Julia Passes Her Solo Test

For the past couple of months, Julia had been working on her solo program for the Skate Canada StarSkate Preliminary Freeskate test, and on Tuesday, she passed the test! She has now completed her Preliminary and Junior Bronze dance and skills tests, and both portions of the Preliminary Freeskate test. She is going to take some time off skating to concentrate on Track and Field for the Spring, before resuming later in the year. Congratulations, Julia. We're proud of you!

Skating Success

The StarSkate program that Julia takes has a series of tests. At each level, there are several tests for each of the components: skills, dance and freeskate. Typically, a skater will attempt a test every few months. Julia had earlier passed the first three dance tests and the first skills test. In the past year, however, she'd not had much inclination to try any tests. Nevertheless, she continued her lessons and kept working on the test requirements.

A month ago, Julia and her new coach decided it was time to try a test again. Todd and I agreed it would be a good idea to try one and see how it goes. Well, the one test turned into four. The coach convinced her to attempt tests for the full year's worth of work all in one day! On test day, I don't know who was more nervous, Julia or myself. Thankfully, Kate had a violin lesson at the same time, so I let Todd take Julia because he's a lot calmer about such things.

It's not uncommon for skaters to fail a test, even more than once. Some skaters take a test even if they're not totally ready, just to get the experience and feedback from the judges. So we were prepared for several failed tests. However, Julia amazed us by passing three of the four tests, including the most difficult one that she was attempting "just for the experience". She failed one over a minor issue that will be easily corrected in time for the next test date.

We were so stunned by the results and very proud of our lovely skater! We were even more surprised today when her coach told us that the skating club chose her as "StarSkate Skater of the Month" for those excellent results. Julia's next test will probably be her freeskate solo in the fall. Her coach is working on the choreography using music that Julia had chosen, and I can't wait to see how that develops.

Chantastic

"Chantastic" ... that's what they're calling Patrick Chan these days.

I spent most of last weekend glued to the TV as CBC Country Canada was broadcasting the entire Canadian Figure Skating Championships, "entire" meaning all performances, not just those of the medal contenders. Todd's parents, Marilyn and John, were visiting and happily (or maybe just politely) joined me for some of that time. Obviously, they failed in passing on an appreciation of the sport to their son, though Todd did suffer through a few performances with me.

The men's event was incredibly exciting, and 17-year-old Patrick Chan, the rising star of Canadian figure skating, brought down the house with his long program set to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. You can see the YouTube video of Chan's program here. The audience was up on their feet cheering at least 20 seconds before the end of his program. Jeffrey Buttle, one of my very favourite skaters, also had a beautiful performance, even if it earned him only a silver medal.

The other big news was 17-year-old Kevin Reynold's quad-triple-triple jump, which you can also view on YouTube here. (Only the clip of the jump is included, as the rest of his program was not so memorable.) He is only the second person to ever do this, the first being Evgeny Plushenko. These guys aren't even old enough to buy a drink in a bar yet! The future of Canadian figure skating looks very bright.

Club Competition

Saturday was the local skating club's annual competition. This competition is meant to be inclusive and all club members are invited to participate, even if they're, like our kids, not normally in a competitive stream.

This was Kate's first club competition. Because she started the StarSkate program so recently, we hadn't expected her to participate, but her coach taught her a short solo and encouraged her to register. This resulted in a frantic, last-minute sewing session which my regular blog readers heard me whine about in a previous post. Kate didn't place in the top three in her group of seven, but we were very proud that she managed to perform her first solo with no major mistakes. She also looked pretty cute in her new dress, even if I do say so myself!

Julia, also in a brand new dress, skated a bit later in the afternoon. She did a terrific job, and we were thrilled that she made it onto the podium! She came in third in her group of seven, and the photo above shows her at the medal ceremony afterwards. Coincidentally, one of her good friends was at an adjacent rink, watching her brother's hockey game, and so Julia had extra applause and cheers when she got her medal.

Another Season of Skating

The girls had started the new skating season in September, but the adult session only started last week. I am again taking semi-private lessons once a week with my usual coach, who is infinitely patient. She teaches all types of skaters but specializes in special-needs students and adults. Is there a connection there? Hmmm ....

Julia is well beyond me. She is working on her fourth dance pattern and will likely attempt the test before the year's out. However, it was a bit of a shock to realize that even little Kate can do some things better than I can. I can do a not-so-pretty (half-revolution) waltz jump and I can almost make a full revolution on a clumsily-executed toe loop, but frankly, jumps are hard. Not technically hard, just psychologically hard. Kate still has much to learn in terms of technique, but hopping around the ice on one foot seems to be no big deal to her.

So I have a few modest goals for this season: don't get any major injuries, don't be an embarrassment to my kids on the ice, and oh yeah ... do a one-fit spin with at least three revolutions. I should be able to accomplish two of the three.

Best Skating Costumes?

The last post was about the worst skating costumes. So which ones are the best? Answer: the ones I sew for my kids, of course! :-) Seriously speaking, I'm not all that good at sewing. I can only do simple patterns and it's best not to look too closely at the seams and edges. However, it is nice being able to make a dress rather than rely on the small selection at the shops or pay for a custom dress.

The photo at the left is from Julia's 2006 club competition. This dress is the first one I'd made and it has all kinds of flaws but it is my favourite. Julia has the right colouring for this dress; if I try to wear orange, I end up looking like I'm dressed for a Halloween party. The pattern is from Jalie, which specializes in patterns for athletic clothing. The pattern had cost $13 and the materials $20, which is a terrific savings given that most off-the-rack skating dresses cost $100 each. I bought the fabric from Ann's Fabric Shop in Hamilton, which carries a huge variety of hard-to-find dance and skating fabrics.

I've bought other patterns, and I've made dresses from a couple of them. However, Julia liked this pattern so much I made her a second dress from it, in a different fabric, and now she wants to use the same design for her next dress. That makes the sewing easier for me, but the downside is that the coaches and other parents will think that I only know how to sew one kind of dress!

Worst Skating Costumes

I've been enjoying the "Worst Skating Costumes" thread on the Figure Skating Universe board. Here are my picks:

• Evgeny Plushenko in gold
• Alexei Urmanov's wings
• Zhang and Zhang: jungle chic
• Stephane Lambiel, affectionately known as "The Little Zebra"
  
• Bestemianova and Bukin: huh?

Skating as an Adult

After reading about my continuing attempts to learn figure-skating, Sandra sent me a video of an 81-year-old figure skater, Yvonne Dowlen. The story is here and it includes a link to the video. I sincerely hope I'll still be skating at 81, though I expect I'll be pleased enough if I can just go forwards around the rink at that point.

I took figure-skating lessons as a kid but did not get much past the basic skating skills: forward/backward cross-cuts, edges, etc. Julia has already progressed way beyond where I'd left off and Kate is not too far behind that point. I took classes on and off in the years since then but I started skating more regularly again a couple of years ago. The skating club was holding an adult ice dancing class in an adjacent rink at the same time as Julia's lesson, so I decided to join, as an alternative to sitting in the stands. The following year, I couldn't fit the group class into my schedule and so I started weekly private lessons with a terrific coach and am still doing them now.

A while ago, I found this piece on what it means to be an adult skater. The first item is, "Telling your body to do something and watching, helpless and horrified, as it does something else." Yup, that pretty much sums it up in a sentence.

Skating Tests

Julia passed her Preliminary Skills test today. This is a Skate Canada StarSkate test, consisting of Waltzing Threes, Waltzing Mohawks, and Preliminary Circles. She'd also passed her first three dance tests (Dutch Waltz, Canasta, Baby Blues) earlier in the year. This was a great way to end the skating season. Last week, Kate received her 5th Canskate badge and will be starting the StarSkate program next season. We will celebrate at one of the kids' favourite restaurants this weekend. My coach has asked me to consider trying the StarSkate tests myself sometime in the future. We'll see ... First, I have to get used to the idea of wearing a skating dress again. The last time I did that, I was ten years old.

Forty

I celebrated my 40th birthday yesterday. I always thought 40 is a great age to start something new, so I'm starting my new blog.

I had a lovely day on my birthday. Kate had a pile of beautifully decorated presents waiting for me at breakfast, including a sheet of coupons that featured items like, "Free song on the violin." Todd, Kate and Julia gave me a copy of Photoshop Elements 5 for digital scrapbooking. Got lots of phone calls from family too, including one all the way from Singapore from Joe and Jill.

When Todd asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday, I'd suggested a "quiet" dinner at one of my favourite restaurants, 20 King (which isn't on 20 King anymore). When we showed up, a crowd was waiting for us: Mark, Sharon, Laura, Scotte, Ruth, Dave, Terry, Glenda, Marilyn and John! Unfortunately, Fei Min and Don were on vacation and couldn't make it. I was very touched that Todd's parents drove all the way from Wasaga Beach for the evening.

Was I surprised? Very. It didn't occur to me that Todd could arrange such a thing without my help (not that he isn't capable, but he never has the time or patience for such things). He even gave the house a thorough cleaning to prepare for our guests, without my noticing that anything was out of the ordinary.

I had more wine and food than was good for me: raspberry marguerita, Ahi tuna appetizer, arctic char, complimentary piece of cheesecake with candle. I had my second dessert with champagne back at the house, accompanied by all our guests. Julia and Kate stayed up to have birthday cake with us. All in all, it was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday, surrounded by my closest friends and family.

I didn't think last night that I'd make it to my skating lesson this morning, but I managed. It was the last spring session lesson for Julia and me. My coach and I worked on waltzing threes and expanding exercises today. I'm still learning these but Julia is preparing for testing. I also practiced spirals and drags; these definitely get more painful at age 40.