Competitive figure skating moms...

[TammiMcMan]

She is also on a synchro team that is fund raising like crazy to get to California for the World competition in July. This past Sunday we held an Art Auction and between ad sales and the art that we sold we made................11,000.00!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!! only 38,000 left to go That would pay 100% of everything.

Best of luck with the fundraising. DS's theatre on ice group wants to go to France next year for a competition, so I'm sure we'll be getting involved with that very soon.

Michelle, cute picture. I love the boot covers, what a clever idea.

Tammi

 

[tmq2766]

Tammi,
The art auction was an AWESOME time... I am telling you if you guys are serious about fund raising this is something to really consider!!!! It is a gallery in New York and they pretty much held our hand throught the whole thing!!!!! The auctioneers name is Spike.... He use to be the drummer for the oldies band Tommy James and the Shandels. He was incredible!!!!

We also have a Theatre on ice group at our rink. This was the first year for it... I guess this summer and fall they are going to be traveling to Boston and San Francisco.

 

[TammiMcMan]

Tammi, we also have a Theatre on ice group at our rink. This was the first year for it... I guess this summer and fall they are going to be traveling to Boston and San Francisco.

Small world, we skate out of Boston. I'm guessing it's the International Theatre on Ice competition. That's being held in Vermont at the end of June. We'll be attending. We're actually going up there this weekend for our first competition with the new routine.

 

[Shells9]

Wow! What an awesome fundraiser!

Our synchro team is just starting out. It's been going for about 6 months and has only about 4 girls who participate regularly and they are all in second grade!

Thanks for the comments on the picture. I will be sure to tell her. Her music is Flight from the Peter Pan soundtrack.

 

[tmq2766]

That's where it is Vermont not Boston...DUH....

This year we have 16 girls on our team...This is DD 3 year on team. The first year we had 19 girls and took first place in nationals. the second year we took 3rd at Nationals and went to Minnesota for worls and took 1st!!!! WOO HOO so this year we are trying your best to get to California to regain the title. hehe. It's being held in Anaheim so that just means a quickie to DL while we are there. hehe Our team music this year is the music from Fantasmic, Way Cool.

 

[tjmw2727]

Michelle -
My younger dd is picking new music as she needs to move to a longer program and is choosing from 4 different peter pan pieces, from the ballet, musical and soundtrack. Did you have your dd's competition dress made or were you lucky enough to find it somewhere? (if you don't mind me asking!)

TJ

 

[sandramaac]

If I can recommend two folks who recently did work for me. Wendesign just did my dd new competition dress--just beautiful---they are at www.skatingdress.com.

Satin Spirals did a christmas exhibition piece for me and they are at www.satinspirals.com.

Both ladies are wonderful to deal with and I would use them both again.

 

[Shells9]

I met a really talented lady on Ebay who made it for me. She's made Emily a bunch of stuff. Her own DD skates in AZ. I told her kind of what I wanted, and what her music was and she made it. She also made a matching jacket for warming up. PM me if you'd like her info.

 

[TammiMcMan]

TJ, because they grow out of them so fast at that age, I've also purchased a lot through E-bay. If you have the time and alittle skill, you can do a lot with standard stock dresses. Just purchase some of the stones and I can't remember the name of the glue, but it's called Goop or something. You buy it in the home improvement area of any store. It's a great adhesive and you just apply a dab with a pin or toothpick and affix the stones. A couple of local places you might want to look into are Cookes Skate Supply in Wilmington. That's where we have our skates sharpened, plus he has a nice supply of practice and competition outfits. He always has a rack of clearance items. The other is also a local company called FreidaB. She has a shop at our club and also a website, www.freidab.com.

Tammi

 

[tjmw2727]

Thanks guys especially for the links they are all great!

Tammi - Cookes already has many of my skating dollars!! Both girls get skates from him and I have purchased the girls current practice and competition dresses from cookes as well. I also found a dance studio in Reading that has some nice skating things at a very reasonable price.

Once my dd picks the music I will do some more searching, since she is only 8 and just doing the LTS, or Basic Skills competitions we haven't done anything to fancy yet. We did use a red dress for her annie program of course!

TJ

 

[sandramaac]

Well dd had a tremendous weekend at the competition she was in. It was the first time she skated her new program in competition. She won a gold medal in the prelim free style and gold medal in prelim. spins and a bronze medal in the prelim manuevers team (she did this as a favor to her coach, as she was the highest level skater, the other girls where just ok). She skated so unbelievably well.

Anyway, after discussion her coach at U of D and her local coach we ( the coaches, us and dd--but really the coaches and her) have decided a few things. First, since she can pass her test both moves and free style to juvenile that over the summer she will test. Secondly, they want her down there everyday as they want to get her ready for South Atlantics in October. Being as this is this would be the last year she could skate qualifying at juv. level, they want her to get this in for the experience. So the push is on to get all her dbls in and her dbl axel. They want to bring on a coach that specializies in harness work, she will work with a conditioning coach as well as her other coaches. I keep hearing from everyone she has the 'it' factor. I admit I see it, but i'm trying to keep a more level out look. So much is based on timing in this sport. And the age curve in this sport has taken such a downward slide. It is a shame for the girls who have all trained for years who are fabulous skaters, and end up not making the national or world team because a 14/15/16 years slides in there at an Olympic year. Anyway, thats all for now. Going to try and post a picture that they took of her during the axel--it is so cool.

 

[Shells9]

Wow, that's awesome! I can't imagine getting to the point of multiple coaches and stuff...YIKES! How awesome for her, though -- way to go!

 

[TammiMcMan]

Sandra, congratulations to your DD. That's terrific she did so well in her competition. It's nice to hear a parent with such a realistic attitude. For the thousands of girls skating their hearts out, only a handful ever "make" it. It certainly isn't for lack of trying. As in most sports, it comes down to a lot of natural ability. I've been watching a 6 year old at our club who is amazing. She's already tested at pre-pre, is landing her axel and has started working on a double. Plus, she has the artistic talent to really wow an audience. It's almost like if you aren't doing those things by age 10, you're way behind. I think USFSA does try to keep things in perspective by having no triples at the juvenile level and a minumum and maximum age, but beyond that, it's pretty much open. My son went up through the ranks very quickly and passed 10 test sessions in just over a year. He went to Junior Nationals in 2003 and he's been working on his double axel and triple salchow for almost a year now. He loves to skate, but he also plays soccer, is involved in the drama club, teaches skating and now he's taken up ice dancing and theatre on ice. Not to mention the off ice strength and conditioning classes, plus pilates. We have Monday's off and that's about it. At a competitive club, you'll see a lot of young skaters who are home schooled or have all their classes scheduled before noon, so they can skate. I honestly think it's about balance and keeping everything in perspective. Skating has so many opportunities, not only in competition, but in teaching and judging. There are also many avenues to explore like synchro, pairs, dance and theatre. I hope you and your DD have a wonderful experience and going to regionals in the fall is a great goal. Who knows, maybe we'll see you at Junior Nationals in Colorado next year!

TJ, we risked the blizzard and drove up to Vermont on Saturday. You'll have to congratulate TM the next time you see her. Her adult team, the one DH is on, won a gold medal. We had drinks with her on Saturday night after the competition. Also, DS's team won a gold medal. It was a good day for everyone. We may end up going to your club show. My DS mentioned it to me the other day. He has some friends who skate in the senior club and he wanted to see them.

Tammi

 

[shelbyjosh]

Congrats Sandra! Kudos to your DD. I know the feeling when your child in "on". Mine did that last summer...1st and 3rd in 2 days. Sounds like the coaches are on a push. Hopefully your DD won't get burned out. I see $$ going very quickly! We are into ice show season and I seem to be giving money to every Tom, Dick, and Harry for some reason or another.

 

[sandramaac]

Oh man don't even ask about the $$$----what the heck, I'm knee deep so what if we go waist deep--LOL!!!

DD is so motivated--totally self, in fact I find myself almost backing off. Having a degree in theater, it would be very easy to go to the dark side-ya know the whole stage mom thing. Instead I have actually involved myself with my son's ice hockey rather than the arts oriented things both my dd's do. If it is to be their passion, they have to come to it themselves. And so far, that's what it has come to. Her only worry is that she get's in her fav. vacation in the Outer Banks. I have already been told she cannot go one week with out any ice, so I suppose I will be making the ride up to the Chilled Ponds arena near Va. Beach ( been there for hockey). We usually also go to Europe and hit a city there, but we are going to take a rain check on that this summer.

Hope we do get the chance to meet up. Good luck!!

 

[TammiMcMan]

Oh Sandra, we have coaches like that at our club. They demand X number of ice hours per week, X number of off ice and X number of competitions. They are amazing coaches and were also Olympic and International competitors at one time. When we went to Junior Nationals, they had 5 of their own students there. We've sort of steered away from them though, I just couldn't live my life like that. DS is not an only child and I see vacations and breaks as a chance to reconnect with each other. Because of the demands of the sport, there are many times when my DH will take one child to their activity while I'm off with the other child. We do schedule time off around competitions and yes, there are certain times of the year when it's just not feasible to be away from the ice. Primarily that's July-October and then extended to January if you make Nationals.

Summer ice should give you a very good indication of how things are going to go. That is a huge committment and if she's still going strong after 8 or 9 weeks, then that's terrific. I remember the first year my son did summer ice. We were good for the first 6 weeks, but after that it was a struggle to get him there everyday. Last year it wasn't too bad, but I did end up dropping the last week because he really needed a break. We just looked over the new schedule last night and we're pencilled in for sessions from 8am-1:30 every day. That will cover his ice dancing, freestyle, and off ice workouts. He did beg me not to sign him up for power edge this time around. Now that is a workout, but it's also terrific training. My DS's goal for this year is to go to Lake Placid in August for his first ice dancing competition.

We're very lucky that DH has an excellent job, because it does get very expensive. Both our cars are well over 100,000 miles and we are crossing our fingers that we can get another 3 or 4 years out of them. Oh well, you can't take it with you and at least we're spending it on something that is loved.

Tammi

 

[tjmw2727]

Hey guys - wow bumped back to the first page!!

Sandra - wow, thats terrific I love to hear others stories. I hope the increased schedule works out for you. My oldest is asking for more and more ice time but I am trying to take it slow.....

Tammi - Great news both for dh and ds - I will definately congratulate T, saw her Mon but we were both busy. I knew she was going but didn't hear the results, my dd just loves her!

My oldest dd is skating with the Sr Club this year, 4+ hours on Sunday but she is managing just fine. She is one of the youngest but is more than holding her own and making many friends. It is shaping up to be a great show, all the kids are working very hard. My dd sold lots of ads for the program and will likely get a few free tickets as a result. If so I may have extras so I will let you know so you can use them if you like. My youngest is in the Sr club now but we decided to keep her in Jr club for the show one more year. She wasn't happy but I think it was a great decision!!

Shelly - did you ever find out what happended with the stolen $$? Just wondering

TJ

 

[TammiMcMan]

TJ, I heard your club show went very well. DS really wanted to go to see some of his friends skate in it, but he just had too much going on. I hope your girls had a good time with it. Were you able to see the Ice Chips show this weekend? I thought it was one of the better ones and Stephane Lambiel was just great. I was working backstage so I got to meet him. He's a very gracious young man. My DS is a pretty good spinner and can even do the headless spin that Stephane does. During intermission at one of the shows, Stephane gave him some pointers on how to make his spins longer and faster. DS was very impressed that he took the time with him. I have heard that it's going to be broadcast on CN8 this Sunday at 9pm, 5/14 at 8pm and 5/28 at 8pm. The show was 2 1/2 hours long, so I'm sure they are going to cut some of it, but hopefully they will show Stephane in addition to Melanie Lambert and Fred Palascak. I couldn't even watch some of the things that they were doing. Talk about amazing!

Had drinks Sunday night after the club show with TM and I think this coach is at your club, FG (daughter is a skater also)??

DS is testing his first dance level on Wednesday night. He's still loving it and I know I'm his mom, but I think he looks pretty good. Right now they are only working on one on-ice lift and two are still strictly off ice. His coach announced that he'd like to take the two new ones on-ice this weekend. One involves him having to flip his partner so that her feet drape over his shoulder and her head hangs down by his legs. He's pretty nervous about that one, but he has a fearless partner. I guess you'd have to be.

I know it's club show time in most area's, so I hope all is going well with our skating DIS'ers. Summer ice is right around the corner.

Tammi

 

[TammiMcMan]

Well, it's been a while and I'm just here as a proud mom and wife. If anyone is interested, they can check out this link at USFSA. My DS skates on the senior theatre on ice team and DH skates on the adult team. They both came home with gold medals at the International competition held a few weeks ago. TJ, you'll notice TM in the team picture. It was pretty exciting and they've had some invites to do some guest skating. We're desperately trying to get ready for DS's first dance competition in a little less than 3 weeks. He just got fitted for a tuxedo and needs at least one more shirt made. Not to mention that the cement holding his boots together has lifted off one of them. This is not a good thing so close to competitions and regionals. We've re-cemented and screwed it back together and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will hold out until mid December. If it's not one thing, it's another.

On the up side, it's so nice to be in a cool skating rink when the temps hit 90 degrees outside

Tammi

 

[TammiMcMan]

Just a friendly bump to check on my fellow skating moms.

Sandra, is your DD all set for South Atlantics? I hope she has fun and enjoys the experience.

We have New England regionals this week. It's always more fun when it's an Olympic year.

Hope everyone is having a good season so far.