WOO HOO!!! INSIDEAXEL!!!! CHAMPIONSHIP ADULT GOLD MEN CHAMPION!!!

And congrats to Nick Chou on his Silver at the same event too!!!

Congrats to skatingatty for Silver II Final and Thin-Ice for making the final round in Silver IV!!! WOO HOO!!!

God so many people to congratulate, so if I didn't get you, you are in my thoughts!!!

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Cheers,
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!!!

Hey everyone -- Just got back from Dallas. What an experience!!! My first Nationals was amazing. Besides a silver medal (Bronze I) the skating and atmosphere was great! The Gold and Pre-Gold (and Championship) dancers blew me away... if I can only find a partner! Congrats to kisscid, skatingatty, insideaxel, and everyone else on great skates!

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the kind words and congratulations! I feel very fortunate to have skated well when it counted, especially with such great talent in the Gold Mens group.

Usova Notoku, I've actually fielded ALOT of inquiries this weekend as to my "next step" in competitive skating. Right now the plan is to concentrate on getting our fledgling pairs endeavor off to a good start. What that means for the singles skating is anybody's guess, but I sincerely doubt I'll have the time to pursue my Intermediate MIF/Free tests, which would really further complicate our pairs test-level situation. And thanks for the enthusiastic review...did I get a chance to meet you in Dallas?

All in all this was a nice experience, with having a nice performance and getting the opportunity to reunite with old friends, put some faces with some online names and meet lots of new people in the community.

C'ya!

Kelton

A big congrats to you, Kelton, on a great skate! Let us know who you are skating pairs with: www.adultpairskating.com

It was a record breaking 22 pair teams at this year's AN!

Lovepairs

PS. For all of you who left AN early to go home...well, you didn't miss a thing...no food at the party...can you believe this!

JUST POPCORN: I'M STARVIN A DEATH OVER HERE!

Even Sweedish Meatballs would have been good In sync, yet!

No FOOD at an AN competitor's party!?!?!? You've got to be kiddin'!?!!?!

You goes on this board that are on the Chicago LOC taking notes??? "MUST have food at AN competitor's party!!!"

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Cheers,
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!!!

MUSICSKATEFAN congrats on your national gold medal. You are one hard worker on the ice, always focussed and determined.

Also to the Silver Men on skating in the fog. I do admit I love skating in the fog :-)

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Tim David's Website

Thanks Tim!

It was a good skate.. I got the pickett fence! All 1st place ordinals out of a field of 8!

Already getting pressured to move on up to silver! We shall see!

Thanks to DCden for the help and to Beth D. for putting me on the ice!

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

Will do! I'm excited to see you skate! Gotta check out the competition for next year, too.

First thing.... BIG CONGRATS TO MUSICSKATEFAN!!! WOO HOO!!! Your first AN title!!! You ROCK!!!

Results for Championship Masters Ladies:

http://www.usfigureskating.org/event...ers-ladies.htm

Results for Championship Masters Men:

http://www.usfigureskating.org/event...asters-men.htm

WOW!!! Some new names in the Masters Men category!!! And a BIG CONGRATS to Lives To Skate for his Bronze!!! WOO HOO!!! You ROCK!!!

The Moves Guru did pretty well, picking up one 1st place ordinal. He still ROCKS in my book!!! (Hey FrankR, what did the Moves Guru say when he first saw your Masters Men "twin"? Did YOU meet him??? )

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Cheers,
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!!!

Congratulations to MSF!!!!
I'm really glad you were able to pull it off, given the scheduling turmoil of the last couple of weeks!!

No food at the party??
Makes me wonder what happened here!

I'm sure the Chicago group is paying close attention on what to do/ not do for next year!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Kelton,
No, we didn't get a chance to meet in Dallas, but I saw the Championship Gold Men's competition and I must say, with the way you skate and win all of these Gold events, these competitions are more like coronations!
You were great!

Good luck in pairs!

Usova Notoku

No Food at Party
No DJ and dancing at party
Wrong directions handed out to practice rink
Both condensors broken in North and South Pole rinks (enough to give you pnuemonia.)
I asked if they could turn on the heaters in the stands. They said "No they have been broken for years." Next, day they were turned on!
Still event schedule problems
Many people bumped from practice ice

Otherwise, IT WAS A TOTALLY BLAST! WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

However, here is a footnote: It didn't feel like an Adult Nationals. It felt like a well-attended Sectionals. Any body else have that feeling. This was my
5th Adult Nationals, and it is the only one that didn't feel like a Nationals--maybe it's just me??? Anyone else feel that way? Just curious.

Hola!

I just made it home from my first AN. I got bronze in Masters Novice I&II.

Thanks, skatingatty, for posting the re-cap!


I had a complete blast at this competition and am definitely looking forward to next year. Apparently my club has a bid for Mids, so I'm going to be quite involved in the competition scene next year. Can't wait! What a great and friendly atmosphere. I felt good all week (except that South rink sort of had a smoke machine-type atmosphere going which made it hard to breathe when people were skating. . .apparently a dehumidifier was broken? Something like that).

Congrats to everyone who skated! It was a great week!

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

Congratulations, MSF!!! Onward and upward! Hey, given how quickly you got through Bronze MIF, I predict you'll get through Silver as I pass Bronze, or maybe sooner - lol! Btw, are you still doing pairs?

Congrats, LivesToSkate and WhisperSung!

OK, time to revive the "2007 AN or Bust!" Support Group!

Andrea, there was food at the party and plenty of dancing. Where were you? They opened up the small hall intot agigantic room with ta dance floor and a bit of food (including swedish meatballs). Guess you left too early?

And to be fair, it is not the LOC's fault that the compressor broke.

And to echo lovepairs, congrats to all the pairs teams. I hope to one day skate pairs again at Nats.

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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.

If anyone is interested, I took notes of what the bronze, silver, and gold pair teams did. I'll try to post later.

I didn't take notes of any of the championship events--I think skatingatty took care of that. Not that I could have taken notes since Rob L. was too busy forcing me to drink his vodka!

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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.

Yeah right, nice try!
Glad to know you were able to get your vodka!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I must have gone to a different party @ AN's. While the food was a little late it did arrive as did the music, I danced until 1 am or was it 2 am with the change for daylight savings...? I also got some food but since the party started late I ate ahead of time.

Skating wise it went well for me, my first year at Novice so I didn't expect much and I did respectibly my highest finish so far at this level and very good for a new program. Jump wise... but otherwise it was nice, I did a nice interp but my group had the armadillo and was just incredible.

There were issues at the event but overall I had a great time, all my family was there so it was a special event for me and I was pleased to leave the ice without the aid of an ambulance.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Dear Nova,

Didn't blame the LOC for the compressor problem, but it is something that the rink should have taken care of before the event started. I heard that they had to wait for a spare part to come in. Here's an idea; keep compressor parts in stock.

Next, glad to hear that they eventually put out food and had dancing. We set our clocks forward and it was 10:30pm and no food--we were starvin having just skated, again, so we had to find something to eat. Darn...it sound like we left just a little, too, early. Glad to hear that they had food and dancing afterall! Next year...let's cut up the dance floor together!

Note for Chicago and every AN thereafter: please put a little space heater in the ladies and men's locker rooms. Air freshener would be a nice touch, too, as oppossed to Eau de Hockey!

Everyone skated brilliantly--it was a wonderful AN in this way. Congrats again to every skater on the ice! You all rock!

Is there a web site for the company that did the pictures? I took my own at the awards but they came out pretty bad, and I'd like to get the official one since my whole group was in it.

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

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the all of the kind words. I just got in from Dallas. I had a great time. I'm pleased with my skate. There were a couple of spots where I wasn't sure I'd make it but I held on. For example, I don't know what possessed me to take off for my first axel combination with less than a foot of space from the boards but somehow I managed to hang on and push through the combination without splatting into the barrier. I also hung on for dear life on my camel position in my combination spin but again managed to hold on and finish the spin.

I didn't watch the guys that skated in my event before me. However, I've heard wonderful things about everyone and to have gotten second in such a good group is such an honor.

I also experienced something new at this Adult Nationals. I put a couple of friends out on the ice for their skates. Ye Gods! I don't know how coaches do it. I was constantly worried that I was saying too much or not saying enough. I think my nerves were much worse standing on the sidelines as opposed to skating my own program. My main goal was just to be there for my friends and have them feel that I cared about them and that I was there for them no matter what and in the end I hope that they got the message.

It was nice seeing familiar faces as well as meeting a couple of new people out on the ice. I want to thank everyone for being so gracious and friendly and it was great to see all of you. However, I especially want to thank a few people, specifically. So hopefully you'll all indulge me.

Edward Van Campen: You're my coach and you've seen me through a lot this year. I, in return, have frustrated the living daylights out of you with my scratchy toe-picks, my flaky camel-spin and my apparent lack of any latin rhythm despite being half Colombian and half Puerto-Rican. Thanks for your patience and for sharing what you know with me. Your skate was wonderful!

Tara Cioppa, Cara Erdheim, Tim Covington, Joy DuBost: I think the parts of this week that I enjoyed the most were the times when we sat around and shared our thoughts regarding our nerves, our skating and our lives. You are all great and you each bring something special to the ice. I hope some day to be even half as good as you all are and I don't mean that just as skaters but as people too.

Take care all,

Frank

No sound broadcast outside of the Southpole rink until Thursday afternoon.

Unable to play tapes at Valley Ranch practice ice (CD's worked ok)

No ice packs available for an injured skater

What else?

(My first Nationals, so maybe I shouldn't itemize the complaints, since I don't know what is typical and I'm sure it is complicated to put together a big event like this).

And, as noted by others above, these problems were mostly out of the control of the LOC. Grapevine Mills Dr. Pepper StarCenter is just not the best venue for a big event like this.

I know that there were some problems with facilities, but the Dallas FSC volunteers were great!! Everyone was friendly and excited about adult skating.

I think those sweepers on the North Pole rink deserve a huge applause. They were having a blast, and hopefully they'll join the ranks of the adults someday. One kid said that nobody EVER throws stuff to her when she competes.

The encouragement from the stands (or from beyond the fog in the SP rink LOL) is just amazing. Everyone wanted everyone else to skate well, and encouragement applause when a skater needed it was awesome!!

Looking forward to more great skating in Chicago!!

Pedonskates (aka Brenda)