Okay, so your average skating movie is a wasteland. We don't expect
anything but Pamchenkos and mood lighting during competitive programs.
I happened to catch a few moments of a Disney Channel movie "It
Figures" about a figure skater who gets somewhere (not sure where
since I didn't see the whole thing) on a hockey scholarship. In the
scene, a few 16-17ish girls are taking a group lesson with a Russian
sounding coach (strike 1) and they are doing double Lutzes (strike 2).

The first one goes out and does a double Lutz and turns out (it's
supposed to be a turn out, but she's too much in control, but A for
effort) and she comes back to the coach who says that she may smile
nicely, but nothing is going to overcome the fact that she over
rotated. And I thought, "!!!!"

The second one goes out and does a Lutz on a minorly bad take off
edge. The girl comes back and the coach berates her for doing a
"Flutz." And I think, "Shit, someone knows something about skating!"

The third girl (the hockey one) goes out and does a very nice double
Lutz and gets props for it from the coach.

Okay, so the ending is stupid with figure skater girl trying to go out
in a competition (with mood lighting) and perform on hockey skates
(really stupid). But at least they got some of it right.

It Figures is not a new film, and it's showing in reruns all week on
Disney, but it might actually be worth watching.

dej


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Buy my book! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047017501X/
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"I loathe writing. On the other hand I'm a great believer in money."
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In the midst of winter, I finally realized that deep within me there
lay an invincible summer.
--Albert Camus
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I am Writer, hear me Pontificate!

>Joannie Rochette has a street named after her in her hometown Ile Dupas,
Quebec.

Oops.  When I read the subject line, I thought she had married a man named
Street.

Bubbles, a living tribute to additives and preservatives
---
"Is this the wrong time to tell my wife that I think she may have a drinking
problem?   Should I wait till the cat is buried?"  (From letter to the Salon
website's advice columnist)



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Joannie Rochette has a street named after her in her hometown Ile Dupas, Quebec.

http://www.laction.com/article-224501-Bienvenue-sur-lavenue-JoannieRochette.html

(article in French)

Alex D.
dralexd@...

I took a quick look through "My Sister, My Love" during lunch break
today to do what my sister Marianne would call "checking it for
Pamchenkos"--I have to give her credit for that term. It's her phrase
for quickly glancing through a fictional work about skating to
determine whether it involves any events or situations so unreal as to
stretch the credulity of the whole story, similarly (but even more so)
than the "Pamchenko" at the end of the movie "The Cutting Edge."

Sad to say, it looked to me as if the book was chock-full of 'em. I got
the impression that if there was anything Joyce Carol Oates DIDN'T do
before starting it, it was "research facts about figure skating."

I'm not talking about getting a fact wrong here or there, or stretching
reality a teeny bit to accommodate the story. It's more like this:
Oates' obvious goal was to fictionalize the story of JonBenet Ramsey in
order to explore the entire phenomenon through writing a work of
fiction about a similar situation, as well as to satirize the entire
media phenomenon of the Pretty, Spoiled Little Girl Who Is Mysteriously
Murdered. In order to do so without incurring a lawsuit, she needed to
give her fictional JonBenet another name and another competitive
activity in which such a young girl might engage in which her mother
could get carried away with the "stage mother" phenomenon. It's like
she spun a wheel looking for such an activity; the wheel landed on
"figure skating" (rather than, say, baton twirling or rhythmic
gymnastics); and away she went.

  From what I can see, the skating competitions in which little Bliss
competes in the book are nothing like any skating competition known to
the ISU or the Ice Skating Institute except for, maybe, interpretive
competitions. There are scads of them, none of which seems to be
related in any meaningful way to the others; little girls compete in
them according to age rather than skill level; they spend hours not
only on training but on just the right hair and just the right makeup
(and not in a figure skating sort of way, to enhance the program, but
rather because they know these will be chief components of how they are
judged); they wear elaborate costumes (such as one with fairy wings
attached to the back) and headdresses (such as a cowboy hat or a
mantilla); they skate to popular music with lyrics; the crowd's
reaction to them, and their scores from judges, seems to be formed more
in reaction to how cute and charming they are than to how well they
skate. (I don't see any mention of any specific skating moves by name;
all we know is they skate, they jump, they spin.) And when they win,
they don't get medals; they get tiaras placed on their heads, and
sashes around their shoulders.

In one competition, in which Bliss embarrassingly falls, her loss seems
to have happened not so much because she skated poorly as because she
lost face, lost poise. It's as if falling was the equivalent of
tripping on her hem on the runway in an evening gown modeling event.

This is as close as Oates gets to reality: she mentions Bliss having
been judged on skating's 6-point scale, which of course in the 1990s
(when her story takes place) it still was. But in her story, Bliss wins
one competition with a "5.88" from the judges. Yep, a 5.88. ONE. From
the whole panel. Not a series of 5.88s, just one. Same way a gymnast
gets a single score from the whole panel.

In short, these skating competitions aren't skating competitions;
they're child beauty pageants on ice. The contestants happen to be
wearing skates, and they have to glide around on the ice doing moves,
but all that seems to take a back seat to the artifice of fancy
dresses, elaborate hairdos, powder and lipstick and parading around to
show how cute and sexy they are. (In fact, one costume is deliberately
designed to put the little girl's white lacy panties on prominent
display.)

Oates is a fine and well-respected author, but obviously in her
eagerness to retell the JonBenet story through the eyes of a novelist,
she really didn't give much of a damn what the poor kid in her story
did, as long as it sounded like something on which a little girl might
be judged primarily on her looks and cuteness rather than any other
factors. I think she would have done well to pick some activity other
than skating.

Trudi

While Oksana hardly strikes me as a paragon of virtue, I also wouldn't
take anything that Page Six has to say about her as the gospel truth.
They've developed a pretty good reputation for reporting everything
from half-truths to downright made-up lies--especially about people
they don't like for any given reason.

I don't know of any reason Oksana might have for being on their bad
side, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't print a salacious story about
her, whether or not it was actually true.

Trudi

Well, as I understand it, scenes as described below are pretty much
standard fare in the NYC club, party, fashion event scene.  It appears
to be the lifestyle Oksana B wants and enjoys.

Without reopening a debate on her drinking, the activity portraryed is
difficult to picture one doing sober. (Like Brittany's 48-hr Las Vegas marriage)

Nancy, OTOH, to date is what she wanted to be, a wife and mother.
Good for her.

fred


   ----- Original Message -----
   From: denbydilbert2001
   To: SkateFans@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 1:21 PM
   Subject: [SkateFans] Re: Oksana Baiul in the NY Post


   --- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, "Bubbles" <skatefan@...> wrote:
   >
   > This is an excerpt from the NY Post's Page 6 column:
   >
   > OKSANA Baiul isn't shy. The adorable Olympic gold medalist ice
   skater stripped down to her skivvies at Wednesday's YRB Magazine "How
   You Rock It" party." "She crashed the fashion shoot going on, so YRB
   let her get in on the action," our spy reports. "She made sure
   everyone in the room was watching and then, instead of picking from
   the rack of clothing provided, she stripped down to her underwear and
   her tall boots, with nothing covering her up top but a tiny blazer
   that did not close." A few nights before that, Baiul popped up as the
   heckler in the back of Ray Ellin's show at Comic Strip Live. "She
   yelled out that she wanted to kiss me," he said. "I told her I have
   ice back at my apartment, let's go."
   >
   > Bubbles, a living tribute to additives and preservatives
   > ---
   > "Is this the wrong time to tell my wife that I think she may have a
   drinking problem? Should I wait till the cat is buried?" (From
   letter to the Salon website's advice columnist)
   >
   >
   I see both Oksanas coming to sad endings if they keep up this
   behavior. Olympic Champions Gone Bad, sounds like a movie gone
   straight to video plot.
   Meanwhile Nancy Kerrigan has had a very sucessful and solid career.
   Who would of thunk it?

   Meagan Leigh






------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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PM


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Announcement is linked from http://www.mhfsa.org/

Direct link to the announcement (Compulsory Figures info is on p. 10):
http://homepage.mac.com/jzeles/downloads/2008CCAnnouncement.pdf

--Sylvia

--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, "loujac002" <choco.pauline@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> Is it possible to have a link to the announcement about the figures'
> categories. I have found this site where there is an announcement but
> nothing for "figures".
> Thanks for taking time to look over that.
> _________________________________________________________
>
> --- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, lbo3@ wrote:
>
> You may be interested to know that the Colorado Skating Championships
> (early August) will include figures events.

In a message dated 6/30/2008 10:32:31 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
capcomop@... writes:

I  think this must be part of the SAMMY awards as that is what is behind
her.  It is only a piece of a larger intervie though.
_http://sports.http://sporthttp://sp_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/index)
It  is on the side, second page.




There is a graphic on the portion of the interview that is shown that
identifies Michelle as a "2008 SAMMY Award Judge"

-Billie



**************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for
fuel-efficient used cars.     
(http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Reading the posts about the fictional Betsey, mother of Bliss, made me want to
post...

A friend of mine and I volunteered to work at The Chesapeake Open this past
Saturday morning. It was in Laurel, Maryland. I've never worked at a competition
before, and neither had my friend. We've gone to quite a few Skate Americas
together, plus a Skate Canada and two Grand Prix Finals, and we have another
friend who's become heavily involved in volunteering at competitions all over
the place. She asked us if we'd like to help at Chessie.

We got there at 7:00 in the morning, and our job was to register the
skaters--get their music from them, check their names off on their event list,
get the music over to the music guy, etc.

Part of the job was pretty funny. Kids come in and you ask them what event
they're skating in and they have no idea. There were about twenty five or so
events going on, so sometimes it was a little tricky to find their names on the
right list. I'd be like, "Okay, what kinds of things are you going to be doing
this morning when you skate, do you think?" And still they'd be kind of blank.
Cracked me up. And then the classic from a father, "Her mother knows the answer,
but I have no idea." Well Dad, maybe it's time to get with the program.
Honestly, every kid should know what event they're in, I don't care how young.

But there was really a dark side too. A mother came in with her two skater kids,
and when the young girl who was sort of training us at the registration table
saw these two kids come in, she started to ask one of them something (she knew
them) and before she could get more than two words out, the mother snapped,
"Don't ask them to do anything. I mean it. They're exhausted. They've got a long
day ahead of them. It's too much. Don't ask them to do anything. Leave them
alone." This girl was stung, and also angry, because she was sixteen and felt
scolded for something she hadn't done. "I wasn't going to ask them to do
anything," she flashed. "I was going to ask them if they needed to practice,
that's all." And this "stage mother" wouldn't let up. "It's too much on these
kids." She complained the rest of the day about the horrible life she's leading.

Another mother came in with a skater who was maybe seven, a child in a stroller,
and a child maybe three. They approached the registration table, and the mother
said to her skater, with LOTS of tension and anger in her voice, "Okay, are you
grown up enough to ask where the bathroom is? If not, that's too bad--you JUST
WON'T GO!!!" There was almost glee in her voice. And her skater was so
embarrassed.

Those are just two examples. There were lots more. The kids who came out crying
after a bad skate, the girl who did well but never looked happy, even after she
was finished, and grimaced her way over to sign up for practice ice the next
morning, the parents who were angry at kids who wouldn't listen to them before a
skate...

All of this tension and pressure begins when kids are so young and families
don't know how to handle it. It starts so early, which I've always read and
heard about, but never saw so clearly as I did this weekend.


Pamela Tanton


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I think this must be part of the SAMMY awards as that is what is behind
her. It is only a piece of a larger intervie though.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/index
It is on the side, second page.

>
> Thanks for the link. Kristi is really making the rounds. She seems to
> be more popular since her Dancing With The Stars victory than when
> she won the gold medal at the Olympics.
>
> OTOH Scott's wife's dress qualifies for Mr. Blackwell's list.
>
> Meagan Leigh
>
From what I read Kristi and family have packed up and moved to
California and Bret will no longer play for the whoever he was playing
for (sorry NO knowledge of hockey). Wonder if she is going to parlay
her win into what recent other winners and finalist have...a game
show! :-)
The Singing Office, Your Place or Mine etc...

--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, "Bubbles" <skatefan@...> wrote:
>
> This is an excerpt from the NY Post's Page 6 column:
>
> OKSANA Baiul isn't shy. The adorable Olympic gold medalist ice
skater stripped down to her skivvies at Wednesday's YRB Magazine "How
You Rock It" party." "She crashed the fashion shoot going on, so YRB
let her get in on the action," our spy reports. "She made sure
everyone in the room was watching and then, instead of picking from
the rack of clothing provided, she stripped down to her underwear and
her tall boots, with nothing covering her up top but a tiny blazer
that did not close." A few nights before that, Baiul popped up as the
heckler in the back of Ray Ellin's show at Comic Strip Live. "She
yelled out that she wanted to kiss me," he said. "I told her I have
ice back at my apartment, let's go."
>
> Bubbles, a living tribute to additives and preservatives
> ---
> "Is this the wrong time to tell my wife that I think she may have a
drinking problem?   Should I wait till the cat is buried?"  (From
letter to the Salon website's advice columnist)
>
>
I see both Oksanas coming to sad endings if they keep up this
behavior. Olympic Champions Gone Bad, sounds like a movie gone
straight to video plot.
Meanwhile Nancy Kerrigan has had a very sucessful and solid career.
Who would of thunk it?

Meagan Leigh

>From Kathy Godfrey:
>According to Patinage magazine, Pfeiffer is back skating
for Austria after his failure to qualify through regionals
to US Nationals. He'll still be training in the US under
Priscilla Hill.

--

Viktor competed at this week's Chesapeake Open in Laurel, Maryland.  His short
program is to "Blues for Klook"; his FS begins with "Spente Le Stelle" but may
include other music (I tend to lose track when I'm trying to identify jumps). 
He attempted, but fell on, a quad toeloop in the FS.  There was no triple Axel.

His English, incidentally, is excellent.  If I hadn't recognized him, I'd have
assumed English was his first language.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

This is an excerpt from the NY Post's Page 6 column:

OKSANA Baiul isn't shy. The adorable Olympic gold medalist ice skater stripped
down to her skivvies at Wednesday's YRB Magazine "How You Rock It" party." "She
crashed the fashion shoot going on, so YRB let her get in on the action," our
spy reports. "She made sure everyone in the room was watching and then, instead
of picking from the rack of clothing provided, she stripped down to her
underwear and her tall boots, with nothing covering her up top but a tiny blazer
that did not close." A few nights before that, Baiul popped up as the heckler in
the back of Ray Ellin's show at Comic Strip Live. "She yelled out that she
wanted to kiss me," he said. "I told her I have ice back at my apartment, let's
go."

Bubbles, a living tribute to additives and preservatives
---
"Is this the wrong time to tell my wife that I think she may have a drinking
problem?   Should I wait till the cat is buried?"  (From letter to the Salon
website's advice columnist)

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, "bexhunter77" <bex77@...> wrote:
>
> It's a quiet Friday at work, and I was wondering what figure
skaters are doing in the summer,
> so I clicked over to Getty Images to see if they've posted any
photos of them.  Here's the link:
>
> http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?
contractUrl=1&language=en-
> US&family=editorial&p=figure%20skater&src=quick
>
> I got this by going to gettyimages.com and entering figure skater
into the search button.  If
> you have a favorite, you could find it that way by entering their
names.
>
> There are a bunch of photos of Mao Asada, Kristi Yamaguchi,
Michelle Kwan, Scott Hamilton,
> Carol Heiss Jenkins...ENJOY!
>
>  -Beckie

Thanks for the link. Kristi is really making the rounds. She seems to
be more popular since her Dancing With The Stars victory than when
she won the gold medal at the Olympics.

OTOH Scott's wife's dress qualifies for Mr. Blackwell's list.

Meagan Leigh

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:09 AM, ellenarnold <ellenarnold@...> wrote:

> I'm not too far into the book but it promises to be a good read -- we are
> talking about
> Joyce Carol freaking-Oates, after all! -- and I'm anxious to see her
> observations about
> the figure skating scene.

Yeah, you've got to figure that if nothing else, you can count on
someone like Joyce Carol Oates to do a little research.  :-)

I actually had a surprising encounter with skating in fiction myself
recently.  During a quick skim of the YA shelf at the library, I
grabbed Susan Beth Pfeffer's "Life As We Knew It" because the cover
art caught my eye and I remembered liking the author when I was a
teenager.  Turned out to be a great whim.  The main storyline has
nothing to do with skating - an asteroid knocks the moon's orbit
closer to earth, people deal with the environmental fallout, it was an
unexpectedly fantastic book.  But there was also a subplot involving
the fact that the teenage main character was way into skating, and let
me tell you, this author knew what she was talking about.  The details
were spot-on - the girl skated at (I think) the intermediate level,
with appropriate skills described in the book, she visited some
message boards that sounded awfully familiar, etc.  It wasn't a huge
part of the story, but it did contribute to a couple of interesting
scenes.  I'm pretty certain that it couldn't have been written by
anyone besides a hardcore fan of the sport - takes one to know one.

-April

Yesterday I bought Joyce Carol Oates' latest novel, "My Sister, My Love."  The
novel is a
thinly (verrrry thinly!) disguised re-imagining of the Jon Benet Ramsey murder
case from
the point of view of the victim's older brother Skyler Rampike (read: Burke
Ramsey). Rather
than being a little beauty pageant queen, the six-year old victim, Bliss, is a
figure skating
prodigy whose mother-from-hell Betsey (read: Patsey Ramsey) was a wanna-be
figure
skater in her own youth. Interestingly enough, she first tries to turn her son
into a skater
before moving her focus to Bliss when Skyler proves unworthy. (Later on in life,
Skyler will
attribute his survival to the fact that he was never good enough at anything for
his parents
to care that much about him.)

When I heard Oates interviewed yesterday she was asked why she chose figure
skating as
the backdrop for her novel. She said she was primarily fascinated by the
athleticism of the
sport (BTW, Oates is well-known as a huge boxing afficionado) but was also drawn
to the
phenomenon of parents who attempt to vicariously live their lives through their
sometimes
unwilling children.

I'm not too far into the book but it promises to be a good read -- we are
talking about
Joyce Carol freaking-Oates, after all! -- and I'm anxious to see her
observations about
the figure skating scene. The novel is set in Fair Hills, NJ so I wonder if she
frequented any
rinks in that area to gather impressions of skaters and their mothers. And
besides, living
in Boulder as I do there IS that whole Ramsey connection . . .

Hi,
Is it possible to have a link to the announcement about the figures'
categories. I have found this site where there is an announcement but
nothing for "figures".
Thanks for taking time to look over that.
_________________________________________________________

--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, lbo3@... wrote:

You may be interested to know that the Colorado Skating Championships
(early August) will include figures events.

>> [Peter Rodgers-Fischl] competed at Nationals this year (with Marsha Snyder -
they are coached by Brandon Forsyth) in senior dance, <<
 
Actually they're coached by Rachel Lane McCarthy in and around Pittsburgh. 
Brandon Forsyth is only a consultant.  The pharmacy degree Marsha is working on
is a doctorate, so she's certainly no academic slouch either.  She previously
skated on the Miami University synchro team.  More info in these articles:
 
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_548296.html

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08023/851368-139.stm
 
LMAO at the "axle" and "sow-cow" spellings in the Tribune-Review article!
 
--Sarah the relatively new Pittsburgher

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It's a quiet Friday at work, and I was wondering what figure skaters are doing
in the summer,
so I clicked over to Getty Images to see if they've posted any photos of them. 
Here's the link:

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=1&language=en-
US&family=editorial&p=figure%20skater&src=quick

I got this by going to gettyimages.com and entering figure skater into the
search button.  If
you have a favorite, you could find it that way by entering their names.

There are a bunch of photos of Mao Asada, Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, Scott
Hamilton,
Carol Heiss Jenkins...ENJOY!

  -Beckie

He competed at Nationals this year (with Marsha Snyder - they are coached
by Brandon Forsyth) in senior dance, so there's video from this year at ice
network, and photos/reports here:
http://www.ice-dance.com/events-results/reports/usnationals08/


On Jun 27 2008, Mary E Tyler wrote:

>I picked up my Carnegie Mellon Alumni rag this morning during
>breakfast and found a story about Peter Rodgers-Fischl. Apparently,
>he's an ice dancer (and the picture  actually LOOKS like ice dancing).

>
>Anyone have more information about him?

I picked up my Carnegie Mellon Alumni rag this morning during
breakfast and found a story about Peter Rodgers-Fischl. Apparently,
he's an ice dancer (and the picture  actually LOOKS like ice dancing).
He's double majoring in chemical and biomedical engineering and in
ROTC. Being that CMU has one of the heaviest workloads in the nation,
just doing school is amazing enough, skating and ROTC besides... and a
double major, this must be one heck of a kid. The article is not
currently online, but it should be next month. I'll try to remember to
look for it.

Anyone have more information about him?

dej

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Learn to use Google Analytics to make your web site more effective.
Buy my book! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047017501X/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I loathe writing. On the other hand I'm a great believer in money."
-- S.J. Perelman
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In the midst of winter, I finally realized that deep within me there
lay an invincible summer.
--Albert Camus
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I am Writer, hear me Pontificate!

According to Patinage magazine, Pfeiffer is back skating
for Austria after his failure to qualify through regionals
to US Nationals.  He'll still be training in the US under
Priscilla Hill.

>>Kathy Godfrey

Taken from Titan TV for the week of Sat. 6/28/08  through Fri.7/4/08

All times Eastern; please doublecheck your local listings.
And always bear in mind that broadcast network afternoon
skating is often subject to the vagaries of delays due
to other live coverage, or being rescheduled, shortened,
or even completely preempted by your local affiliate,
and that ESPN or CN8 evening coverage may have a delayed start
if preceded by a live event.

Sat  Jun  28  "Blades of Glory" (2007 movie w/ S. Hamilton) MoreMax
8:30-10:15 a.m. EDT
Sat  Jun  28  "Blades of Glory" (2007 movie w/ S. Hamilton) MoreMax
5:40-7:30 p.m. EDT
Sun  Jun  29  "Blades of Glory" (2007 movie w/ S. Hamilton) Cinemax
3:20-5 a.m. EDT
Sun  Jun  29  "Ice Princess" (2005 movie)            Disney 9-11 p.m. EDT
               (cast includes Kwan, Boitano, and Juliana Cannarozzo)
Mon  Jun  30  "Blades of Glory" (2007 movie w/ S. Hamilton) ActionMax
10:50a.m.-12:30 p.m. EDT
Mon  Jun  30  "Ice Princess" (2005 movie)            Disney noon-2 p.m. EDT
Mon  Jun  30  "Blades of Glory" (2007 movie w/ S. Hamilton) ActionMax
8-9:45 p.m. EDT
Tue  Jul  1   "Go Figure" (TV movie re: skater; Yamaguchi cameo)
Disney 7-9 p.m. EDT
               (repeat from 6/10/05)
Wed  Jul  2   "Go Figure" (TV movie re: skater; Yamaguchi cameo)
Disney noon-2 p.m. EDT
Wed  Jul  3   America's Next Top Model                    CW  8-9 p.m. EDT
               ("The Girl Who Is Afraid of Heights")
               [models learn to pose with movement carried by Lloyd Eisler]
               [repeat from 10/17/07]
Fri  Jul  4   "Blades of Glory" (2007 movie w/ S. Hamilton) MoreMax
6:50-8:30 a.m. EDT

>>Kathy Godfrey

Canadian Ladies Competitor Lesley Hawker has retired from eligible
competitions it was announced by Skate Canada
in a news release June 23,

Hawker, 27 never enjoyed international acclaim but put down some fine
performances at the Canadian Championships
in recent years.

http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/news_views/press_room/news_releases/2008/june23.cfm

Ryk


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Quotations used by permission from Craig's email to me with his permission.

I recently received an email from Craig Buntin giving an update on his
progress after his injury during the exhibiton at the Canadian Championships
in January.

Craig Buntin, 28 and partner Megan Duhamel, 22 finished 6 th at their first
World Championships this past March. It was well known prior to Worlds he
was injured with a torn rotator cuff and was facing surgery upon his return
to Canada. Many openly questioned in this group if he should skate at all.

Craig did have surgery on 31 March. What doctors found was a bigger mess
than originally thought.

He had a labral tear in both the front and back and an almost completely
torn rotator cuff. The surgeon sewed a mesh around the injured tendons and
explained that the first three months of recovery would be very slow.

The mesh dissolves within 6-9 months of the surgery.

Craig says his recovery is well beyond what anyone had expected.

He and Megan are back on the ice preparing for next season. "I'm lifting
weights over my head at full range.  We're doing most of the elements as
well as working on things like choreography and stroking."

What was not as well known at Worlds is that he had also torn the LCL
ligament in his left knee the week prior the championships so this down time
has allowed his knee to heal as well.

Last year Duhamel and Buntin teamed together on ice only 9 months before
Worlds. If she was intimidated by her first Worlds, she didn't show it.

Regarding their new pairing, Buntin relates, "As far as training goes right
now I honestly couldn't be happier. Last year Meagan came and essentially
said 'Ok, I know nothing... I'll do whatever you guys tell me to do.' She
did, and she did it well but now it seems as though she sees what we need as
a team and she's taking a more active roll. She is more motivated than I've
ever seen her and that's inspiring me to dream even bigger. I can't believe
the improvement we've made even since worlds and at this point I'm looking
at that world podium and saying "Hm, we're really not that far off."

It should be remembered Duhamel is in the record books along with former
partner Ryan Arnold as the first couple to land a side by side triple lutz
in competition, and it was a perfect element for both.

Regarding their Grand Prix assignments, Buntin seems unconcerned regarding
their early assignment at Skate America.

"Skate America: Yes, it's early. That said, we'll be ready. If that means
training our programs all summer lifting with my left arm then that's what
we'll do. We took a similar approach to our training in the months leading
up to worlds and we were as ready as we could have been. We got a great draw
with both of our Grand Prix events so we're not going to complain... we're
going to work hard and come out strong."

We are just a little over 3 months from Skate America and time along with a
sensible training schedule will dictate if Buntin can recover from his near
career ending injuries.
If they can match their first World's performance from this year they should
have no problem retaining a place on the podium at Canadians. I would go so
far as to say they could very well be a factor in the podium race in Los
Angeles.

Ryk


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>
I knew Jim briefly 20 years ago, he seemed like a very nice
guy.

when someone dies at 45 you have to wonder "why?" but
no info contained as to that.

Fred>
>
>
>
> Jim Yorke, 45, passes away at his L.A. home
> June 24th, 2008
> Mickey Brown, special to icenetwork.com /
>
>
> Icenetwork.com collects the memories of several members of the skating
community as they look back at their friend, Jim Yorke, after his untimely
death on Saturday at the age of 45.
>
>
>
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080624&content_id=48892&vkey=ic\
e_news
>
> Thanks for visiting www.ICENetwork.com.
>


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PM

You may be interested to know that the Colorado Skating Championships (early
August) will include figures events.

I know a few people who are VERY excited at the thought of being able to do
figures .... and it's great fun watching them practice (in the middle of
freestyle sessions), having retrieved their patch blades and boots not used for
15 years .....

      janet

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.kp.ru/daily/24119/341377/

   "Maxim will train and live in a university down near New York City (trans.
this is a reasonable geographical explanation for people in another country). 
My son went through 2 months of rehab in Munich after the operation.  His leg is
better and Maxim feels fine. Of course, it wasn't easy for him to decide to
switch coaches. We have things we could say, but we shan't comment on the
situation" Olga Shabalin, Maxim's mother.

   Vera Bogush, president of skating federation for Samara Oblast (trans. where
he's from):
   "I think changing coaches will help.  You know this pair is first in Russia,
so all decisions are weighed carefully first. Hopefully, Linichuk will work out
for Maxim and Oksana. In coaching circles people have been saying for a long
time that they need to make a switch.  Their previous coach Gorshkov and
choreographer Petukhov are talented, but they have been together a long time and
in their preparations for this team it's been clear they are stuck in a rut. 
The skaters, figuratively speaking, need fresh blood. New programs, coaches'
decisions."





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It will be interesting to see how many cable companies add this
network to their lineup before the Olympics

--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, "kgorkrj" <Kathy.Godfrey@...> wrote:
>
> I watched the live coverage of the US men's Olympic trials
> for gymnastics and platform diving last night.  It was pretty
> much like watching NBC coverage, except on the very small screen,
> with the usual commentators.  I was watching while working
> late, with an ultra-fast connection, so the fact that there
> were only a very few glitches in transmission may not be the best
> general indicator.
>
> You do have to install Microsoft's Silverlight viewer (currently
> beta 2.2), but so far it doesn't seem to have screwed up
> anything (like, say, using Flash to watch YouTube videos).
>
> >>Kathy Godfrey
>
> --- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, "kgorkrj" <Kathy.Godfrey@> wrote:
> >
> > This actually isn't a new channel, at least on-line--I've watched
> > coverage of the World championships in gymnastics there for
> > several years now, since ESPN dropped it.  For at least two of
those
> > years, NBC subsidized viewership to promote their coverage
> > of the Olympics, so I'm not surprised that they made this deal.
> >
> > >>Kathy Godfrey
> >
>