Skating Milestones!

I have had an awesome week at skating - a week where I realize how lucky I am to be a coach and to get paid to do something that I love, and that can be so rewarding!

It started on Thursday with one of my skaters, Kate - she wasn't supposed to be at practice that night because she had an orthodontist appointment, but she was able to make it for about an hour. Now, I had readjusted my lesson schedule thinking that Kate wasn't going to be there, so I only had about ten minutes to work with her. I was going to give her a short skills lesson, but she asked if we could work on her double toe loop instead, so I said sure and we got to work.

She has been working on her double toe off and on all year - at one point, she was really struggling with it, so we decided to focus on her double loop instead - but over the last few weeks, we switched back to the double toe as it was getting really close. So on Thursday, after about two or three attempts...she LANDED her FIRST DOUBLE TOE!!!

I don't know who was more excited, me or Kate?!? I'm super excited because it's always good to see a skaters hard work pay off, and because this is the first of 'my' skaters to land a double toe!

When I got home after skating, this was Kate's status on Facebook....landed my double toe loop today!!!!!!!!!!! my butt is completely soaked but it was totally worth it! :)

And then yesterday, we had a 'guest coach' come to Tweed to work with our skaters in a harness. The coach uses a handheld harness to help get the necessary height to achieve the rotation of a jump - once the skater 'gets the feeling' of the jump, they are often able to complete it without the harness.

Here is a picture I found online of a coach using a similar harness...
The first skater I had Adam work with in the harness was Leah; she has been working on her axel for at least two years! It's a jump that kids always struggle with, and often spend a long time working to achieve, but it was beyond frustrating for her by this point! She'd pretty much given up on Freeskate by this point actually, I think she was ready to give up and focus on Dance and Skills.

So, she gets in the harness and after a few attempts, starts landing the jump. I'm working with a different skater at the opposite end of the ice, but I was totally distracted and paying more attention to Leah...ooops. It's obviously one thing to land the jump while in the harness, but the ultimate test to land it once the harness is removed. So, when she LANDED her FIRST AXEL I couldn't help but celebrate!!! I interrupted the lesson to give high fives, congratulate her, hug her and tell her how proud of her I was - no one would have been able to wipe the smiles off our faces!!!

She continued her lesson, doing a few jumps in the harness and then a few more without, going back and forth. The best part, not only is she now landing the jump, but she has a beautiful air position! Now that's a comment only a skating coach can appreciate! ha!

Once she finished her lesson, I did a little group lesson with my jumping stars - the lesson included Leah, Kate and another skater, Britteny, who has recently started landing her double salchow. It was a great lesson, the girls and I both loved rotating through skaters - Leah landing her axel, Britteny landing her double salchow and Kate landing her double toe loop!

And, now for a picture of the girls...
Left to right: Leah, Jillian, Kate and Britteny (Jillian didn't have any huge jump achievements this week, but I couldn't leave her out of the picture!)

These girls are normally really goofy, and always giggling, so this picture seemed too serious...so, I told them to be goofy, and this is what I got...
I'm anxious to see if the girls are still landing these jumps when I see them next, which isn't until Thursday?!?!

Golf vs. Football

We've been watching a lot of golf around here lately. Curt and I both enjoy watching, so it's usually on for at least a little while every weekend. These last few weekends though, the tournaments have all had extra appeal, so golf has been on more than usual.

Three weeks ago the tour was in La Quinta, California playing the Palmer and Nicklaus courses at PGA West. When we were in California in July 2010, we played the TPC Stadium Course at PGA West! When I came across the tournament on TV, I knew right away that they were playing in Palm Springs - although we didn't play the exact same course, I could see the similarities in course conditions and the architecture of the homes on the courses.

Some pictures from our round at the Stadium Course...



It was an AMAZING course, but what I remember most is how HOT it was while we were playing! By the time we got to the 17th Hole, appropriately name 'Alcatraz', I was so hot and tired, after hitting three balls in the water, I gave up on ever hitting the island green and didn't play the hole!


Two weeks ago, the tour was in La Jolla, California playing at Torrey Pines. When we were in California in December 2011, we played the South Course at Torry Pines! Because we just played this course a month ago, Curt and I could actually remember how we played while we were there - so, as we watched, we had our own commentary, remembering the shots we made while we played.

Some pictures from our round at Torrey Pines...
While we were playing, there was a crew setting up the bleachers for the Farmers Open - we were surprised to learn they start that so early! This was our view coming into the 15th green!
This was another AMAZING course, although it is a municipal course, and you noticed that at times - for example, players were allowed to wear jeans (I HATE that) and there a lot of ball marks on the greens. Curt played really well...I played HORRIBLY...but, we both just enjoyed the fact that we were playing on a course that has hosted the U.S. Open and an annual PGA event!


And then last week, the tour was in Scottsdale, Arizona playing the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. Now, we haven't played this course, but it's on my bucket list to play there - AND to be a spectator at this event, more specifically, to sit in the bleachers on the 16th hole - also known as the 'Bird's Nest' and the rowdiest hole in golf (fans act more like they're at a hockey game than a golf game).

Unfortunately, Sunday's final round was interrupted by the Super Bowl :( We had a little get together, so once people started arriving, we couldn't really leave the TV on golf.

I was a little nervous about hosting the party - mainly because our guest list grew significantly the night before/morning of the event! I thought we were only going to have five people over, but by Sunday after church, that number had doubled! So, when I started to make chili, I was afraid I wasn't going to have enough...and I worried about the fact that we don't really have seating for that many people. As I stressed, Curt only said 'don't worry about it, it doesn't matter'. And, since we couldn't un-invite people, I just hoped for the best.

I think it went well in the end - one of our guests brought pulled pork, so there was another 'main course' and we didn't run out of chili. There were a lot of snacks to enjoy before dinner, so much that I forgot to put out some of the food we had bought to serve. Some people had to sit on the floor at times, but everyone took turns so I don't think it was that bad. So, once again, I probably stressed about nothing.

I really don't enjoy watching football, but I enjoyed the company, the socializing, the food and some of the commercials!

I saw this image on Pinterest today, and it sums things up nicely...

Sick Day = Blog Catch Up

I'm home sick from work today - nothing serious, just a cold - I could have gone to work, but I have NO energy, so I decided to use my first sick day. It's been a good use of a sick day - I slept a lot this morning, watched Ellen, spent too much time on Pinterest, finally got things cleaned up from our Super Bowl Party (more on that later), and now I can catch up here!

This past weekend was a busy one - I was at a skating competition all day Saturday; and although I only had two skaters competing, they each skated in four events, so it was a full and busy day.

Ella had a good day and skated her best, unfortunately, the judges didn't really reward her for her great skating?!? She came in fourth in her first event, individual elements, and although that is great, she was pretty disappointed with that - she even shed a few tears :( I don't like it when my older girls cry when they get their results, but with little ones, it breaks my heart.

Look at this little cutie, it obviously makes me sad when she cries! This picture is from the end of the day, she was done crying and kinda hyper by this point!
I'm obviously biased, but I really think she should have been second or third - I think the judges mixed up the skaters when they did their marking. I felt like my point was proven throughout the day because the same girl that came in second in this event, competed against Ella in two other events, and she came in last and second last in those events!?!

Ella placed fourth in two of her other events as well, her format elements and team elements. When she got the results for her final event, and found out she was fourth again, all she said was 'AGAIN!?!'

Ella with her older sister, Hannah, who came to cheer for her fellow Tweed skaters.
Keegan, my dramatic boy skater, also had a great day and stepped up to a big challenge - there was only one other boy registered for the competition, and he was two levels higher than Keegan; skaters can 'skate up' in levels, but can't skate down, for obvious reasons - so in order to have the chance to compete, Keegan skated up and had to learn all new elements just weeks before the event! He did a great job, and I'm sure that a lot of people watching wouldn't have known that he was actually two levels lower - the other boy was a lot more 'polished', but judges and coaches are probably the only ones to pick up on that kind of thing.

Keegan finished second in the two events that he had to 'skate up' in - which I think we all expected - and finished fourth in team elements, which he did with Ella.

The other event the kids competed in, a new one this year, was called 'Challenge Elements' - it was another individual element type event, but with a different format. The big difference is the way the kids are marked/rewarded at the end - rather than ranking the kids first, second, third, fourth, etc., kids are awarded gold, silver, bronze or merit certificates. So, all the kids in the flight may end up getting a gold certificate, or some may get gold while others get silver, etc.

I was a little unsure about the event going in, and still have mixed feelings - I didn't like the way the warm up was conducted, but I do like that they get a report card afterwards, so you know exactly how the judges came up with their results. Both Ella and Keegan ended up with Silver certificates, but despite that, they didn't like the event :) It's new, so we'll give it a try at the next competition and see how it goes there!

This is a horrible photo, taken with my phone, but it's the only one I have of Keegan. It's a group shot of everyone from Tweed (L-R: Kristin, one of the other coaches, Keegan, Leigha - Kristin's skater, Ella and myself)
So, that's another competition done for the season - only three more to go!

Finally!

I probably had y'all excited at the beginning of the month, right? What, with my two posts in one week! You probably thought I had made a New Year's resolution to get better at blogging. Well, I didn't make that resolution...but, apparently I should have!

I haven't really had anything going on that's been blog worthy over the last few weeks. But, I was at a skating competition yesterday so I FINALLY have something to blog about.

The competition, which was held in Prescott, was the first competition of the year for two of my girls - Hannah and Alyssa. And, due to some changes that Skate Canada made this year, both of these girls had to move up TWO levels this year. They went from competing at the Stage 5 level of CanSkate, to competing at the Pre-Preliminary level of STARSkate - that probably doesn't mean a lot to most of you, but that's a pretty significant jump!

A pre-competition picture, this was taken as the girls waited for their warm-ups. Alyssa is on the left (she just went south on vacation, so her hair is in braids) and Hannah is on the right.
Alyssa was the first to skate, and she had a really good skate - she had fun and was happy with how she did, that's always what I am concerned about. She ended up placing 5th out of 7 - to which she shrugged her shoulders and said 'I'm OK with that'. She's a mature little girl!

Hannah struggled a bit with her skate. She had a rough warm-up - first, she stopped in the middle of her solo, thinking that the warm up was over, and then she took a fall when practicing her grab - those two things threw her right off, and as a result, she forgot the second half of her solo! She was the first to skate in her flight, so when they announced that the warm-up was over, I only had time for a quick pep talk - she was freaking out because she was afraid she was going to forget the whole thing, I told her that once her music came on, everything would come back to her...and then I hoped for the best?!?! She ended up forgetting only a small section, and she was smart enough to put in a jump and do some turns with arm movements - I was really proud of her for that!

As we watched the flights after her, we saw two other girls go out and forget their solos! However, neither of them handled it as well as Hannah - one just quit and skated off; the other stopped, started to cry, skated to her coach, remembered what she was supposed to do, went back out and finished her solo...all while crying! So, Hannah was able to see for herself that she handled the situation VERY well.

But, despite that, she still placed 7th out of 7 :( It breaks my heart, this poor little girl just doesn't have great luck at competitions.

So, it wasn't the greatest competition, but, it's part of skating and I'm still glad to be a part of it with these girls.

And another pre-competition picture - I told them to be goofy, and this is what I got? They're both doing the started position of their solos. I guess they were 'in the zone' and didn't want to be too goofy :)
We have a 'fun' competition coming up in a few weeks, and these two will be doing a similar pairs number together...I will start choreographing that with them later this week, so we'll be able to have some FUN with that. They deserve it!

Just Call Me 'Skip'

Last night was our curling night; due to a little scheduling mishap (meaning a recent change to the schedule that a few people didn't notice) our skip didn't show up for our scheduled game. So, we were down a guy...since you have to alternate players, one of the girls had to be the skip...our other girl, Maria, made it clear that she didn't want to do it, so that left...ME.

I was pretty nervous at first, but the skip from the other team was very helpful. We played this team earlier in the season, so they knew that we were all relatively new to curling and were willing to help us out a bit. So, the first two or three ends, she helped me call the shots and gave me pointers along the way.

Then she realized that Curt really knows what he is doing, so she stepped back and let Curt call the game. Curt made all the decisions, and just told me where to put the broom :)

We all played really well, and managed to keep ourselves in the game. It also helped that their skip wasn't playing as well as she could have been - every time she missed a shot, it was like she was giving us a little gift.

And then, in the last end, we were down by one and I have to throw last rock...Curt tells me to throw take-out weight - if I make the shot he wants me to, we will score three...the pressure is on, right?

So, do you think I cracked?

NOPE, I made the shot! We scored three and won the game 8 to 6!

We were pumped, to say the least!

Our skip showed up after the game (he thought we played the late game), and we gave him the play-by-play. I think he was jealous that he missed it.

Twenty-Twelve!

Happy New Year - so long 2011, it's been great, but here's to 2012 being even better!

Curt and I rang in the New Year with some friends at a small house party this year - there were nine adults and six kids! The friends who hosted are Jane and Brian, and whenever I say their names together it seems weird because those are my parents names! The evening was pretty low key, lots of good food and conversation, and wasn't really all that exciting...until we broke out the game Taboo! ha! I haven't played that game in ages, but it was a lot of fun and we all laughed A LOT!!!

Considering that almost everyone at the party has kids, it was a pretty calm night, and it ended relatively early. Apparently it was too early for Curt, because when we got home he decided to join our neighbours party! I was too tired, so I just stayed at home - but that decision led to drunk phone call from one of the neighbours, wondering where I was and why I hadn't shown up for a drink! :)

So that was Saturday, and Sunday and Monday have been nice relaxing days.

Sunday, we didn't even leave the house!

Today, we went to see the movie 'We Bought a Zoo' - it was a great movie, and I would recommend it to anyone! Be prepared though, it's a tearjerker.

So, it's going to be hard to face reality when the alarm goes off tomorrow morning.

Speaking off the alarm, it will be going off for good now...I received an early Christmas present at work, I am now a permanent employee with the Ministry of Community and Social Services! The hiring process is referred to as a competition, and involves two parts, a written test and an interview - I wrote the test the day before we left for California, and I had my interview two days after we returned. I felt pretty good about both parts, but there were 32 people competing (including five other internal people), so I couldn't be too sure. I was told the good news on December 22nd, and needless to say, it was pretty exciting. No more worrying about whether or not my contract will be renewed!

I guess that shows that 2012 may be even better then 2011!

Christmas in Acton

We were in Acton for almost four days, arriving late Friday, December 23rd and leaving to come home around lunch time on Tuesday, December 27th. I'm really behind in posting, so this is going to be a quick rundown of our time away.

Our first day, Christmas Eve, was pretty low key. We hung out with Tom and Krystle and the kids; since both kids were pretty sick, we wanted to give them a bit of down time before all the Christmas activities were in full swing. I spent most of the day in my pajamas, playing with the kids, watching TV and catching up on blog posts. It was actually a really nice way to start the holidays, and even though I wasn't sick, I too enjoyed the down time :)

After dinner, we all got ready for our traditional Christmas Eve - going to church and then gathering at my parents house with family.

Nolan, all ready to go to church...
Krystle got Abby all dressed for church, and then had her sit on the couch so she could go get ready herself...it wasn't long before this happened...

Christmas morning was at Tom and Krystle's as well, and my parents and Aunt Mary joined us for the chaos ;)

I was taking a picture of Nolan in his new nightgown, I mean his new hockey jersey, and Abby got up and ran over to be in the picture too!

Another Christmas tradition in Acton is to go to my Uncle John and Aunt Jody's house for brunch on Christmas day. Brunch was amazing, as usual, and it was great to spend time with some extended family - our visits to Acton are usually quite busy, so we don't always get to see extended family.

We had Christmas dinner with my parents and Aunt Mary, and it was another great meal prepared by my mom!

Boxing Day has become shopping day - Curt and I didn't really get anything too exciting, but my mom got a new TV! My dad stayed home to look after Nolan, so he and mom decided on a TV they saw on a flyer, and then Curt and Tom made sure she got what she needed.

Tuesday morning we enjoyed our last few hours with family - Curt and I got Nolan a hockey game for the Wii, and he wanted to give it a try. Once Curt and Tom got the game all set up, this is what happened...
Curt and Tom playing the game while Nolan, dressed in his Blackhawks jersey, goalie pads and goalie helmet, watches and cheers on his dad! ha! Curt did try to get Nolan to play, but he just wanted to watch.

Curt and I ended up making a shopping stop on the way home, and had better luck on this second round of Boxing Week shopping then we did on Boxing Day!