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Diamond Edge Figure Skating Club
Little Rock">
 

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Diamond Edge Figure Skating Club
Little Rock, Arkansas

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News from the Edge
January 2003

Diamond Edge Figure Skating Club
P.O. Box 23495
Little Rock, AR  72221
http://www.diamondedgefsc.org
Contact Us

Rick's Ramblings

Happy New Year!!

Can you believe 2002 is history? And what a year it was! Some of the events we'll repeat in 2003 - only bigger and better. Others, like "skate-gate", are hopefully gone forever.

For our club, 2002 was a fruitful year. Many of our skaters advanced in their test levels. Some did well at competitions, others excelled in off the ice achievements. We helped raise money for the Komen Foundation, sent a dance couple to Junior Nationals, and presented a very successful ice show.

And now it's 2003. I hope you've had time to catch your breath, because this spring is full of opportunity for the club and its members. We have a test session and general membership meeting this month, a TaMolly's fundraiser in February, and Skate-a-thon in March. The USFSA National Championships are in Dallas this year. Our competitive season officially begins at the close of Nationals. The first major competition in our region is in March. The USFSA has developed a program, called the Future Champions Series, to recognize top competitors who are unable to go to Nationals. I hope we can send skaters to the qualifying events for this program. More information on the FCS can be found inside.

As stated earlier, our test session is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, January 25 & 26. Gabrielle Lilly has secured three Gold level judges, so we can hold a high level session, including dance tests. Test schedules will be posted this week. Thanks to Mrs. Lilly for a job well done on a difficult task!

Special thanks also go out to those who made the ice show a reality. Devon Beck's company, Save-a-Lot Foods, underwrote the event, and Lisa Lufkin's generosity and hard work made the rink look like a Winter Wonderland. Thanks to Caryan Dearing, Laura Kutsch, Amanda Griffin, and Ellen Serven for their choreography, and thank you to all the parents who worked behind the scenes.

Keeping the club going takes dedication from many volunteers. The key word here is volunteer. All of your officers and board members are gainfully employed elsewhere. They have families who need their time and support. Some are on other boards or volunteer with other organizations as well. However, they make the time to support and lead your club. Take time to let them know they are appreciated. If you like the job they've done, tell them. If not, offer suggestions or volunteer to lead the next project.

Let's have a fun-filled and productive 2003!

See you at the rink!

Rick

Future Champions Series (FCS)

The USFSA has developed a program to recognize skaters who do well at non-qualifying competitions during the period between Nationals and the next season's Regional Championships. Skaters in the juvenile, intermediate, and novice levels (singles, dance, and pairs) who are not otherwise ineligible will accrue points based on their placements at competitions that are a part of the FCS. The skater's best two placements will be used to calculate their point total. The top point receivers in each discipline in each section will be awarded special FCS medals. A gold, silver, bronze and pewter FCS medal will be awarded at each level in each section. All skaters who compete in at least two FCS competitions will receive a certificate of participation and a letter of recognition will be sent to their school principal.

The following FCS competitions will be held in our region:
    Skate Kansas City
    Skate Dallas
    Colorado Championships
    Houston Fall Invitational

More information on FCS can be found at http://www.usfsa.org/events_results/event_info.htm.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!   WE APPRECIATE YOU.

Silver Sponsors:

Baptist Health Save-A-Lot Food Stores

Bronze Sponsors:

U.S. Orthopedics Arkansas Knee Clinic The Peabody Hotel

USFSA Junior Nationals Report

On Saturday, December 7, we left Little Rock for Lake Placid, New York. We were accompanied by Tommie Best and Steven Lilly. When we arrive at Burlington, VT, we were greeted with a bone chilling wind. Our fist bit of excitement was crossing Lake Champlain amidst the whitecaps on a rocking ferry boat. Driving off the ferry into New York was a good feeling.

Practice started on Sunday evening. The weather report called for flurries, but in Arkansas we don't consider the 4 inches that fell as flurries! We were greeted by our Lake Placid coach, Lorna Aldridge and found out the we had the ice to ourselves (1980 Olympic Rink-site of the "Miracle on the Ice" hockey game). Our first practice went well.

On the news we found out the Lake Placid was the cold spot in the country with -20 degrees! Monday's practice was a night-time practice so Monday morning we all headed back to Burlington pick up Gretchen Bashforth, our coach from Tulsa. The ferry crossings were much smoother this time. Monday's practice gave us the first chance to see some of our competitors. We also found out at that practice that there was a possibility that one of the compulsory dances was the Hickory Hoedown which we hadn't practiced in over a month. We had been told that the same two dances from Regionals would be skated at Nationals.

Tuesday brought the first 2 official practice sessions. The first was for the free dance and the second for compulsory dances. On Tuesday evening was the "Draw Ceremony" at which the 2 compulsory dances were drawn AND the first drawn was the Hickory Hoedown. The other dance drawn was the Foxtrot. Then came the draw for dance order. We were very happy to draw 7th out of 8 in our group.

Wednesday was another practice day. Mrs. Tommie and Steven got the privilege of making the 2 hour trip back to Burlington to pick up Linde, Gabrielle, and Orion.

Thursday brought the start of competition for us. We skated around noon. We were very pleased with out skate. We felt that we had not made any serious mistakes. All of the teams had clean programs, too. Both Gretchen and Lorna felt that we would advance to the final round; however, the judges didn't seem to agree. The top 6 teams were to advance. The top 5 teams' scores set them apart. But the 6th, 7th, and 8th place teams all scored very close. We saw first hand how the ordinal scoring system works. Although we had higher total scores than the team that placed 7th, because we had a majority of 8th place ordinals, we ended up in 8th place. When we found out the results, we were very disappointed, but soon realized that we had skated the program as well as we had ever done and that we had nothing to be ashamed of.

Although we had much rather have skated in the final rounds, we did find time to do some fun things the remainder of the week. Thursday we drove to Montreal, Canada for a short visit and on Friday we found time for some snow skiing. Saturday we attended the final rounds and got to see some of the friends that we made at Regionals and Nationals skate.

We want to thank the club, coaches, adult ice dancers, skaters, and parents for the help and encouragement that they provided us. It was a privilege representing you at Nationals. We feel lucky to be able to think that 2 skaters from Little Rock were able to compete nationally.

Logan Manley and Jay Lilly

USFSA Test Session

Three gold level judges in free skate and moves in the field have been secured for our test session. All three judges have a silver rating in ice dance. Also, a trial judge who is working on her gold appointment may be accompanying the group.

Tests are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, January 25th, from 4:00-7:00 and Sunday, January 26th from 11:00-1:00. A tentative schedule is posted at the rink. The final schedule will be posted the week of January 20th.

General Membership Meeting

DEFSC will hold a general membership meeting on Monday, January 27, at 6:15 in the ballet room of the Arkansas Skatium. Topics of discussion include the fiscal condition of our club, fundraisers, community projects, and "club citizenship". Please make plans to attend.

Club-ice Time/Date Change

There will be no club session on Thursday, January 16. However, we'll have club on Saturday, January 18, from 4-5:30 p.m.

DEFSC Night at TaMolly's

As a fund-raising activity, the DEFSC will have another Diamond Edge night at TaMolly's Mexican Restaurant in Bryant on Tuesday, February 18th between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. We must have 75 individuals to eat and we will collect 10% of that evenings total sales. The more we have to eat, the more money we make. When our members and guests arrive, they must BE SURE to sign up at the door or we won't get credit for their being there. Be sure to tell your friends and family and encourage them to join us.

Winter Wonderland Ice Show

The ice show presented by our skaters was a huge success! Not only was it a lot of fun, but also raised over $1400 for DEFSC. Here are a few shots of our production. Other pictures will be posted on the club's website soon. Check them out at http://www.DiamondEdgeFSC.org.

Upcoming Ice Events

  • January 12-19: 2003 US Figure Skating Championships in Dallas, TX

  • January 18-26: National Skating Week

  • January 25-26: USFSA Test Session in Little Rock

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