Tweed Carnival

Well, since I obviously fell off the 'blog-wagon' for a few weeks (OK, seven weeks may be more than a 'few'), I'm going to back date a few posts and stick to mostly pictures in an effort to catch up.

This year, Tweed Carnival was held on March 30th - our theme was 'Saturday at the Movies', and after weeks of stress (for me, anyway), the show ended up being a great success.

Our STARSkaters during Opening Number - I choreographed this number with another coach, they skated to 'All That Jazz' from the movie 'Chicago'.

 Ella and Leigha doing their similar pairs to 'The Muppets Theme Song'.

McKenna, a little Learn to Skater - they skated to music from 'Rio'.  You don't get a good sense of the costume here, but they were macaws.

Our Advanced CanSkaters doing a tribute to princesses.  Look at the smile on Cheyenne, the little one in the yellow 'Belle' dress...that's what makes the stress of carnival worth it.

Two of my Senior STARSkaters, Britteny and Jillian, before they went out to skate to music from 'Footloose'.

Another STARSkater, Leah, before going out to do her solo.

Two of my Intermediate STARSkaters, Hannah and Alyssa, before going out to do their similar pairs.  They actually skated to music from the TV Show 'Happy Days'...we cheated a bit by reusing this from a competition earlier this year.

Senior STARSkate Number - Jillian, Gabrielle, Britteny, Leah and Madison - I choreographed this number to a medley of music from the movie 'Hairspray'.  If you've seen the movie, the housecoats will make sense - the girls started in housecoats, but took them off almost immediately and had kilts and blouses on underneath. 

CanSkate Number - Emily, Olivia, Molly, Erika and Payton - I choreographed this number to music from the movie 'Tangled'.  These girls are all honestly so cute - they always made me laugh and made my Saturday mornings so fun.  I'm hoping they will continue to skate for years!

And finally, a group shot after the closing finale! 

Future Stars Competition

Well, since I obviously fell off the 'blog-wagon' for a few weeks (OK, seven weeks may be more than a 'few'), I'm going to back date a few posts and stick to mostly pictures in an effort to catch up.

At the end of February, I had my last competition of the season.  It was held in Wellington, so it was nice and close to home.

Shelby, Mykelti (the daughter of another coach) and Cheyenne, at the rink bright and early and excited to skate.

An action shot of Cheyenne during one of her elements.

Shelby, Cheyenne and Ella with certificates for their Challenge Elements.  Shelby received Bronze, Cheyenne received Silver, and Ella received Gold.

Shelby, Cheyenne and Ella on the ice for their Team Elements.  Shelby and Cheyenne had to skate up two levels in order to make this team, so the fact that they placed 4th out of 6 was GREAT!

Ella doing her spiral for Team Elements - this is one of her favourite elements, and she does it quite well (although, in this picture her leg is a little bent).

Hannah and Alyssa ready to do their solos.  Unfortunately, despite skating well, the girls did not place well.  Hannah was 7th out of 8, and Alyssa was 6th out of 7.

Although it was another extremely loooonnnnnggg day at the rink, it was a great day and I always enjoy experiencing competitions with my skaters.

Robertson's Visit - Part 3

Well, since I obviously fell off the 'blog-wagon' for a few weeks (OK, seven weeks may be more than a 'few'), I'm going to back date a few posts and stick to mostly pictures in an effort to catch up.

So, I'm going back to the Robertson's visit, for Part 3 and all the 'extras' from the weekend.

Out for dinner, two of my favourite guys enjoying a mutual favourite meal - ribs! 

Abby, finally enjoying her dinner after a long wait for our table.

Happy girl!  Not a great picture, but I love that smile.

Nolan concentrating in order to get his smoothie through that big straw :)

Working on a masterpiece while his parents packed up to head home.  Notice those Chicago Blackhawks sweatbands on his wrists?  He wears those ALL the time when he comes to visit...we even noticed he had them on at the Bulls game!

Proudly displaying his finished product.  He did an amazing job at drawing the Blackhawks logo on that jersey - I was VERY impressed!

And that wraps up a great weekend spent with the Robertson's.

Robertson's Visit - Part 2

So, I'm sure you're all dying to hear about Abby's first skate, so let me start there.

We tried to go skating on Sunday morning...we were going to go to the pond in Stirling, but when we got there, we discovered it hadn't been cleared off.  Then we decided to try the Bay of Quinte...but, on the way into Belleville, we stopped to get gas, and while Tom was out pumping gas, he realized it was going to be too cold to be outside for long.  So rather than having the kids freeze, and making Abby's first experience miserable, we decided to wait and find a public skating session to go to.  Luckily, we found one Sunday afternoon and managed to get there after naps...we only had half an hour on the ice, but that was probably enough for the first try.

And, here we are...Abby and I on our first lap.  That's Tom infront of us, and you may be able to see Nolan's skate behind us...he is climbing into the penalty box!

You can see that at first, I had to hold Abby under her arms and I'm quite bent over, at this point I was really holding her up.  BUT, it wasn't like that the whole time...towards the end, she really only needed to hold onto my fingers because she was able to stand on her own!  You can see the difference in this picture...

You can also see Nolan, chillin' on the ice behind us! :)

Once we got to that point, it was time to get her to try to take some steps on her own...

I was obviously VERY excited when she took a few steps by herself (despite first saying 'I can't do it!').  Her reward, a spin with Auntie Boo.  I wish you could see her face better in this picture, she was beaming - because she was pleased with herself and because I was spinning her!

Now, my focus was on Abby (because she was wearing the figure skates), but Nolan was there too!  And, I have to say, he is doing really well on his skates too!  He's A LOT better then the last time I saw him - he skates on his own now, and has no problem getting himself up if he falls.  He's hockey crazy though, so he wasn't too interested in skating with Auntie Boo the figure skater!  At one point though, Tom took Abby and I skated with Nolan, and I told him to lift his feet up (rather than shuffle them on the ice) so he would go faster...and I think he replied with something like 'oh yeah, wanna fight about it' and he dropped his gloves!  hahaha!

Our future NHL'er...he looks sweet in these pictures, but he'll probably be the goon! 

So there you have it, Abby's first skate!  I've been trying to think of a way to see her and get her on the ice again before Spring...I haven't figured anything out yet, but I'm not giving up yet!

And now there have been two posts all about skating, something we only spent 30 minutes doing...so, there are some other things to post about from the weekend, but I'm going to drag this out for one more post!

Robertson's Visit - Part 1

Well, things were looking pretty good for my blog back in January...I managed 9 posts in one month, that was a record for me!  And then February rolled around, and things took a turn for the worst...as you've noticed, I'm sure.  So here we are, February 21st and this is my first post of the month.  One reason for that is because things have been really busy, but not exciting busy.  A second reason for that, I just haven't felt like blogging.  It probably doesn't seem like it when you read a post, but it actually takes me awhile to put one of these together...not because I'm trying to think of something profound to write (obviously!), just because it takes me awhile to make things flow in a way that I like. 

Anyway, I'm here now because I have something worth posting about...the Robertson's came to visit last weekend!  Monday was Family Day (in Ontario), so we took advantage of a long weekend and actually spent Family Day with our family!

I have been excited for this visit for weeks, as I always am...but this time, I was extra excited to do something special with my niece Abby.  Here is a little clue...

I took Abby skating for the first time!  My mom and brother have both told me about Abby watching skating on TV, and saying that the person on TV is 'Abby'....or, sliding her feet on the hardwood or tile floor at home, saying 'my skating'.  So, I knew it was time to get her on the ice.  I borrowed a pair of tiny little Jackson figure skates from someone, and I couldn't wait to get them on her.  So, Friday night, as we were hanging out and visiting, I asked Abby if she wanted to try them on, and she was SUPER excited! 

HORRIBLE picture of me mid-sentence, but look at her with her arms up perfectly...such a proud Aunt I was at that moment!

Another BAD picture of me, but look - her arm is still up, and I think it's fun that we're both pointing at her little skates...I'm not sure who was more excited?!?!

You can tell I love this little girl, and LOVE that she is showing a little interest in skating, because here is another TERRIBLE picture of me....but, look at Abby doing a little spiral!  If that was my skater, I would be telling them to get their leg higher...but it's Abby, so I'll leave it alone. :)

After we took a little walk up and down the hallway to 'practice', I asked if she wanted to take her skates off and she said 'NO'...again, a proud moment for this Aunt!  ha!  So, we walked some more until she was ready to take them off.  And, she's two and a half, so she had to do that by herself.

All of that and she hasn't even stepped foot on the ice yet!  Guess I better break this post up a little bit...maybe that's a good thing though, means my history won't show only one post in February!  More weekend posts to come...

Shooting Stars - Day 2

The competition got off to another great start on Sunday morning!

The first event of the day was Pre-Preliminary Shadow Dance, and Alyssa and Hannah were competing.  I was a little nervous about this event - Hannah had to learn the Baby Blues for the competition, and she tends to have a hard time remembering steps...especially when she is nervous!  But, she did a great job, and they ended up placing 2nd!

Hannah and Alyssa waiting for their warm-up.  Alyssa was able to borrow the dresses from her dance studio - she chose blue dresses because they were doing the Baby Blues :)

The next events were the CanSkate Challenge Elements - this is Skate Canada's new way of doing Individual Elements - the skaters still do four elements for the judges, the structure of the event is just a little different.  And, rather than the kids getting results and placing first, second, third, etc., they each get a certificate and are awarded a gold, silver or bronze...so, every skater in the event could get a silver on their certificate.  It's a little weird, we're all still getting used to it! 

One of my new skaters Cheyenne competed in Stage 3, this was her first competition, and she did awesome!  The best part - she had the biggest smile on her face the whole time...and, when she finished, she asked if she could do more! :)  She got a GOLD certificate!

Cheyenne getting her skates on, and already smiling!

Ella competed in Stage 5 - she took a big fall and hurt her knee during practice, she was really upset and cried for a few minutes, I thought she was going to quit, but she managed to finish.  Unfortunately, she ended up with a bronze certificate...which, isn't bad, but she didn't think it was good enough.

Sisters!  Hannah and Ella.

 Ella and Leigha also did a Shadow Pairs number - the skated to the theme song from 'The Muppets' and they were so cute!  Apparently the judges didn't give points for being cute though, because they ended up fourth out of six.  Again, that isn't bad...in fact, it's really good considering they were a lot younger than the rest of their flight...but, they were disappointed because they didn't get a medal.

Later in the afternoon, things got a little chaotic and somehow Alyssa ended up missing her warm-up for the Solo Spiral event.  I felt really bad, but, I was thankful that it was just a spiral event, not a pairs or dance event.  Alyssa ended up coming in FIRST, so I guess missing warm-up wasn't a big deal at all!

And, the last event of the day was another big one -Pre-Preliminary Team Spins.

Adrianna, Alyssa, Hannah and Keegan - waiting to take the ice.  (I don't know why Keegan's coat "glows" like that?  And, I couldn't figure out how to edit it?)

The week before the competition, we couldn't decide who was going to do what spin...the Thursday before, I assigned everyone a spin, but wasn't sure I made the right decision.  Keegan was giving me major attitude because I decided he would do the back spin, and he kept saying he couldn't do it.  Well, they called Team Tweed and he went out and did the best back spin I've ever seen him do....EVER!  He was the first of the group, and I think the girls realized they had to step up after Keegan's great spin, and they all did a great job.  It had a been a really long day by this time, and I planned on coaching the event and then leaving...but, when they did so well I decided it would be worth staying for results.  And, I'm glad I did because they ended up FIRST...it was an exciting GOLD medal, that's for sure.

Shooting Stars - Day 1

Last weekend was my first skating competition of the 2012-2013 season - Shooting Stars, or Interclub, is a fun competition held for clubs in our region.  It was in Frankford this year, which is really close to home, and I loved that I didn't have to travel far.  And, because it was nice and close, all nine of my skaters participated - two of my skaters only skated in one event, but the rest of them did four or five each, so it was a VERY BUSY weekend!  I was at the rink from 7:30am to 10pm on Saturday, and 8am to 5pm on Sunday!

Things got off to a great start on Saturday morning - the first event was Junior Bronze Shadow Dance, and the group was skating the Ten Fox.  My skaters Leah and Britteny came in 2nd!  One of my other skaters, Jillian, was paired with another girl from our club, Gabrielle, and they came in 3rd!  So, Tweed was well represented on the podium.

The next big event of the morning was the most exciting one of the day :)  I had four skaters competing in Intermediate Team Spiral.  Now, when I saw this event listed in the competition announcement I immediately thought about a similar event that I participated in back in the day...so, I interrupt this post to get a little nostalgic for a moment... 

My team was comprised of myself, Debbie, Kristin and Caitlin - we knew we were competing against another team from Acton and we wanted to WIN!  I remember it being very competitive at that time...so maybe it was right around the time that we left Acton to skate in Guelph?  Anyway, we didn't work on our team spiral in Acton, we only worked on it in Guelph so that the other girls couldn't see our position.  Our dance coach Jeff actually came up with our position, and we LOVED it and thought it was really unique.  And, drum roll please...the day of the competition comes, we skate our team spiral and place...FIRST! 

So, back to Shooting Stars...I didn't have time to work with the whole team until the Thursday before the competition, but I wasn't worried because I knew exactly what we were going to do :)  I was bringing back 'The Jeff Spiral'!  So, I figured out who was doing the forward spirals and who was doing the backward spiral, explained the position, and let them practice it a few times.  The girls weren't overly excited about it until they were watching the other teams at the competition...when they realized theirs was actually quite different, I think they realized they had a good chance.  They actually ended up outdoing themselves - Leah's back spiral was higher than ever and they held the position much longer than they had in practice!  They came off the ice EXCITED...and were thrilled when the results went up and they were FIRST (out of five groups).  I have to admit, I actually saw the results before the kids did, and I had to hold back a little myself :)

And, from the most exciting event of the day to the most disappointing...Leah and Britteny did a Similar Pairs number on Saturday night.  Unfortunately, they had a pretty poor skate and ended up last in their flight.  They skated to 'Footloose' and we all had a lot of fun putting the duet together!  They skated it really well in practice, and we had a throw axel in there, that looked great when done right.  But, that element wasn't going well in warm up, so we changed it to a throw waltz jump...and, they had a really hard time staying in unison.  The one element that was in perfect unison was their side-by-side axel, which they fell on...but they fell in unison?!?!

I had a number of other events on Saturday, but the results were average, nothing too exciting.

And now for the only two pictures that turned out OK...

Alyssa and Hannah after their Similar Pairs.  They skated to the theme song from 'Happy Days' - their choice!

Britteny and Leah after their Similar Pairs.

Tune in tomorrow for a post on day two of the competition :)