and maybe some skills from the higher level skaters will rub off :bow:

I'm trying to work out some skate time before we go-our home rink closed for the summer :cry: .

Terry

[flo]

When is everyone driving up? I don't know If I'll go up the night before or not.

[Skate@Delaware]

We are leaving early Saturday morning. We live in lower Delaware, so that's quite a haul-but with the interstate (yes, we have one) it should be about 2 hours or so. I should be quite stiff by the time we get there-and tense because dear hubby is driving (he drives like an old lady, I drive like a bat out of hell). :twisted:

I hope we are not late....

[starskate6.0]

Looks like a lot of you are going. Im looking forward to seeing you all there. If you don't know me come say Hello. ;) A little info on the Club.
I skate at Ice Works and the support for Adult skaters is outstanding.
some examples : Apon my return from Nationals I was honered to receive an award for the most improved adult skater in the club. On top of this, when I skate with the kids on the ice i am not forgotten, i always receive a comment out of the blue from one of coaches on the ice to help me out now and then. I know I have said this before, but the club has a wonderful adult program i hope you will all feel welcome. :D

[MusicSkateFan]

:roll: I will be making the crack of dawn drive(5am departure) from Capitol Hill in DC. Dont be surprised if I am not that social. I should be ok once I down a couple of Red Bulls! 8-)

I am looking forward to meeting some other adult skaters!

[flo]

Iv'e been trying to get as much time in as possible in my new skates so I wonn't be too much of a spaz. It will just be nice to see everyone. Still can't stop yet! 8O

[starskate6.0]

Hi flo
One of the first things I had to learn before i could get into ice shows was how to stop, On all edges, t-stops, show stops, over and under stops, even backward slide stops. both feet inside and out. It was the hardest thing to learn but it does get you good on your feet after a while. ;)
Im sure you mean you are just breaking in the new boots, but doing those stops will help a lot to get comfortable . :mrgreen:
Flo , are you going to Peach in Atlanta ?. I will be going for the first time and Im taking a partner to do the Adult Pairs interp. She is from Delaware and we are realy not doing pairs just an interp . She is a dancer. The number should be great , took me 4 hours to cut the music.
I look forward to see you on Saturday. :D

[flo]

Hi Starskates -
I could "stop on a dime" with my old skates. With the new ones, it's usually yelling "Can't stop, new skates"! It's not even been a week, so I give everyone a wide berth.

I don't know what I'll be doing as far as competitions this year. I just want to see how the new skates go!

[flo]

Now the car is in the shop. Grrrr. Hopefully I can get a ride.

[starskate6.0]

Good luck with that Ill see you tomorrow. I was very tired today just spins no jumps. Yesterday was great , landed my first three jump combination.
Russian split double toe,double toe. I was still flying across the ice after the last jump. I was thrilled. :D :mrgreen:

[skaternum]

Yesterday was great , landed my first three jump combination.
Russian split double toe,double toe.Cool! But wouldn't that be a sequence, not a combination, because you have to do a 3-turn before the first double toe??

[Skate@Delaware]

Flo, I hope you can get a ride. Unfortunately, we are not going your way (we are coming up from lower Delaware). We are bringing the kids to they can do the Spring Fling thing.

Good night everyone and have a safe drive in the morning! See you there! (Hubby says he will drive at least as fast as the posted speed limit and we will get there in plenty of time-as long as we are there in time to check in & settle ourselves!)

Terry

[Terri C]

Any reports on the seminar?

[Skate@Delaware]

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sore!! That first class was tough!

I'm a pre-bronzer so I went to the "low end" of the rink for stuff and didn't do the jump part. The rest of it: "WOW"

I'm still writing everything I can remember down in my journal before it's forgotten.... I was really impressed with the whole thing.

I've never seen anyone spin like Don Jackson! And such a nice guy! He did a 2-foot spin, with his feet about shoulder width apart, and while he was still going round and round, lifted one leg up and still kept going!!! Then he turned it into a 1-foot spin! He showed us the basics of doing that, for a regular spin and for backspins.

Anyone else??

[skatesnrides]

I'm incredibly sore, too! Could barely move yesterday, but I'm doing much better today.

We had a fantastic (but killer) workout in the morning with former Olympic cyclist Jackie Martin. If I'd known it was going to be so intense I would have used my inhaler before we got going! I'm not much of an exercise-in-the-morning person to begin with, coupled with the fact that I have neglected my off ice training for awhile, I was worn out before we even hit the ice.

The day ended with a flexibility type class called BalletTone & I think the consensus was, that maybe these two classes should have been switched in order.

I totally agree with Skate@Delaware about Don Jackson. He's an amazing skater, really nice guy & has lots of great stories.

[MusicSkateFan]

I really felt that for an "Edge" clinic we should have spent some time on um I dunno...EDGES and MIF!!! The few spin exercises Don Jackson gave were great and his exercise for axels too. I felt the Off ice time was WAY TOO LONG and WAY TOO INTENSE! I am in great shape...I was not able to Jump well at the end of the Day...I had done too much already.. The jump portion should have been more organized.... relay people through the jumps...I did not have enough space to do good aproach( I am a guy so I need SPACE!)

I did not appreciate the DANCE pair on the Ice during the Liz Manley time....HOW RUDE WAS THAT!!!!!

[flo]

Hi,
The nicest part was to see everyone. My skates are just a week old, and I was concerned about how I'd do, but we really didn't do much on the ice.

I also thought that the off ice sections were too long. The goal of a clinic is to learn things you can take home and put in practice if desired. The warm up and second off ice session were both more of what a regular excercise session would be. I would like to have seen them both cut at least in half and also provded handouts from the first session so you could remember what you did if you wanted to incorporate this at home.

I would also have liked to have had much of what was done on ice to have been completed off ice. It would have been great to do the artistic excercises in front of the mirrors. We could have used the off ice time to ask questions and have tracings drawn and so on, and the on ice time for actual skating. There was a great deal of standing around and getting cold. It was rather a large group and was difficult to get any jumps in, and the dance team on the ice made it more difficult. Dividing the groups by levels would have helped. Although reviewing the basics is always good, I would have liked to work on doubles and advanced spins.

I probably got most out of Don's sessions. His understanding of edges and spins was very helpful. Liz's comments were also very helpful, although the time could have been better utilized. Overall the staff was very supportive of adult skating and very open to questions. Although I enjoyed the experience and seeing people, at this level I would arrange for private lessons with the coaches rather than another workshop.

[Skate@Delaware]

I agree that the "killer" workout could have been switched with the ballet class-I don't warm up like that before I skate-I'll get too worn out to do anything! My legs were jelly by lunchtime and useless by dinnertime....

I would also like to see it divided up next year maybe into two groups, maybe pre-bronze/bronze then silver/gold? I don't know. There were a lot of people on the ice for the jump portion-maybe too many at once!

I don't know what the deal was with the dance couple either???

Mirrors for the artistry part would be nice-but after the comment my daughter made I don't know if I have any 'artistic blood' in me....(something about a crippled and dying crow-I'll get even with her later :twisted: .)

I don't know what Liz said about jumping (I only waltz jump for now)-I was at the other end with the other pre-bronzers...learning 'scallops' and something to do with our edges...'let the edges turn you and do all the work'.

I am planning on going next year. Hopefully, more people from my rink can make it.

[mikawendy]

I also was/am very sore! I had to skate for 2 hours yesterday and was dreading it (as going down stairs and getting in/out of the car was quite painful), but I felt better on the ice yesterday than on dry land. I was still pretty sore on the ice, and was thankful that my lesson was cancelled, as I didn't know how I'd muster the power needed...

I agree that the off-ice portions could have been shorter. I think switching them might have been effective, except I know all of that leaping over cones from the plyometric session would have been even harder on a full stomach!

For my level, I thought that Don Jackson's and Liz Manley's advice was very helpful, and the other coaches who presented/assisted at and observed the workshop were also very helpful and supportive. It was useful to have Liz Manley's input on the common errors she sees in jumps and jump combinations.

Perhaps in future workshops, the on-ice portions could have a little more dedicated to the higher level jumps (axel and doubles and above), as I noticed there were a number of people at that level and not much time was devoted to those jumps. Perhaps more time could be devoted to moves and footwork in general (such as the harder one-foot turns or ways to improve footwork sequences in a program). I liked that the skaters were all on the ice at one time--I liked being able to see what the more advanced skaters were working on and the feedback they were getting.

I was and still am blown away by how great a skater Don Jackson still is. From just a FO3, he did a double salchow! He also landed a two-footed double loop! And he was very nice (and he writes with his left hand and skates clockwise--yay!) I thought it was very cool that he took Jackie Martin's off-ice class with all the rest of us.

(I also bought a fabulous purple velvet skirt in the pro shop. Skate@Delaware, I was talking with you and your daughter in the shop, wasn't I? I realized it was probably you on the drive home...)

[Skate@Delaware]

(I also bought a fabulous purple velvet skirt in the pro shop. Skate@Delaware, I was talking with you and your daughter in the shop, wasn't I? I realized it was probably you on the drive home...)

Ok, now I can put 'the face' with the name! Obviously you made it home ok. We stopped at Dover to eat, and it took 2 hours to get our food (forgot it was prom night). So even though it only took us about 1.5 hours to drive UP to Aston, it took us 3+ hours to get home! (I'm still tired!)

How did you skirt look? It is such a pretty color!

Hopefully, next year I can do more jumps than a waltz. I can 'fake' my way through a toe-loop but only sloooowly. I loved watching everyone jump-wow, was it loud!

I don't know if anyone else knows this, but the Liberty Summer Competition at Aston will be taped for broadcast on cable channel CN8 July 24. I don't know if it will be simulcast on the internet. So, that's one I will WATCH instead.... ;)

[mikawendy]

Ok, now I can put 'the face' with the name! Obviously you made it home ok. We stopped at Dover to eat, and it took 2 hours to get our food (forgot it was prom night). So even though it only took us about 1.5 hours to drive UP to Aston, it took us 3+ hours to get home! (I'm still tired!)

How did you skirt look? It is such a pretty color!


Three hours!? That is the weirdness of Delaware traffic! My friends in Newcastle have a friend who lives near them, but because of where the friend is, it sometimes takes longer for them to go to the friend's house than it does for them to get to Rodney Square in Wilmington. I personally get all turned around when I'm driving in Delaware and my friends finally pinpointed why--in Delaware, 95 is going more east than it is north, but in my mind, it is going "up," so I figure it's going north.

The skirt worked out fine after I sewed the side vents shut, so that the briefs underneath were not showing so much. It goes well with the many other purple skating clothes I own. (I didn't acquire so many purple things on purpose, I swear!) :D

[Skate@Delaware]

Mikawendy:
I should clarify:
1 hour to drive from Aston to Dover
2 hours sitting at Red Lobster waiting for our food :evil:
during which time I was soooo dehydrated I downed 4 glasses of raspberry lemonade which left little room for food (I stuffed anyway-it was so good)
20 minutes on to Milford, then fall into bed......

Of course, if it had been summertime on a Friday, it would have been 2 hours sitting in traffic (if we had been dumb enough to do that without going the back roads). I work in Dover and have seen traffic backed up from Dover all the way south through Milford. Luckily, I know about 3 backroads (well, there are only about 3) to take me home without hitting the highways.

Terry
still feeling the pain... ;)
PS-I think I caught Don Jackson's cold...He was next to me in the exercise class

[starskate6.0]

g-day Friends

I have been asked to pass this on to you all. There seems to have been some confusion in the last hour of the clinic at Ice works. :roll: I have spoken to Ushi about the situation some of you mentioned about the dance team. It turns out that we where actualy on there ice. Liz Manley could not make it in the morning so they extended the clinic an hour to allow us to be on the ice with Liz. :D The dance team where already scheduled for the ice and it was a try out for the young man who came from Germany to skate with the girl. I hope this clears things up for you all. ;) as an Ice Works skater Im sorry if there was some confusion on this. :D
Thanks
Ross.