Hello,

After the kids were able to see the video of themselves skating, I am
sure the things that Kathy and I tell them about, make a little more
sense. I know as a skater, things looked much different than they felt
and it was always beneficial to see how things looked. The video
seemed to really work for the Preliminary team, because once they got
on the ice they seemed like a different team today! Heads were up,
they were smiling and looked much more energetic!!

So here is the critique from Colonial Classic.

Preliminary:

The first thing the judges commented on was how there was almost zero
presentation from the team. They thought we had no energy and did not
match the pep and energy of the music! We are suppose to be
"cheerleader/spirit" and they thought we lacked in that! This really
hurt our second mark and potentially could have put us down a few
spots. They liked our intersection and that we added freestyle
elements (lunges, spirals) into the routine. They thought for this
level, our skaters had nice, strong skating skills and that we just
needed to keep things synchronized and up the ante on the
presentation. After watching the teams today on the tape that placed
ahead of us, we think we are comparable to them skating wise, it is
just the second mark that we need to work on. (That is the easy part;
the skating is the hard part!) So remember..... when you are out there
competing, you need to SMILE, get into the music, look the way you are
skating, and show them how much energy you can have and of course
SKATE CLEAN!!! Can't wait for Easterns.

Open Juvenile:

We had the critique with the judge who had us in 5th place, from the
Midwest. She thought our opening block had great speed and footwork.
She thought our wheels and transitions were nice. She liked the
kickline and the arm up in the beginning and that the line was
straight. She wanted to see us hold the shape of the triangle after
the intersection (which we have improved on) and also wanted us to
hold our spiral in the last circle longer. I think what happened is
that some of the girls did not lift their leg at the right beat and
then some came down early. So, you all need to get your leg up at the
right time and hold it for the right amount. She thought the back
lunge pass through was nice! And the two lines before the circle, (the
one with the lunge now) she commented on the unison of the three turns
and how the circle formed and felt that part was not well skated. (The
new part with the lunge and detached circle looks GREAT!!) As far as
presentation goes, she felt it was okay. We still need to work on
selling the program and really feeling the music and the change of
music. Get down in your knees and hold the steps, so you are not ahead
of the music. We have made some great improvements even in the past
week and look forward to rocking at Easterns!!

Any questions, let us know!!

Kathy and Jess