AN '08 News, stories, anecdotes, RESULT page!!! - Page 12

lovepairs · #**276** 04-21-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdultPairSkater

So many other things happened not worth going into fully here that show the LOC of this competition did many things without foresight. Denny Allen even remarked to me, and he was in charge of practices, that he "forgot about the pairs," and "didn't think we needed practice ice." They simply tacked on the practices at the end of the day without realizing we were to be preparing/competing 9 hours later in the early morning, official warm-ups begining at 7 am. What's more, they even forgot to schedule Championship Pairs on the tentative schedule initially. This "forgetting" is indefensible. Period. "Forgetting" to schedule a Championship event and "forgetting" pairs need quality practice ice and reasonable times as singles skaters do is a major snafu and FUBAR.

The Bensenville LOC didn't make these errors, why did it happen this year? Because they did not do as vigilant and quality a job as you did last year! Oh, and the ice was certifiable crap. Oh, and by the way, the ice was certifiable crap that evening.

Do you understand more now? Is it all clear? Any comparison to singles skaters or singles skating experience is a non-sequeter, as this is an entirely different discipline. NoVa's comments and my agreement with them appear to be more than reasonable and valid.

Cheers!

Larry

First time over to this thread today. I couldn't bring myself to read it prior to today, but I'd really like to thank Stephen and Larry for their very accurate account of everything that the Pairs went through at Adult Nationals.

I know I said this before on the "Get Well" thread, but I just want it noted that I emailed Mary Elizabeth well before the event and practice ice schedules were set asking her to remember to provide ample "Pairs Only" practice ice for the number of pair teams attending, because in 2004 there was no "Pairs Practice" ice in Lake Placid at all. Her response to me was that they had many skaters to accommodate and that she'd bring this to Denny Allen's attention and see what they could do. So, Denny saying that he "forgot about the pairs" is--you know what, I have no descriptive words for it--it's off the charts unbelievable.

About our up/mount on the back press the evening we had the accident; it was the best smoothest mount we ever had on that lift to date--very solid and very strong. Oh, and the ice was certifialbe crap that evening.

RachelSk8er · #**277** 04-21-2008, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BatikatII

Hi
I was interested in your post as I have just started doing video for ice skating comps. Mine are very inexpensive (£10 or about $20) but I don't burn direct to disc - I edit and make them nice on a printable DVD with the name of the competitions and skaters etc and a fancy case, but I am wondering if maybe it would be worth investing in a direct to DVD setup. The editing takes considerable time but maybe it's not worth my while if people are happy to buy directly burned ones.
I dont think you could operate it with just one person though - did they have a few people doing it?

The only thing edited out on the DVD from the competition where they were cheap and burning on the spot were the ice cuts (in synchro, we have ice cuts every 4-6 teams--similarly you could easily edit out warmup groups by just turning the camera off). Breaks due to IJS were still in, although they really didn't seem to take too long at this competition (open marks were not being used so there were no scores announced). They had probably 3-4 people working, 1 on camera, 1 burning, 1 running around doing other stuff and 1 taking and handing out orders.

sk8lady · #**278** 04-21-2008, 08:41 PM

May I say, before I register my one complaint, that I really like Lake Placid, both the town and the arena. People were very nice to me, which was helpful during a stressful competition where I had to skate with a re-injured rotator cuff (from falling and then having someone fall on top of me during our club show 3 days before AN!) and without my coach, who found out she couldn't attend about 6 days before AN. I loved having a chance to watch other adults skate and it was great to be someplace where there are restaurants that don't have talking animal heads on the wall or people asking me if I want fries with that.

BUT...If anyone who is planning to help organize an AN is reading this, can I offer a suggestion? Please don't go 4 hours without having an ice cut during competition, which was what happened during my only event. It's not as though I've never skated on rutted, pitted ice (and at least there weren't any giant lumps in it as we often have at home)--but others have not and in any case, it doesn't seem fair to send people out to compete in the biggest competition available to adult skaters on subpar ice, especially as by the time of my event, we were actually running 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Instead of doing an ice cut, the organizers chose to begin my event 10 minutes early.

Thanks in advance for not ever doing this again.....

flo · #**279** 04-21-2008, 09:12 PM

flying camel -
May I ask how much added cost there was to the entry fee? Is this for a DVD of each skater or one of the entire event? Are the skaters receptive to this offer?
Thanks!

vesperholly · #**280** 04-21-2008, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8lady

Instead of doing an ice cut, the organizers chose to begin my event 10 minutes early.

That's surprising, as I both read and heard it announced that no event whatsoever was going to be started early.

Stormy · #**281** 04-21-2008, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vesperholly

That's surprising, as I both read and heard it announced that no event whatsoever was going to be started early.

That was announced, but it did happen nevertheless. The cheif referee wasn't aware that it happened until it was brought up in the adult commitee meeting and she did apologize profusely for it.

jazzpants · #**282** 04-21-2008, 11:43 PM

Just to let you know that I got my DVD's already from Production East. Not sure I wanna watch it but I will eventually watch it before my local AN Viewing party in mid June.

(WOW!!! This is the first year I'll actually have a video to show off at this AN viewing party!!!

)

dbny · #**283** 04-22-2008, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdultPairSkater

3. In Ladies II Light Comedy, a new friend of mine from the GGR area, Leslie, skated to "Blue Moon" with a beautiful blue skating dress. When she exposed the moon on her rear-end under the skirt, I proceeded to laugh for the next 3 minutes - long after her program was done. So clever, so funny and very well skated. It was hilarious!

I've been hoping to watch this performance (among many others, of course), but the only Leslie I could find was in Masters and did not skate to Blue Moon. Can you check your info please? The video for Ladies II Light Comedy isn't up yet or I would have just watched it all looking for your friend.

AdultPairSkater · #**284** 04-22-2008, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbny

I've been hoping to watch this performance (among many others, of course), but the only Leslie I could find was in Masters and did not skate to Blue Moon. Can you check your info please? The video for Ladies II Light Comedy isn't up yet or I would have just watched it all looking for your friend.

I may have the age group incorrect...... those youngsters! The 'Blue moon' program is for Ladies Interp Class I, LA/Comedy.

Sorry about the mix-up!

Cheers!

Larry

flying~camel · #**285** 04-22-2008, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flo

flying camel -
May I ask how much added cost there was to the entry fee? Is this for a DVD of each skater or one of the entire event? Are the skaters receptive to this offer?
Thanks!

In our case, I believe it added about $20 to the entry fee (1st event is $85 this year compared to $65 last year). I know Port Huron had the same offer and Ann Arbor is doing it as well.

I think it is a DVD of the entire flight, but I'm not on the competition committee, so I don't know all of the specific details.

flying~camel · #**286** 04-22-2008, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbny

I've been hoping to watch this performance (among many others, of course), but the only Leslie I could find was in Masters and did not skate to Blue Moon. Can you check your info please? The video for Ladies II Light Comedy isn't up yet or I would have just watched it all looking for your friend.

Leslie skated class I LE/C interp

flo · #**287** 04-22-2008, 08:56 AM

Thanks flying - that seems very reasonable.

rlichtefeld · #**288** 04-22-2008, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vesperholly

That's surprising, as I both read and heard it announced that no event whatsoever was going to be started early.

It happened with my event - Silver Pairs. The Bronze Pairs ended 10 minutes early and they wanted us on NOW. This was the second event of the day on the 32 rink.

Rob

doubletoe · #**289** 04-22-2008, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8lady

May I say, before I register my one complaint, that I really like Lake Placid, both the town and the arena. People were very nice to me, which was helpful during a stressful competition where I had to skate with a re-injured rotator cuff (from falling and then having someone fall on top of me during our club show 3 days before AN!) and without my coach, who found out she couldn't attend about 6 days before AN. I loved having a chance to watch other adults skate and it was great to be someplace where there are restaurants that don't have talking animal heads on the wall or people asking me if I want fries with that.

BUT...If anyone who is planning to help organize an AN is reading this, can I offer a suggestion? Please don't go 4 hours without having an ice cut during competition, which was what happened during my only event. It's not as though I've never skated on rutted, pitted ice (and at least there weren't any giant lumps in it as we often have at home)--but others have not and in any case, it doesn't seem fair to send people out to compete in the biggest competition available to adult skaters on subpar ice, especially as by the time of my event, we were actually running 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Instead of doing an ice cut, the organizers chose to begin my event 10 minutes early.

Thanks in advance for not ever doing this again.....

Wow! That certainly does not sound like standard procedure. Was there an ice cut scheduled according the the published schedule for that day?

sk8lady · #**290** 04-22-2008, 06:33 PM

There was, and then there was a sign posted saying ice cuts had been canceled from 2:30 on.

Someone in our group told the monitor that the ice really needed to be cut before the ladies' interp V went on after us, so the referee checked the ice and then requested that there be an ice cut.

manleywoman · #**291** 04-22-2008, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8lady

There was, and then there was a sign posted saying ice cuts had been canceled from 2:30 on.

Sigh. It's so odd. LP has elite skaters training there! Why would they not comprehend the idea of an ice cut during a competition? I'm amazed this happened so frequently.

dbny · #**292** 04-22-2008, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdultPairSkater

I may have the age group incorrect...... those youngsters! The 'Blue moon' program is for Ladies Interp Class I, LA/Comedy.

Sorry about the mix-up!

Cheers!

Larry

Quote:

Originally Posted by flying~camel

Leslie skated class I LE/C interp

Thank you both! Can't wait for the video to be up.

coskater64 · #**293** 04-22-2008, 08:20 PM

The Zam in the 32 rink broke on Wed night, maybe that had something to do with the lack of zams. When I say broke, I "heard" it literally died and had to have another zam pull it off the ice...possibly part of the problem.

Isk8NYC · #**294** 04-22-2008, 08:27 PM

This is totally random and off-topic, but my husband always yells "PUSH ME PULL YOU" when he sees a tow truck towing a tow truck.

I wondered if they had an equipment breakdown or a staffing shortage.

AdultPairSkater · #**295** 04-22-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coskater64

The Zam in the 32 rink broke on Wed night, maybe that had something to do with the lack of zams. When I say broke, I "heard" it literally died and had to have another zam pull it off the ice...possibly part of the problem.

Hi Coskater64

I was practicing Wednesday evening on the USA rink when the buildings were quiet. We all heard the explosion of the Zam's final gasps

A few moments later, I was able to see the remnants of black smoke and the poor thing lying unmoving, dead on the ice like a corpse on a slab

I'm sure that in such an isolated location, this had a major contribution to what transpired afterwards.

Cheers!

Larry

Beccapoo2003 · #**296** 04-22-2008, 08:36 PM

Ya, we were there in the rink when it happened.... Wierd!!!!
Beccapoo

sk8er1964 · #**297** 04-22-2008, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdultPairSkater

Hi Coskater64

I was practicing Wednesday evening on the USA rink when the buildings were quiet. We all heard the explosion of the Zam's final gasps

A few moments later, I was able to see the remnants of black smoke and the poor thing lying unmoving, dead on the ice like a corpse on a slab

I'm sure that in such an isolated location, this had a major contribution to what transpired afterwards.

Cheers!

Larry

OT - We had a zamboni explode and catch on fire at a local rink back in the fall. Shut one of the two rinks in the building down for about a month. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

Ice T · #**298** 04-22-2008, 09:44 PM

..............

mikawendy · #**299** 04-22-2008, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coskater64

The Zam in the 32 rink broke on Wed night, maybe that had something to do with the lack of zams. When I say broke, I "heard" it literally died and had to have another zam pull it off the ice...possibly part of the problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdultPairSkater

We all heard the explosion of the Zam's final gasps

A few moments later, I was able to see the remnants of black smoke and the poor thing lying unmoving, dead on the ice like a corpse on a slab

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8er1964

OT - We had a zamboni explode and catch on fire at a local rink back in the fall. Shut one of the two rinks in the building down for about a month. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

Gee, this must happen pretty often around the country--I think the zam at Ice Works in PA also caught fire last fall! I didn't see it happen, but I heard about it on the local evening news in Maryland!

manleywoman · #**300** 04-22-2008, 09:54 PM

So I guess LP did the best they could, considering.

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