Anyone have reports from Peach? I wish I could have been there to either compete or just show support and throw stuff on the ice! I am surprised to see that there were only 3 competitors in Silver I/II this year. In the past, there were always about half a dozen people.

Actually, there ended up being only two of us in Silver I/II. Lara Taylor withdrew, unfortunately. There were only 6 in Silver III as well.

At least for my group, I think we both skated clean. I skated second, so I didn't get to see the other skater.

My music skipped in the middle of my program and cut out about 25 seconds, so I just kept skating and finished my program after the music stopped. What a bummer! (I really wanted to just finish and not have to stop and start the program.) I went to the referee and the time keeper after my last pose, and they said that I was still under the time limit. My layback was not centered, so it got wonky and weird, but other than that, I did fine.

Good grief- I just looked at the schedule and the attendance is really down!
While I had no plans to attend this year, Ernesto would have made it tough for me to fly out on Friday morning!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Results are up:

http://www.gafsc.org/peachclassic/2006/results.htm

Congratulations frumpy on your gold medal!

Why were there so few skaters this year? Looks like almost everybody medalled with the low turn out.

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We don't know why the turnout was so low. When I get over my exhaustion, I'm going to send out a questionaire.

For those members of this group that have gone before, why not this year?

Possible Answers that I've thought of:
Gas prices
Air travel hassles
Injuries
Bad weekend
Too many all adults competitions, and too few weekends
Gay games this summer using up vacation and money
USFSA messing with rules every year
Entry fees too expensive
Tom Mullins show in SF featuring adult skaters
????

Thanks for any insight that you can give the LOC. Because we really have to evaluate if we could continue this event with this low number of skaters.

I talked to lots of people this weekend, and no one really had a good idea of why the low numbers.

Rob
2006 Peach Classic Chairperson

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2010 Adult Nationals - earning a gold - "Priceless"
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2008 Adult Nationals - Too little sleep, too much vodka!

Rob,
As someone who attended Peach only once and that was last year, I've kept the above reasons you posted as reasons I suspect. It's not the gas prices alone, but the cost of traveling, period.
The constant rule changes, are another- the fact that this year is a big year regarding rule changes for adults and many are having to skip events for extra training time at home to get elements that while are in line with the WBP requirements yet keep them competitive in their category.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Congratulations to Frumpy and everyone else. I mentioned this already on adultedge yahoogroups, but I didn't compete this yr. because my older sister and her family came to visit this year. Even if they hadn't I probably wouldn't have entered due to starting my own business and wanting to start a family next year, so I need to cut down on skating expenses. Plus, the high cost of gas doesn't help. I'm not taking lessons anymore and will probably be out of the adult competitive scene for the next few years if I have a baby. I also wonder if we're not getting more new adult skaters willing or able to compete. Looks like most of the competitors are people I know or have heard of from adult competitions for the past several years.

Congratulations to everyone on the forum who competed! I see quite a few of our members medaled.


Well, I've never done Peach, but I can tell you my reasons for staying home again this year.

As Terri mentioned, the cost of traveling (and the pocketbook drain from high gas prices) is an obstacle to attending comps not within driving distance. While Peach sounds like a lot of fun, and well-organized, I'd rather put flight and hotel money toward my lessons and ice time. I competed several times this spring and summer at comps in my backyard, so in some ways, I'm competition'ed-out right now. Also, I wanted to test and pass Bronze FS by the end of the summer (which I did last week ) and I decided I needed a break after Wilmington in July to focus on learning new skills and improving my technique (in addition to testing).

But the rule changes, specifically the LOC-imposed restrictions on Pre-Bronze, also were a turnoff for me. No longer an issue for me, obviously, but I'm sure there were at least several Pre-Bronze skaters that decided not to re-choreograph their programs (that had already been choreographed with USFSA rules in mind) to accommodate just one comp's rules (is this why Beth scratched?). It will be interesting to see if Pre-Bronze attendance at HC is lower than usual.

Actually, it will be interesting to see if attendance is down at HC overall this year. NYI had a bit of a drop-off last year, but I attributed that to Easterns being 2 weeks away and not too far location-wise from where NYI was.

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Gold Moves, here I come!

Rob,

Do you think what happened in Dallas contributed in any way to a low turn out? I know that many skaters lost a lot of money in that referree debachle--maybe this contributed to it???

My only reason for not competing this year was injury. Otherwise, I'd have been there!

I can only speak for myself, but the only event I'm willing to travel for in a big way would be Adult Nats, because you know they will have the numbers.

There are events in NE I can attend and I don't have to worry that the turnout will be worth the expense of going. I have no interest in competing in an event with 2 other skaters. I find it to be a waste of my time. Competing, for me, is getting to see where judges rank my skating skills in relation to those at my level. Unless I've got 6 people in my group, I'm sad. And I would love more! That's why I'd travel for Adult Nats, but probably not to an event like this.

I'm sure geography and money are huge barriers for you!

Congratulations to everyone that skated at Peach!

Hannah,
I don't know if you are aware, but Peach Classic was historically the second largest all adult competition here in the country, only surpassed by AN.
Last year there were 5 of us in Pre Bronze free alone and I think 8 in Ladies Silver III.
There have been folks that have travelled from Great Britain, Canada, as well as Estonia to this event, as well as from all over the country, so geography was not a issue.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Yes, the numbers were down. But the comp was well-run, it was great to see familiar faces, meet some new ones, and put forums names with face. It was nice to see how several of the folks here whom have been competing for a while have really improved their skating.
Someone at the event (Rob?), quoting judges who have been around the competition block, said that attendance at many events has generally been down this year. Is it a mere cyclical phenom? Time will tell.

In addition, I think I can speak for Loops when I say that we were very impressed with this one skater who started only 4 months ago and entered 3 event--and her coach was sick and couldn't be there!

Nerdonice--great to meet you. Hope your skating dilemma works itself out.

Rob, thanks for all you hard work with this competition--and happy birthday again! We missed you in the silver men event (where one of the guys did 2 axels). It was great to discuss pairs issues and to do pairs lift at the party (and was that really me dancing to "Sexyback" with my sworn enemy, "EJS?" )

Thanks to Becca for all the nips--I have 12 at last count.

"Bats in the Belfry" rule!

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I know of one competition at the end of the month here in Richmond that extended their deadline by a week, possibly due to lack of response.
Here's something to think about though:

Back in the day, you had Peach, then NYI, then Sectionals and then AN.
Now you have Peach, Brewster, Buckeye, Halloween Classic, Intermountain (which is not happening this year), NYI, Wyandotte, Sectionals, AN and then if you're not tired or broke after all that, Mountain Cup of O'dorf. This is also not counting the standard track adult friendly comps, like Skate San Francisco.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

The restrictions on Pre Bronze is why i didnt attend this year i had a program already and didnt have the time with other stuff going on to rechoreograph it to fit the rules that the peach decided to have. The governing council limited the spins on pre bronze but not the jumps and my program was in line with that. I was planning on attending till i saw the requirements.

Hi, Rob!

I'd like to answer your questionaire. My reason for not going to Peach... MANY!!! Oh, where do I start...

Well, the very first one is...I'm on competition hiatus!!! I'm trying to pass Bronze Moves and FS this year and do a lot of technical catch-up! I simply don't have the energy, time or budget to go on another trip and I'd rather put the money towards training to become more competitive.

Another factor for me: my husband LOOOOONG unemployment stint from 2001 to late 2004 and my new replacement car for my old clunker car! As it is, we're still recovering from that episode! It's not that easy considering that we own a home and you know homes are well known for being money pits!

Third factor for me: given my in-laws are getting up there in age... my husband and I are spending money on traveling to NYC every year! Can't afford both the NYC trip and the Peach trip! This year, I'll made TWO trips to see my in-laws. Once is the upcoming Christmas trip... and the other is my recent June trip b/c my BIL got married again and EVERYONE (and I mean EVERYONE!) in my husband's family had to show up!!! (But it was worth it!!! That photo is at least a decade in the making!!!)

If I wasn't testing, I'm with Hannahclear in saying that I'd rather put the money towards Adult Nationals. As of now, I don't even know if I'm going to Chicago even if/when I do pass my Bronze FS tests in time. I want to stay the whole week and watch the Championship Masters events too, and I don't know if I could afford to stay the week! We'll see, I guess. But my concentration as of now is to pass Bronze FS and do major technical catch-up!

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jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

If you are referring to the limit of 3 spins in Pre-Bronze, that is not new - that was already in place a year ago when the WBP for Pre-Bronze were created. Previously, there were no minimums or maximums for jumps or spins in Pre-Bronze. I assume the requirement of 2 spins, but no more than 3 was based on the Bronze WBP at the time, which required a min of 2 spins but had no max.

This year, there were no changes made to the Pre-Bronze WBP but there were changes made to the other levels. What some comp committees (like Peach's) have done is create their own requirements for Pre-Bronze at their event, based on what they think the WBP should be, not what the WBP actually are.

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

The only reason I didn't make it this year was because my niece got married yesterday. It was an awesome wedding, and I'll be back to Peach next year!!!!

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Thanks everyone for their input.

The Pre-Bronze limits was not one I had on my list. But, as a LOC, we couldn't figure out how to have limits on Bronze FS, that were more restrictive than Pre-Bronze. I'm not on the Adult Committee, and didn't see the GC recommendations until everyone else did.

Beth G. scratched because she was bitten on her toe by a spider, she thinks, and had a hard time even putting on her skates. She did do the Bronze Team event on Sunday afternoon.

Please everyone keep the comments coming. As was said by by someone else, we are one of the oldest all-adults (this was out 10th year) and until last year, the largest all-adult after AN. Oh, and btw, we do have the best competitors party!

Here's our numbers for the past few years:
Year Skaters Clubs
2006 56 23
2005 96 33
2004 106 35
2003 131 47
2002 121 42
2001 106 41
2000 97 42
1999 73 35
1998 82 42
Source: http://www.gafsc.org/peachclassic/

One thing that struck me by looking at those numbers is: We peaked a year after the US Adult MIF rules were instituted and have been falling off ever since. Coincidence? I know lots of skaters (like me) who did all they could to pass their FS tests just before the deadline, so that they would be grandfathered. Before that rules change, people were moving up the levels at a pretty brisk pace. Now that has pretty much slowed down, and could be killing of the number of competitive skaters. But, that may be a whole different discussion.

Times change, and we need to see if we can adapt, or see if it is things outside of our control.

Rob

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"I'm too old to die young, and too smart to be happy" - Kinky Friedman, The Mile High Club

2010 Adult Nationals - earning a gold - "Priceless"
2009 Adult Nationals - competing with a cold is not much fun.
2008 Adult Nationals - Too little sleep, too much vodka!

Frumpy, I didn't know you were on Skatingforums. It was great to meet you and congrats on your win!! I'm your Silver I competitor. Great skate!!

I was thinking myself that the reason the Peach turnout was low was the number of adult competitions that have sprung up in the past few years. I know Halloween usually has a good turnout, as does New Years. People may only want to spend money going an event closer to their home? I've always loved Peach and will likely continue to do it. Rob and Ginger, another GREAT job!!!

It was so great to see old friends and meet new ones. Thanks Loops and Beccapoo for my nip and beanie baby!!!! And I second that "Bats in the Belfry" rock!!

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I do prefer standard adult friendly comps because they don't subdivide by age. You get bigger groups that way. But I'm sure there is a diversity of opinion on that option.

Thank you!

Wow, that's a drop in numbers! I, for one, competed last year but couldn't make it this year because I started a new job between then and now and this time of year has been very very crazy.

Also, it's been getting more expensive to skate, period. I know that the rising cost of ice at rinks due to energy bills has forced some clubs in my area to cut ice time, or hike up the prices per hour considerably. The public session rates for the summer nearly doubled from last year at the rink where I skate, and summer freestyle rates have gone up, too. It was difficult for me to even get a few hours of skating in per week over the summer, and it looks like fall is going to be only marginally better. To me, decreased training time + increased training costs + increased travel costs = fewer competitions.

Still, it's really interesting to see the attendance rates... I wonder how closely they correlate to other local competitions as well as AN. It seems, though, that Peach had about 100 competitors (or more) since 2000... I wonder if this was a fluke year. I hope that it is not a trend.

That said, I am really hoping to make it out to Atlanta next year. It is such a great competition.