#tbt Brian Orser, the Dapper Stepper

In honor of Skate Canada coming up this weekend...

We usually only ever hear about the two-time Olympic silver medalist and 1987 World Champ in the context of the famous "Battle of the Brians," as the losing Brian in his red and gold body suit, with his popped flip jump.

It is usually forgotten that the Canadian skater won the short program (then, the "original program") in Calgary in '88, with a fan-freaking-tastic performance. Dick Button called him a "dapper stepper," and for once, I completely agree with Dick's estimation. Orser's footwork pass was as good and as intricate as any today, and his jumps and spins were fantastic.

He really was a dynamic skater, truly a match for Boitano and more than capable of beating him. In fact, I believe if the Brian Orser of 1988 were to compete in today's men's field, he'd still be a formidable competitor.

Now he's in his 50's, but dontcha know, he's the coach of not one, but TWO Olympic gold medalists: Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu and South Korea's Yuna Kim (although he and the latter ended up splitting quite bitterly after Vancouver).

So in honor of #tbt, here's Brian Orser's short program at the Calgary Olympics. What a great skate.

Skate Canada Preview

Ok so when I said in my Skate America Recap that I thought I would get a better handle on the competition at the second Grand Prix event, Skate Canada, I lied. I only recognize a handful of skaters competing in Kelowna this weekend.

I completely guessed in the ice dance and pairs events. For the ladies and mens events I have more confidence. I think Russia's Anna Pogorilaya will be terrific, and I adore Javier Fernandez of Spain. He's a fantastic skater. I thought he got a little screwed at the Olympics and Worlds, so I'm eager to see him do well this year.

Here are my fantasy team picks:

Skate Canada Event

Ladies A
Anna Pogorilaya (RUS)

Ladies B
Rika Hongo (JPN)

Ladies C
Brooklee Han (AUS)

Men's A
Javier Fernandez (ESP)

Men's B
Michal Brezina (CZE)

Men's C
Florent Amodio (FRA)

Pairs A
Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN)

Pairs B
Maddie Aaron/Max Settlage (USA)

Pairs C
Mari Vartmann/Aaron Van Cleave (GER)

Ice Dancing A
Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA)

Ice Dancing B
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN)

Ice Dancing C
Elisabeth Paradis/Francois-Xavier Ouellette (CAN)

Wednesday Recap: Hey, Axel

There comes a point in most skater's experiences when they finally nail something they've been working really hard at, and the feeling is exuberant. For many skaters, that comes with finally getting the axel jump. It's a 1.5-rotation jump, an extra half rotation above the other single jumps, and is often considered a "gateway" jump. That is, once you land your axel, it's only a matter of time before you get the gist of double jumps. The axel sets you up with that sense of the snap-and-rotate that it takes to make double jumps seem like no-brainers.

I landed my axel for the first time when I was 10. I recall the pure elation I felt at the achievement as if it were yesterday. I also remember the first time I landed a 2axel. I was 15, and I felt on top of the world.

That feeling is euphoric, and part of the reason why I skate.

On my practice session tonight, one of the younger girls landed her axel for the first time. I was watching her attempt them. She went from not even close to nailed it in a split second. She and her coach shrieked with joy, and I felt myself grinning ear to ear. I don't even know this girl's name, never exchanged two words with her, yet I was over the moon about her accomplishment. I know that feeling, it feels so good.

I had my own mini-moment during the session too. If you've been following my skating career over the years, you know the jump that has vexed me most is the 2axel. I had it perfect for some years, but then lost it for reasons I don't quite understand. Part puberty, part fear, I suspect. Tonight I tried out a few on the harness we have set up at the rink. It's kind of like a safety net. You can try out big jumps without fear of falling, so you can focus on the technique. Well, I tried a few 2axels and I am happy to say I made some headway. I didn't try any off it, but hopefully the experience will benefit my next attempts.

Here's an attempt, caught on video (featuring my awesome coach on the other end of the wires):

2axel on harness - take 2

A video posted by Jessica Marshall (@jess_on_ice) on Oct 10, 2014 at 6:43pm PDT

Pop Music to the Rescue

I meant to comment on this as part of my Skate America Recap, but thought it deserved its own post. And then the Washington Post took the words right out of my mouth.

At first, when the announcement came down from the ISU that they were allowing singles and pairs skaters to use music with lyrics for their competitive programs, I was a naysayer. I shook my cane at this new idea, clinging to the old ways. Lyrics will be too distracting, and could cheapen the sport, depending on how skaters used it.

But after watching Skate America, and the classy choices skaters made with their music, I am not ashamed to admit I've had a change of heart. It was the opposite of distracting, it was enthralling. You could tell the skaters were much more at ease on the ice because they were really connecting to the music.

Some argue that adding the lyrics makes it more likely that skaters will be passionate about their programs, which translates to higher presentation marks and make it more TV audience-friendly. I say both were proven at Skate America.

My personal faves were Jeremy Abbott's choice of  Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down" for his short program, and Mae Berenice Meite's choice of medley to the Soweto Gospel Choir's "Hosanna" and Savanj Rooms "The Groove You Like" for her short.

Finding the Right Skates

Kevin Reynolds, the Canadian National silver medalist and reigning quad king (he landed two quads in a short program and three in a long program in one competition, srsly), has withdrawn from Skate Canada because of "ill-fitting" skates.

Your skates are like your spirit animal or your Harry Potter wand, they mold and guide you as much as you mold and guide them. One can't just slap on any pair of skates and expect that your feet will feel the same underneath you. It doesn't work like that.

Getting a new pair of skates is no walk skate in the park. It's something every skater has to do. Skates take a beating and wear down, and eventually become unsafe to use if they deteriorate too much. New skates are often extremely expensive, stiff as a board, and painful to wear. When you try them out for the first time on the ice, it can be like learning how to skate all over again. So I can understand why this guy, who does dangerous high-level stuff, might be picky about his skates.

On the other hand, it seems like he may be too picky about his skates. According to the Globe & Mail piece, he went through 9 pairs last year and 4 this year, many of them custom-fit (which runs thousands of dollars per pair, btw). I think I've only ever had 5 pairs of skates in my entire life. I've been through the breaking-in process, endured weeks of painful and stunted skating. And I survived. So part of me just wants to grab this kid by the shoulders and say, "suck it up, cupcake!"

I hope Cinderella here finds the "right" pair of skates soon.

Skate America Recap: The Disco Club Bed Sheet Dress

The absolute best part about the televised coverage of Skate America was Johnny Weir's estimation of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva's competitive outfit, as a "disco club bedsheet dress." Spot on, Johnny, spot on.

Jokes at that poor girl's expense aside, it was harder to predict the outcome of the first Grand Prix event of the season, not having been familiar with many of the up and coming skaters. But I think I have a better handle on how the season will pan out based on the results.

Peruse the score sheets for each Skate America event here.

If you didn't catch my live-Tweeting of the NBC broadcast on Sunday, you can see it here.

Here's a quick summary of my feelings on the outcome.

Overall, it's important to note that it may seem like the Americans got a lot of medals and are so hot right now, but because it's Skate America, we got to enter three skaters/teams in each event, whereas other countries got at most, two. It's a host country thing. So we had strength in numbers to dilute the field. I have a feeling that once we lump all the skaters together at Worlds, we'll see them start to rank lower. Not that I'm not rooting for them though (go Team USA!).

Men
Speaking of Americans, I was actually super-duper impressed with both American men competing. They stand head and shoulders above the rest of the competitive field in terms of presentation and artistry. They really connect every movement in their programs. Everything is nuanced, intricate and expertly done. The technical bobbles leave a bit to be desired, and is what really keep them from securing gold.

Ladies
I have complicated feelings about this event. I think in the end, the top two skaters were right based solely on hard technical scores (number of jumps completed, quality of jumps etc), and I don't think anything was rigged. But no offense to Gracie Gold or Elena Radionova, who are both legit great skaters, but the last thing skating needs is another little blond waif to dub the "it girl." The ladies event needs, to put it in the immortal words of the great Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor, more power. I want to see women on that podium who are built more like gymnasts and swimmers than ballet dancers and stick figures. Women like Elizaveta Tuktamysheva or  Elene Gedevanishvili or Mae Berenice Meite, who in my humble opinion, got toally screwed over by the judges in the short program. That girl is getting continually screwed by the judges, now that I mention it.

Pairs

I gotta say, I completely forgot about Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, because they had to sit out last year (and the Olympics, OUCH) due to an injury. But they're back, and they ran away with the gold. They whipped off a throw quad like it was nothing.

Their technical merit is so high, I don't think Olympic Champs Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov can catch them. They'll surely be the pair to beat. And did I mention, they're 32 and 30? Ancient in the skating world, yet kicking butt and taking names. And even though the American pairs did well, I continue to think them underwhelming.

Dance
I am thrilled an American dance pair other than Meryl/Charlie is taking the gold. It's good to know that new legacy may have taken hold. I don't know much about the rest of the dance field, so I'll have to study up before Skate Canada next week!

Skate America: Mens Short

I managed to catch the second and final flight of skaters last night in the Mens Short. You never want to call a competition based solely on short program results, but it can often be a good indicator of a skater's ability to deliver under pressure.

For the uninitiated, the short program is graded on the performance of a series of required elements--simplified, it's notably one jump combo, one solo jump and an axel of some kind (for men it's a 3axel), a series of combo and flying spins, and an epic footwork pass. You get serious deductions for not performing elements. This is distinct from the long program, which has looser requirements and presentation takes on more importance.

Anyway, here are my reflections on the last six skaters, who (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) essentially comprised the top six.

Chafik Bessighier, France - He's bringing back cargo pants (were they ever a thing on ice?) with his sequened, graffitied costume. He's a solid technical skater, but not polished. I appreciated the spot of breakdancing he did though.

Michael Christian Martinez, Philippines - His spins are amazing. His Bielmann spin is better than most ladies'! If he were more consistent with the jumps, his spins would help give him scores to contend with.

Jeremy Abbott - This was the first time I'd seen a skater use music with lyrics. It took me a good minute to get used to it! I'm just in love with Jeremy Abbott's skating (and maybe with him a little too, haha). His performance stands out beyond all other skaters because it is so intricate and nuanced. His jumps are great when he lands them, but it's his performance that is spellbinding. He's got the best footwork in the competition, imho.

Jason Brown - He doesn't really have the high technical merit (no quad), but like Jeremy Abbott, his presentation scores were through the roof. He's got so much character. He's always smiling and upbeat, and makes you really excited to watch him. You aren't punched in the gut when he falls, because you just know he's like "no biggie, I'm just love to skate!"

Dennis Ten, Kazakhstan - I was disappointed with his skating. He's not looking so confident, but I'm not counting him out just yet, because he has a history of vaulting up to the podium with a stellar freeskate after disastrous short programs.

Tatsuki Machida, Japan - He's the reiging Skate America Champ, and must be giving Yuzuru Hanyu a run for his money in their home country. He's got stellar technical merit, especially with jumps. But he lacks the refinement I've seen in other skaters.  You can tell he's trying to beef up his artistry, but it just doesn't come naturally. His technical score was so high though that it didn't matter. He sits in first place after the short.

Overall it's not looking too good for my Fantasy Skating team. But I'm pleased to find myself really impressed with the American men. (They stand in second and third after the short.) It has been a while since I've gotten truly excited about American singles skaters. Moving into the Long Program, I suspect they'll do just as well.

Starting off the Season on the Right Blade

Skate America is revving up as I write this, which means the Grand Prix season is officially starting.

I'm pretty sure this season will prove interesting for a number of reasons. This piece on Yahoo does a good job summarizing the competitive landscape, but I do have a few additional thoughts.

1. Reigning Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova is going for another season, claiming she's trying to prove that she deserved her gold medal in Sochi. I was never fully convinced that she earned it, but I'm willing to give her another chance or two to prove herself. I think her jumps and spins are fine - her 3toe-3toe is ginormous - but she skates like a junior, not a championship-level competitor. Her skating lacks a refinement that a true high-level skater should have.

I don't know what's going on over in Russia in terms of coaching technique, but they are churning out skaters whose presentation skills leave a lot to be desired. Observe, for example, this video of Yulia Lipnitskaya, whom I believe to be the strongest of the Russian ladies. Notice how her leg is always bent during footwork and jump sequences. Her free leg is just sloppy.


Now that Sochi and all the purported weirdness over scoring is behind us, we'll see how they stack up against the other top ladies. My guess is, we'll see a slight difference in rankings.

2. The Ice Dance competition is anyone's game. There was such a huge gap between the top US and Canadian dancers who dominated the podium, and their respective teammates. Maybe the rest of the world finally learned something about the novel, modern style of dancing that Meryl Davis, Charlie White, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir did so well?

3. Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu pretty much has the season wrapped up in a bag, and will run away with all the gold, but the fight for silver and bronze at competitions is less clear cut. There are a few promising dudes in the mix, like Canada's Nam Nguyen and Kazakhstan's Dennis Ten, but they have been inconsistent in their past performances, so it's hard to predict.

Going to tune in to Skate America tonight on icenetwork.com, to see the Short Dance and Men's Short.

Chicago's Ice Ribbon

This is the coolest thing EVER. The city of Chicago is building a new public park that will feature an "ice ribbon," which is literally an ice-covered path that forms a course around what will be Maggie Daley Park, just to the north of Grant Park in downtown Chicago.

Here's a photo below, from TimeOut Chicago.

I'm so adding this to my bucket list of outdoor skating rinks. It's slated to open this winter!

Deets on Skate America

Here's what you need to know going into this weekend's broadcast of the HHilton Honors Skate America competition.

NBC will cover it in a 2-hour telecast on Sunday (Oct 26) starting at 4 p.m. ET.

Tara Lipinski & Johnny Weir are doing the commentary. They're debuting as the new lead figure skating commentators for NBC.

Team USA has Gracie Gold, Mirai Nagasu and Samantha Cesario competing in the Ladies' event, Jason Brown, Jeremy Abbott and Douglas Razzano will represent in the Men's event, Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier and Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim will compete in Pairs and the Shibutanis, Madison Chock/Evan Bates and Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus will go for Ice Dance.

I have my own Fantasy league picks going, but skaters to watch out for:

Elena Radionova of Russia was third behind the two Russian stars of the Sochi Games at Russian Nationals. She's young and consistent, though her shortcoming is that she (along with the other Russian ladies), skate with the maturity of a Junior-level skater, not that of a Senior, championship-level skater.

Olympic Bronze Medalist and 2013 World Silver Medalist Dennis Ten of Kazakhstan is the guy to beat, but I expect Nam Nguyen of Canada to be a force in the Men's Event now that Patrick Chan is out of the picture (temporarily as far as we know).

In Pairs, the reigning Olympic champs Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov are practically unbeatable at the moment, but I expect to see the Chinese pair of Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang come closer than any other pair to the top. They're Chinese Pairs guru Yao Bin's latest prodigies, and I was really impressed with them in Sochi (8th) and Worlds (5th).

As for Dance, with the teams that have dominated the podium recently not competing, I'ma be honest and say I have no clue how it's going to play out. Americans Madison Chock/Evan Bates are promising as competitive ice dancers, but they are a far cry from the talent of Davis/White.

I'll be watching on Sunday, and live-tweeting @jess_on_ice!

Tara and Johnny are Officially Officially Lead Commentators for Pyeongchang

We knew it already, it was written in the cards, the dynamic duo officially announced they were going to be NBC's lead figure skating commentators for the Olympic broadcast from Pyeongchang, South Korea.

On the TODAY show yesterday morning, they announced they're pregnant taking over.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jokes aside, Johnny Weir made a great point on camera about being excited to bring figure skating back to America's consciousness (he didn't quite use those words, but that's the gist of it). I truly hope that happens!

Skates for the Small Set

I want to take my toddler, who will be 2 in February, skating for the first time this winter. Contrary to what many would believe, I haven't thought of putting her in skates until fairly recently, and thus never bothered looking to see if there even were skates made for such little feet. Silly me, of course there are.

I think I'm going to try BabySkates. It's the only company I can find that makes skates especially for toddlers. Kids this age are still trying to figure out how to walk and run, let alone skate, so sturdy, well-made, double-blade skates designed specifically for them seem like a good bet.

My first pair of skates were relics from the 1950s or something - they were literally just a double blade frame strapped to my feet with leather. Not so much skates as...well...contraptions. They did the trick though. I'll save the picture evidence for when I have my daughter's skates so you get the full effect of the side-by-side photos.

Now I just have to find a helmet that fits her little head!

Wednesday Recap: Spin City

Practice was productive this week. We focused on building the elements that will go into my competitive program. They're pretty complex, lots of combinations, so I'm going to list them here so I can keep them all straight! Also, I'm practicing for when I have to submit my elements list to the judges before a competition. Here's what we got together so far...

Jumps:

• 2Lutz
• 2Flip-2Toe
• 2Flip
• 2Loop-Axel
• Axel-half loop-2Salchow
• 2Salchow

Spins:

• Death drop / back sit / forward camel with foot grab / upright crossfoot 
• Forward sit (8 revolutions!) / tuck or crouch or whatever the heck it's called
• Forward Camel (with winding entry) / broken leg / hair-cutter

We also started to try out some footwork passes. Lots of rockers, counters, loops, swizzles and choctaws. There is more to be added jumps and spins-wise, but we'll sort that out...

I only managed to get one video of a spin combo (the forward camel/broken leg/hair cutter). It's a little half-assed, and I cut out of the hair-cutter (third spin) early because it was the very end of the session and I was getting some serious stink-eye from the guy driving the Zamboni champing at the bit to resurface on time.

Smart Skate Technology

Dr.frog / Wikimedia Commons

Figure skating takes a toll on the body, regardless of any major injury that a skater might incur. It's repeated physical stress that's to blame. And now some folks in Ithaca College's Department of Sport Sciences are testing out a device implanted into skates that can help measure that stress.

This is an important advance (if indeed the testing is successful) for skaters. Anything that can ward off debilitating injury is a good thing. The researchers are hoping that the data that a small, unobtrusive device will collect can help correct technique, which obviously can reduce the impact on bones and joints and muscles.

I wonder if I can sign up to test that gadget...

Regionals Are Underway, Plus #tbt

Regional Championships are the gateway to success in competitive figure skating. It's the first hurdle on the way to Nationals.

There are nine regions in the country, each of which hold a regional competition every fall. Some of them are underway as I type.

The top four finishers in each event (levels Intermediate through Senior) advance to Sectionals, which take place six weeks later. There are three "sections" of the country, and the top four at Sectionals advance to Nationals.

Representing a skating club in the state of New York, I competed in the North Atlantic Regional Championships, or as they're commonly referred to at the rink, "Norths," each year (for a total of four years). I'm proud to say that I won my first year competing. But the victory was bittersweet.

That first year I competed at age 13. That made me too old to compete at the Juvenile level (the top two automatically advanced to Junior Olympics, the national-level competition for Juveniles), but I was not good enough yet to be competitive at the next level up, Intermediate. So I was stuck competing in the one event they had at the time for skaters like me, the only embarrassingly non-qualifying event in the whole competition: "Pre-Intermediate."

I won that pretty easily, earning first-place ordinals across the board. And I got that magical glass trophy I'd dreamed about getting that I saw in all the Skating magazines I got in the mail each year. I used to fawn over all the pictures of the happy top-four finishers in each event at regionals. I was SO excited when they handed me that silly trophy (pictured above), and had me pose for the picture. I couldn't wait to see it in the magazine! But alas, when I finally got my copy of the magazine a month later, mine was the only picture left out. All the qualifying levels had pictures, and they only omitted those losers in Pre-Intermediate. As if we didn't work our tails off and didn't matter. I continue to think that was poor judgment on the part of the editorial staff there.

The next year I entered at the Intermediate level. I made finals, but only finished something like 7th or 9th. I can't even remember. The following year I did Intermediate again, and made finals again. But tanked in the short program and got like 12th overall. The year after that, as a Novice, I made finals, but I could only manage 6th overall (there's a sketchy story behind the judging on that one, but that's a story for another post). So I never made it past regionals as a singles skater. As a postscript, I did get to go to Easterns in pairs, and that was awesome, but I'll save that story for when Easterns happens in six weeks.

The reason I've gone on this long tangent is that Norths just concluded this past week in Hackensack, New Jersey. And I wanted to say congratulations to all the skaters who advance to Easterns, and to all the skaters who triumphed at the non-qualifying levels!

A Few Good Sportswomen

Olympic Ice Dancing Champ Meryl Davis was awarded the prestigious Sportswoman of the Year award from the Womens Sports Foundation last night, along with World Champ gymnast Simone Biles.

Also winning the Wilma Rudolph Courage award was skeleton racer and Olympic silver medalist Noelle Pikus-Place.

Congratulations to all of these stellar athletes, what an amazing honor!

Wednesday Recap, with Video!

Last night's practice was sobering. My coach and I went over what needed to be incorporated into a competitive program, and let's just say it leaves me with a lot to work on.

Combination spins still leave me dizzy to a fault. Jumps are still inconsistent. And I can't make the extra time during the week to commit to off-ice training. I just can't. I'd be neglecting my child if I did! So it's going to be a long fall/winter to get my act together, and I really have my work cut out for me.

I made my coach take video of some of the things I need to work on. I've always found watching myself helpful. Sometimes a coach or observer can only describe your flaws so much to convince you to correct your technique. You need to see it for yourself.

So here are two videos: the first is a sit-spin combo I've been working on. The second position is one that I've had to learn, because it was never done when I was competing before. As you can see, it makes me incredibly dizzy, and the exit needs a bit of work.



The second is a 2flip-2toe combo. I can usually nail this, but the landing on the second jump went awry. It's hard to tell if you're off-center when you're doing it, but really easy to spot it when you're watching it. This is a good learning tool for me.



Of course, it's really easy to say: my jumps aren't big, my spins aren't fast, what the heck was I thinking in trying to compete??? But who am I really comparing myself to here? The answer is me. My former self. The one who could spin off double axels and triples and 4-minute programs like it was nothing. I'm not that skater anymore. I have new challenges brought on by my adult, post-baby body and added pressures brought on by the realities of adult life off the ice. It dawns on me now that the need to maintain perspective is going to be as, if not more, important to my preparation for competition this year as perfecting technical elements.

Fantasy Skating Team: Skate America

So I entered the USFS Fantasy Skating Challenge and entered my picks for the first scored event, Skate America. The USFS score card is super buggy, so I had to resubmit my picks about five or six times, and I'm still not sure if they were submitted correctly. But I'm going to keep track of it here anyway, so you can see my picks.

The Hilton HHonors (that is not a typo) Skate America starts October 24 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Here are my picks—there is no one competing in this event who in my estimation is amazing. I think Gracie Gold has a good shot at the ladies title, Dennis Ten has the men's, and potentially the Chinese pair, who looked promising in Sochi. Beyond that, I really don't know the ice dancers too well, as everyone was buried beneath the glory that was Meryl & Charlie and Tessa and Scott. I just did a little research on their past performances and kinda guessed. We'll see how it turns out.

Skate America Event
Ladies A Gracie Gold (USA)	Ladies B Mae Berenice Meite (FRA)	Ladies C So Yun Park (KOR)
Men's A Dennis Ten (KAZ)	Men's B Nam Nguyen (CAN)	Men's C Jorik Hendrickx (BEL)
Pairs A Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang (CHN)	Pairs B Vanessa Grenier/Maxime Deschamps (FRA)	Pairs C Annabelle Prolss/Ruben Blommaert (GER)
Ice Dancing A Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA)	Ice Dancing B Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA)	Ice Dancing C Elisabeth Paradis/Francois Xavier Ouellette (CAN)

Takahashi to Retire

Japanese champion and 2010 Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi has announced his retirement from competitive figure skating. He's one of the most famous athletes in Japan.

Despite two recent scandals—one involving alleged sexual harassment by a Japanese sports official and the other involving a dispute over who wrote the music he skated to in Sochi—the 28-year-old is in the books as one of the more talented skaters to hit the ice in the new century. One Olympic medal, one World championship and five Japanese championships...not a bad haul!

He is a tremendous skater. Hope he goes on to a great future off the ice.

Fantasy Figure Skating

Move over Fantasy Footballers, Fantasy Skating season is upon us. Yes, you read that right--it's time to draft your team in this fun fantasy challenge from the governing body of the sport in this country, US Figure Skating (USFS).

Instead of running backs, wide receivers and QBs, you pick 3 men, 3 ladies and 2-3 pairs or dance teams competing in the Grand Prix series and this year's Nationals. How your skaters do in each event determines your score. Playing is free, and you could win prizes, especially if you beat Olympic champ Sarah Hughes' team.

I'm totally playing.

Tis the Season: Rock Center Opens

One of the most iconic ice rinks in the world is open again for the season. Olympic champs Meryl Davis and Charlie White kicked it off with a performance on the Today show this morning.

The opening of Rock Center heralds the start of the winter skating season. In NYC, Wollman (pictured right) will be open by the end of the month, and Bryant Park not too long thereafter.

I love outdoor skating! I never did it much as a kid, but as an adult, I've thankfully had the opportunity. There are great spots to do it in just about every city. Here are a few notables outside of NYC:

Boston - Frog Pond
Chicago - Millenium Park
Philly - BlueCross River Rink
D.C - National Gallery of Art or Washington Harbour

On my bucket list too are the canals of Amsterdam!

Torvill & Dean: Our Life on Ice

T&D are coming out with a tell-all memoir that reveals some pretty shocking stuff about their career. The Daily Mail has been publishing excerpts that I must say are fascinating: how Dean almost killed them in a car crash on their way to training for the 1984 Olympics, how his marriage to Jill Trenary dissolved, and Torvill's heartbreaking struggle with infertility.

I'm not typically a fan of tabloids and tell-alls, but T&D are icons in the figure skating world, and they seem like true class-acts, so I can't help but be curious about their new book, and the revelations that have come out of it.

And just for fun (because really who cannot watch this over and over) is their 1984 Olympic gold-winning free dance to Bolero.

Wednesday Recap

It's Friday, I know. But I'm trying to keep the title of the recurring post consistent. Forgive me!

This week's practice brought big steps forward on spins, but no real progress on jumps. I took a hard fall on a 2lutz-2toe combo. Nailed the 2lutz and completed the 2toe, but was leaning so far over my right side on the landing that my foot just flew right out from under me and I landed smack on my hip. I'm fine, no bruises, but I haven't had a fall like that in years! The reverb on the fall rippled across my entire body. Had to take a second to regroup before I could keep going.

Since I got back into skating, I've been trying to learn all these new spin positions that have popped up that add points to your technical scores. I've gotten fairly decent at the broken leg, the hair-cutter and the flying back sit, so now I'm trying to put them all together in combination. I take a running start (where you cartwheel the leg as you turn) into a forward camel, go down into a broken leg (or a sit, still trying to figure out what works best for me) come up into a hair-cutter, and finish with a back flying sit. It's dizzying, but I'm getting better at it.

I'm also trying to up my rotations on the spins. Holding a position for eight rotations is really freaking hard, especially if the rotations don't count toward your score until you are definitively in the position. So you're actually spinning closer to 10 rotations before you have a chance to break out of it. And then my head is still spinning even when I stop!

I managed, with a little help from the boards, to film myself practicing a flying camel. It's a little off center, but you get the idea. (I only rotated 6 times for those counting.)

Choreography Gets a Chance to Shine

Choreography is one of the most important aspects of skating. Actually, it's everything in skating. You don't get from one move to the next without it, and it can make or break your competitive program.

It's not easy either. But some people have an astounding ability to choreograph on ice.

My coach is a fantastic choreographer, and watching him work on my programs throughout the years has been fascinating. It's not just about cramming in all the technical elements and separating them with some arm and leg flourishes. It's about finding the right sequence of movements that brings out the strengths (both technical and artistic) of an individual skater/s.

How does one become a choreographer? There's no school for it. You just gotta try it. There is a great program out there however that inspires younger skaters to give it a try. The MK Blades Young Artists Showcase is an online choreography competition. Skaters 16-35 years old are invited to submit videos of their work based on five "challenges" via YouTube, and finalists are invited to a live showcase event (this year's is on November 30 in DC). The whole thing was the brainchild of coach Audrey Weisiger (she coached Michael Weiss, among other notable skaters), who started it with former skater-turned-choreographer Doug Mattis in 2010.

There are videos on the site that are simply amazing. You'll see some nontraditional things on the ice: experimentation with body, movement, footwork, the ice, and more.

Here's a piece by Mauro Bruni, the winner of this year's challenges:



And here's one by a past finalist, Garrett King, that I just love:

An Overdue Wednesday Recap

I spent the last week on a little mini-vacation in Chicago, so I didn't get a chance to do my Wednesday recap after last Tuesday's practice. Making up for it now.

I had to pull out of the Halloween show because of conflicts. Between my travels, my work, my toddler, a friend's wedding and my husband's commitments at New York Comic Con, I am just not going to be able to get in the practice time I need to finish the program. So I've deferred my next performance to a show during the holiday season in Dec/Jan, and will spend the next month honing my competitive skills before buckling down on a show program.

I didn't rest on my laurels during my mini-vacay though. Thanks to my wonderful brother, I received a dance lesson from the talented folks at Arthur Murray Chicago. I danced with Terence, who taught me Latin dances like rumba, salsa, bachata and also hustle. So much fun! And such a useful supplement to skating. One can apply the same techniques of rhythm and movement on the ice as in the ballroom.

Highlight of the evening though was getting to dance with my brother (see photo above), who is an accomplished ballroom dancer. I'm not the only competitor in the family—he's heading to Vegas next month to compete!

Figure Skating TV Schedule

Want to know when you can watch skating on TV?

NBC has released its broadcast schedule for figure skating, and it looks like we'll all be able to watch bits of Grand Prix competition, all but the dance discipline of Nationals, and bits of Europeans, Four Continents and Worlds on both NBC and NBCUniversal Sports.

I haven't kept records in the past years,  but it seems like there's more on than in years past?

And of course anything that isn't on regular TV will surely be broadcast on Icenetwork.com.