The SCSSA has 9 skaters who train in Lakewood that
have qualified for the Olympic Short Track Trails so we are having a
potluck dinner to wish them all the best of luck in Marquette. Please
join us & bring a dish to share.
Saturday, August 29th, 6:30-8:30 PM, at Glacial Gardens Ice
Rink.
I've just posted photos of the Lakewood Training Session from last
night, and from last Thursday. Link below.
Also, the second link below will take you to a Friday article in the
Los Angeles Times concerning the closing of the Sand Dunes Park in
Manhattan Beach, and the possible future of our being able to train
there.
Our good friend Tony Arena passed away early Thursday morning after a
long bout with cancer. Many of you may not recognize the name, but if
you click on this
link, and the "Additional Images" after the paragraph below, you
may very well remember Tony.
He was inducted into the Speedskating
Hall of Fame in 2004. He was one of the kindest people our sport
has ever known.
From Tony's Hall of Fame Bio:
Tony rose from the ranks of local meet officials to become
a National Assistant Starter. He was appointed an ASU Chief Starter
in 1982 and served in that position at seven National Long Track
Championships and at two North American Short Track Championships.
Appointed to the ISU Championship list, he was assigned to nine
international
World Competitions. Tony served as a Starter for numerous U.S. Long
Track and Short Track Championships. An original founder of the Badger
Speed Skating Club (1974), Tony served as its President and also as
President
of the Wisconsin Skating Association. He was elected to serve as
the Wisconsin Skating Association representative on the ASU Board of
Control.
Tony served on or chaired 8 ASU committees before being elected as a
Vice
President of the ASU in 1985. He served a two year term as President
of the ASU (1989-1990), and was among the first ASU members to be
elected
to serve on the USISA Board of Directors. Tony served as the ASU
Commissioner of Officials between 1994 and 2002. Tony passed away
on August 6, 2009. Additional images:1,
2,
3,
4,
5
The rink just informed me that there is an event going on at the rink on August 15th, so our ice time will be moved to 4:45p instead of the normal 5:15p.
From
Julie Chen, SCSSA 2nd VP in charge of Membership:
Please renew your SCSSA Membership before August 31, 2009.
Skaters going to the U.S.
Olympic Trials in early September will
need to have their SCSSA Memberships renewed before then!
Note: If these links
do not work, then please visit the SCSSA website. This information is
available there, directly under the section announcing "NEWS
FLASH(ES) Session Changes, etc.
".
Please note: Julie will be out of town for a few
weeks. For the time being, please mail your memberships to Jean
Uyehara, 2723 Hardwick, Lakewood, CA
90712
The DeMorra Ice Club is working on our transition into the 21st century. As part of this transition, the need for electronic record keeping has become a priority. We are currently looking for a used laptop to use solely for keeping track of attendance and bookkeeping.
Therefore, if you have a laptop thats currently collecting dust with Microsoft Excel and a USB port to transfer files via Flash Drive then let us know! Don't quote me on it yet but I'm pretty sure the donation could be tax-deductible as well.
Due to a scheduling conflict at the rink, our ice session on Saturday, August 8th has been rescheduled. The ice session will now be scheduled for the day before: Friday the 7th at 6:10PM. The change applies to this particular Saturday ONLY. See you all at the rink!
As Lance Armstrong and the rest of the riders in the Tour de France were finishing up their ride on the Champs-Elysees, so too were the riders in the Annual DeMorra Bike-A-Thon on the hot streets of Orange and Riverside Counties. From the treacherous climb up the Col du Serrano Ave to the thermometer-bursting temperatures towards the end of the day, these riders truly earned their fundraising dollars!
For those who participated in the ride, sponsor sheets and money raised needs to be turned in to Randy at practice by no later than Wednesday, August 5th.
Thanks to all who participated and a special thanks to the Rusk family who hosted the event. The homemade muffins before the ride and fun in the pool afterwards give us all even more reason to look forward to the event next year!
The Annual DeMorra Bike-A-Thon is this Sunday! I trust everybody has picked up Sponsor Sheets from the front desk and has been filling out the sheets with donations.
Since the ride is less than a week away, here are the final details for the ride:
Where: The Rusk's House in Corona - 2242 Rancho Corona Drive, 92882
When: This Sunday - Juice and Muffins will be provided for riders beginning at 7:30AM, the ride will start PROMPTLY at 8:30AM. This means: don't show up at 8:20 with your tires needing air and your chain needing to be lubed. If your bike needs to be spruced up a bit before the ride, show up at 7:30 to do it!
There will be a sign-up sheet at the rink between now and Saturday so we know who to expect on Sunday morning. If you're going to be doing the ride but won't be at the rink between now and then,
send me an e-mail and whether you'll be doing the 10- or 40- mile ride.
Another sign-up sheet will be at the rink between now and then for food at the After-Ride Pool Party. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be kindly provided by the hosts but side dishes and desserts will need to be brought. The grill will be on for anybody else wishing to bring something that needs to be cooked on-site.
A volunteer with water and a first aid kit will be out on the route at a designated point but don't forget to bring water, electrolyte drinks, energy bars, etc for yourself. Although we are starting the ride at 8:30 in the morning, Corona in late July will be HOT by the time we finish the ride!
Route maps will be available for all the riders on the day of the ride. Any other questions - feel free to ask!
The SCSSA Meet Schedule (including major competitions sponsored by US
Speedskating) for the upcoming season is now online. Just go to the
SCSSA Homepage, and click on the Meet Results icon in the left
hand column. For any of you that are new, this is also the place where
you can find results for our local meets (this upcoming season, as well
as past seasons), and a link to US Speedskating's complete National and
International competition schedule.
Beach Party this Friday, July 10th! Bolsa Chica State Beach, Lifeguard
Station 24 (or wherver you find the SCSSA Flag flying). I will be
there to claim a fire ring around 2:00 PM, so any time after that!
Jerry
PS: Look for the SCSSA
Flag. Sometimes it may be at another nearby Lifeguard Station, if
all the ring are full at 24. Friday before last, we were at Station
23. So just look for the Flag!
So the dates and locations for the DeMorra Bike-A-Thon are official!
When: Sunday, July 26th with the riders leaving precisely at 8:00AM Where: The Rusk's House (in Corona) What: Younger riders will be doing a 10 mile ride and the older riders will be doing a 40 mile ride
Sponsor sheets are now available at the front desk on Wednesdays and Saturdays and everybody is expected to participate!
Exact details such as the address of the Rusk's house and route maps will be sent out a few weeks before the ride.
Following the rides will be a pool party at the brand-spanking-new Rusk Estate so bring food to eat as well and your swimming trunks for after the ride!
Tony Chung, who runs shorttrackhd.com, has contacted me to let me know that the videos from the 2009 Nationals/American Cup Final are finalized and if we wanted to make a group order he could give us a discounted price.
The videos he makes always have a great view of the races and the DVDs he makes have great menus that are easy to navigate between races and such.
Please e-mail me or let me know at the rink if you're interested in getting together for a group order. Each DVD has one age class on it (e.g. Pony Boys) so you wouldn't have to order a bunch of footage you don't need. Also, he has footage from many other competitions. Check out his website to see whats available and what you'd like to order: http://www.shorttrackhd.com/footage.html
Pricing will be worked out after I have a general idea of how many people want to
order.
In July, there will be a few changes to ice times. Because of evening activities typically happening, on Saturday July 4th, our ice time will begin at 9:00AM instead of the usual 5:15PM start time.
Sunday July 5th ice at 7:00AM is not cancelled - we still have ice that day.
Additionally, on Saturday July 11th, there will be a figure skating competition at the rink so our ice time has been pushed to 5:45PM.
Remember to look for the SCSSA
Flag! On unusual occasions, the fire rings by LG 24 are all taken,
and we need to find another place. So if you can't find us, look
around for the Flag.
Because of a Memorial Day Hockey Tournament this weekend at the Glacial Gardens, ice time on Saturday in Lakewood will be at 6:00pm instead of the normal 5:15pm time.
In just over a week the DeMorra Ice Club will be hosting a table at the 20th Annual Holland Festival at Gemmrig Park in Long Beach. We'll be there for the whole duration of the festival from 10:00am to 6:00pm.
We still need some people to sign up for vacant time slots to sit at our table, talk to people and pass out flyers. If I remember correctly, the time slots are 2-hours each (or maybe just 1-hour). To find out which times still need to be filled, reply to this e-mail or talk to Debbie or Jennifer Osaki van Loy at the rink.
And even if you've already signed up for a time slot, sign up for another one! This event is a great opportunity for our club to attract new skaters and generate interest in the community.
Heres the website for the event with maps and directions:
http://www.nassocal.org/announcements/holland_festival.html
More photos: Lakewood training session last night, May 13th, are now
up. This set contains several shots of the Kids, with Rusty coaching
them. Which one will be a future short track Team Member?
The DeMorra ice sessions at Lakewood will be changing a bit throughout the month of May. Here is the schedule for the full month:
- Wednesdays and Saturdays are during their normal times - 6:15pm on Wednesdays 5:15pm on Saturdays
- Tuesdays continue as normal - 6:15pm on the ice and remember no novice coach on the ice for these sessions (as well as Sundays and Thursdays).
- Sunday morning sessions start next week on May 10th for the rest of the month. We're on the ice at 7:00am these days.
- Thursday evening sessions start on the 21st of May, 6:15pm on the ice just like Tuesday and Wednesdays.
So to recap: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday sessions will continue at their normal times throughout the month. Sunday morning sessions start on the 10th at 7:00am and Thursday evening sessions start on the 21st at
6:15pm.
Hopefully sometime during the month of May I'll get our schedule for June. Until then, see everybody at the rink!
The Annual Southern California Banquet is upon us. One of our traditions is to run a raffle with lots of prizes! We work to sell lots of tickets and in return we give away prizes prizes prizes!
If you have a prize to donate, please coordinate with Annette Pumprhey or Jean Uyehara. Good prizes include; water bottles, t-shirts, a gift basket, coffee mugs and lots of other fun things. Bring your prizes to the banquet. The more prizes the more fun the raffle will be.
Banquet details:
- Date: Sunday May 3
- Time: 11 am - 1 PM
- Location: Fuddruckers, 5229 Clark Avenue, Lakewood, CA 90712.
Awards include:
- class champions
- most improved novice
- most improved
- LA84 Skater of the Year and more!
Dress is casual and you can order whatever you like from the Fuddruckers menu. Big thanks to our banquet organizer, Randy Sermeno and our raffle organizer Annette Pumphrey.
You are invited to the Southern California Speed Skating Association Annual Awards Banquet at:
- Date: Sunday May 3
- Time: 11 am - 1 PM
- Location: Fuddruckers, 5229 Clark Avenue, Lakewood, CA 90712.
Awards include:
- class champions
- most improved novice
- most improved
- LA84 Skater of the Year and more!
Dress is casual and you can order whatever you like from the Fuddruckers menu. Big thanks to our banquet organizer, Randy Sermeno and our raffle organizer Annette Pumphrey.
SCSSA Past Olympic Team Member Bill Disney passed away yesterday. He
was 77 years old. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Bill was an active skater and coach here in Southern California for
many years. He won a Silver Medal in the 500 Meters in the 1960
Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California. He was inducted into the
National Speedskating Hall of Fame in 1971.