I don't yet have a good handle on matching names to skaters but I got to see Silver Ladies, Championship Gold (men and women), and Championship Masters (men and women).

Re Champ Master's Ladies jumps - doubles, doubles everywhere. Amy Entwistle might have a double axle that she decided not to attempt this weekend (from overhearing warmup chatter with her competition coach). Most had 2toe, 2sal, 2loop, some 2flips and I think there was a 2 lutz or two. There were some really nice creative jump combos - walley, walley, 2sal I think was one. Ditto in the Men's competition.

Yes, Allison's dress was gorgeous A few women wore pants. Some of the ordinals were all over the place - which IMO means it was a tough call re who ended up on the podium.

--Sara

Thanks for the dress compliments guys. Very much appreciated. I was hoping I didn't look like a big sausage in the dress!

I feel very bittersweet about my skate, since I was the most prepared, most healthy, most in-shape I've ever been for a competition, and did the worst I've ever done! And what perplexes me is that with the exceptions of the jumps I fell on, the rest of my spins, stroking, presentation and footwork I felt were the strongest I'd ever competed. So the falls took me completely by surprise, considering that I'd landed the 2toe and 2sal beautifully in the beginning of the program and landed all the jumps in the warm-up, so obviously I can do them just fine. Frustrating.

But I was glad that if I had to make mistakes, that my good buddy Kim Sailer...who's never beaten me ever...was able to skate clean and surpass me to qualify for her first time! I was very pleased for her.

Sorry I didn't get to watch any of the other events since I had to concentrate on my event. I hope everyone felt good about their performaces!

Sorry, I don't have all the results, but I remember that Heather Hilgar from U of D won, with almost all first place ordinals, as I recall. Can't remember the rest.

I got to watch most of Saturday's competition, and--wow--what a great day of skating! Everyone who competed should be proud. And whoever mentioned Tara and Jason's performance in Gold Pairs was right - they were great! The overhead lift got a huge roar from the crowd. The other Gold Pairs teams did very nicely as well.

And regarding the rumor about Amy Entwistle's double axel, I am pretty sure that I saw her land one during the official warm up. She is just amazing to watch.

And as I promised starskate, I'll be back in competition next year, no more watching from the stands!

philly

How many Silver I ladies tried/landed axels? Sorry, I know I'm being a pain in the tookus, just trying to gauge where I would have been and what to expect for Nats. Thanks!!

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Well, I can't offer any info about the Winter Classic, since I wasn't there, but I watched the Silver I Ladies at New Year's a couple of weeks ago and I think about half of them attempted axels, but only 2 or 3 landed them cleanly (meaning not 2-footed or cheated). Actually, skatingatty competed in this event so if she got the video, maybe she could provide more accurate info. Heather Hilgar, who won the event, has 2 axels in her program - I remember her landing at least one cleanly, maybe the second one, not 100% sure. I watched all of the Silver levels so they may be running together in my mind.

Remember, though, it's not just the jumps that are important - hey, I completed the most jumps of the 3 skaters in my Pre-Bronze comp at New Year's and got 3rd (I was also the only 1 to do footwork, and 2 sit spins (one was a camel-sit) but I won't dwell on that). I know someone who made the finals in Silver II last year at AN and I don't believe she has an axel.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Yes; many of us silver folk are hoping that we can make the podium sans axel (This silver lad is especially hoping that his spins will erase any negative axel marks in the judges' minds!)

That said, it is nice to know what the competition is doing ... and landing!

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Thanks Tim

I keep meaning to say hello to you at these events but every time I see you you have a head set on listening to music and off in your own world .

Say Hello in Kansas..

I am hoping to compete in adult competitions next season and since it seemed that there were a lot of adult skaters on this board I thought I would ask a few of the questions that I have. What is the difference between say Master's or Master's Senior / Junior / Novice? Do skater's usually enter both? Is the Master's level or qualifying level the marquis event so to speak and do skater's usually value that event above the master's senior, etc? Thanks for any information.

Yes,
Many Silver II skaters have made the finals without an Axel (me included). An Axel is just one element in a program. Skate your program as well as you can and don't worry so much about what everyone else does. What they do is out of your control! I think it was last year or the year before, the gold medalist did not do an Axel in their program but it was wonderful!
Happy skating!
Adult Skaters rock!!!
Becca

Last year in Silver Ladies II, the overall winner didn't even attempt an axel. She says there's no point in proving what you can't do. She is a lovely skater: great edges, posture and positions; good speed; nice spins; big lutz and loop combinations. She proves you don't have to have an axel even in the youngest group to do well as long as you look good doing everything else. (By the way, she's working on an axel now -- so she can test up to gold soon!)

Yes, you're right that was a typo on my part! Sandra is/was Silver TWO!

You mean silver II, right? The overall silver I winner (I think) had a couple of axels in her program (she's in gold this year).

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Yes, it was the Silver II gold medalist who won without an axel because I was second behind her in the finals. She was fast, gorgeous Ina Bauer with really really good presentation. Many of us in the finals did attempt (even landed ) an axel but Sandra just had a better overall package. I must say though that when I watched the tape of the final round, there are so many talented skaters out there. I was thoroughly impressed and so happy that I didn't watch any one before I skated or I would have been more freaked out than I already was.

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Careygram

January: Sure I'll compete, quick, send the application
April: I signed up to do WHAT??

Masters Novice, Masters Junior and Masters Senior are the open events. You enter them depending on which test you've passed. There are no qualifying rounds for these...just sign up and go to Nationals.

Championship Masters is Novice/Junior/Senior combined with no age requirements. It's strictly who is the best that year, regardless of what test you've passed or age. They take the top four finishers from Sectionals.

About half will do both. The Championship Masters event is considered by many to be the marquis event, and for traveling adults is conveniently on Saturday night, so if they qualified for that event they don't have to spend as much time away from home to compete. Many Masters ladies will ONLY go to Nationals if they qualify through Sectionals to compete in the Masters Championship event. But the other half will compete in their open event as well, myself included.

Yes, in Sectionals last year I was 2nd to the lady that won Silver at AN last year. Have to admit I was happy she moved up! She's an excellent skater and qualified for Championship Gold this year. The axel really may not be there in time for AN so I am just hoping to qualify to finals without it. That's my goal, hopefully not an unreasonable one!

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Congrats to all! Are the open results posted anywhere?

I told the organizers that the nonqualifying event results have been requested. They said they will try to do that by the end of this week on the SCNY website. The person who will post it is away judging another competition.
I was very impressed with the level of skating. Congratulations everyone!

OK I knew I couldn't read follow this message board without logging on. it seems like a lot of possitive feedback and a good atmosphere.

Lots to reply to.
Novas8ter:
Thanks for all the support and precomp advice. How come loop loop gets to have a knife collection and I don't ? (lol) ok you are all right ..to be a pairs skater you have to be somewhat crazy with good med insurance. its been an interesting 7 months...yes my chiro is on speed dial!! but serioulsy you have to both be equally as crazy. and i have some bad news for you...when an over the head goes wrong guess who takes the worst of it...you pal your the human cushion under your ice queen (thats loop loop for you) And you got roped into pairs because female pairs skaters are like the marines...we are looking for a few good men.! i took one of them of the available to skate list 7 months ago and i am not planning on gving him back. I got lucky to find a good match this time around. so loop loop gets to keep her knife collection. see you in kansas!

ok now the competition stuff:

yeah some of the warmups were combined and it was hard to tell who was who. i was in a few events so i missed some stuff, but saw all of masters and gold men. If my memory serves correct, the gold levels are really pushing the envelope in terms of difficulty. the gold men (all of them) had so much more that i remember seeing in past years. that was a tough group.

silver I: I didn't see Heather compete but had am practice ice with her and am not at all suprised she won. she had the most beautiful axel i've seen in a long time. light and effortless..and that sit spin...wow....she really looks great this year.

masters men is always and event to watch and this year was no different

stormy:
thank you for the kind words. yes i finally moved up...those $%#& moves in the field....many thanks to edward the moves nazi....(masters men) and then, alas , they removed the novice 3's from the test!!any way last year in silver 1 did have 2 axles, one plain and one in combo. It took landing them both clean..but Maya Buchanan in silver 1 was on the podium in lake placid with no axle. she is a smoother skater, and placed over some people who landed one clean axle...go maya....2 years ago cathy gibbs won silver 2 without it. she kicked butt in gold 2 this weekend. she has amazing footwork and speed.

in general the ordinals were all ove the place. if you were there throughout you cold see which judges were looking for jump and who was looking for edges, and some had a pattern of marking higher for speed. it was like that in all the events! so it made for an interesting event to follow.

hope to see you all in kansas. i am still figuring out who some of you but some of you i know already


If landing a jump in singles is 3x your body weight then landing a throw jump is ..10 x your body weight? depends on whos throwing you and if your bodyweight is really what you listed on partnersearch.com! hmm carbs...what are those again..i forgot.

Q: how many coaches does it take to get icecatpairs to pass gold moves
A: one if he;s the moves nazi (oh yeah and one footwork happy partner!)
g'nite

I'm glad that you and Jason, despite a few pitfalls, skated very well in NYC. Gold pairs is a far-away goal for me (if it even does occur at all!), so I'm gonna live vicarioulsy through you (and others). I can't wait to see your platter lift in Kansas! I don't plan on doing overhead lifts anytime soon; Loops and I are content with the couple of off-ice lifts that we can do easily. She has already fallen on top of me last summer in an axel lift as we were cruising down the ice. Luckily, no one was hurt, but I will never forget that fall. I'm always glad to take a fall--and not get hurt--'cuz then I know how to 'fall properly' next time.

Loops NEEDS a knife collection to fend off my tart tongue and on-ice antics (heck, off-ice antics as well). Actually, the quote is a reference to "The Cutting Edge"; you can't be a pair skater without having seen this magnificent film. Another pair skater (the "Other Woman" ) and I made Loops take a quiz to prove to us that she had, in fact, seen the film (and she scored 100%).

Yes yes yes, 'pairs skating'--especially adult pairs skating--and 'craziness' go together like peas and carrots. Though I believe Loops' favorite (and I might add, misrepresentative and inaccurate) word to describe me would be 'freak'--hmm, maybe *I* need those knives instead.

And I know that Loops is grateful to have me, considering how rare adult male pairs skaters are. I like to remind her--often.

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

ok kids put the knives down and skate...wait we have our blades for that. hey it would make a great documentary to mic us during a program and or practice...talk about a funny reality show!! in any case not to give away all the secrets but do you lift off ice with loops wearing ankle weights? it made all the difference..can't wait to see you guys in kansas..stay well and healthy everyone!!!

Mic us? Um, with all the bleeps, no one would understand the dialogue or conversation. Then again, that's how or communication usually works. Nah, we're pretty good at the telepathy thing on ice--we know what to work on and we think of the same patterns and exercises at the same time. It's actually freaky at times.

We don't employ ankle weights, but we sometimes do the off-ice lifts while we are wearing our skates. And sometimes we do this after having skated for 1.5 hours. When our on-ice lifts don't work, we occasionally get off the ice and try the lifts. That seems to work, especially for that pesky split twist.

[And here's praying for a mammoth Nor'Easter so I don't have to go to work tomorrow! ]

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Hee hee. That was fun! I still cannot believe she'd never seen that movie!!

And it's so true about the man taking the brunt of it when a lift goes bad. I've squashed David several times. It really is like having a cushion under you. Thanks, David.

Signed,
The Other Woman

Hey, if you skated with him you'd make sure to have a knife collection too! Of course sometimes I think I'd use them to put MYSELF out of the misery...

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

Um, speak for yourself! I don't know that I'm CONTENT with off-ice lifts; I know it's not safe for us to do them on the ice YET, but I would love to do them eventually.

Here's a poll for adult pairs skaters: how many falls have you had during lifts? I think that with only one so far we're doing pretty well in that regard.

Biting tongue...biting tongue...

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

I once saw a documentary about Torvill & Dean and they showed their practice, and honestly, their language was worse than ours.... and we are renowned for yelling at each other on the ice.

A dance coach at our rink (not mine!) said, the other day, "I do hate this time of year - they're all working on new stuff [our crowd just didn't make Europeans or Worlds this year; the only couple who did, split up so couldn't go!] and so they yell at each other!" How true....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!