Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Countdown to Skate America- The Tour

It's almost time for Skate America! Skaters, coaches, and spectators are already filling into the Olympic Village.

The first question I get when people come to the Olympic Center is, "which way is the _______rink? The OC is so large that it is not difficult to get lost. So I have pictures to help a spectator find their way around the building!



1980 Herb Brooks arena
The main competition rink for the 2009 Skate America, the Herb Brooks arena is best known as the site of the "Miracle on Ice". This time, it will be host to some of the world's best skaters. The rink's capacity is 8,000- small by today's standards, but perfect for the Skate America event.

"Athlete's Entrance"
The Athlete's Entrance. Newly covered with a scene from the "Miracle on Ice", these doors lead to the "backstage area" and locker rooms of the 1980 side of the building, as well as the US practice rink.

Box Office Entrance
Need to buy tickets or enter the OC for an event? This is the door you would go to. To the right are the ticket booths to buy event tickets; to the left are the spectator's entrance doors that lead to the 1980 rink, the museum, and the hallways that lead to the US rink.

More photos and coverage to follow; stay tuned!


LP SKATER



Monday, November 9, 2009

Sasha Cohen Withdraws from Skate America


According to a release issued today by US Figure Skating, Sasha Cohen will not be competing at the 2009 Skate America in Lake Placid due to an injury, naming Emily Hughes as her replacement. We will miss Sasha, but welcome Emily!

Keep watching for more LP Skate America news! There will be photos later of the set up around the Olympic Center!






LP SKATER


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Countdown to Skate America



Believe it or not, there is a little over a week until Skate America returns to Lake Placid November 12th-15th.


Around the arena, crews are busily preparing the Olympic Center for the influx of skaters, coaches, and fans that will be descending on LP this coming week. Check out the picture above of the doors by the Box Office entrance, with their new Olympic look! Even the USA rink side of the building has a new facade on the glass doors (photo coming soon)!

I might have mentioned this before, but I am honored to be representing the Lake Placid News as media. As such, I will be hanging around the OC for the entire competition.....and sharing the events of the day with you! I plan to do lots of coverage pre, during, and post competition, so stay tuned!

With that, I am going home; there is homework to be done, a room to be cleaned (it has looked like a wreck since August), and a novel to write (see the adventure blog for more info on that).

See you soon!

LP SKATER :)

Colbert Nation sponsors US Speed Skating

I realize this has nothing to do with Lake Placid, but it does relate to speed skating, and is so surprising and unusual that it needs to be mentioned.

I was watching the Colbert Report this evening (I watch the show occasionally, but haven't tuned in for a while) because I heard that Olympic speed skater Dan Jansen would be on the show. Not only was he on the show (he was already in NY running in the NYC Marathon yesterday), but Colbert had a surprising announcement- that Colbert Nation (referring to his fans) would become the primary sponsor of US Speed Skating. US Speed Skating's Bob Crowley was present to sign an agreement, which Colbert promptly signed. Chants of "U-S-A!" ensued in the studio from the audience.

The announcement was so sudden that I thought it was a joke at first.....but Colbert Nation will indeed be US Speed Skating's primary sponsor after DSB, the dutch bank, recently went bankrupt. To raise funds, fans can donate either on http://www.colbertnation.com/ or http://www.usspeedskating.org/. Colbert has raised money in this way in the past; the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity that assists injured service members and their families, was a former beneficiary. Hopefully they will raise a good amount of money!

The next assignment on the agenda is to place the logo for Colbert Nation on the team uniforms.



LP SKATER

Friday, October 30, 2009

From Lake Placid to Milwaukee......

I am back in Lake Placid after my trip to Milwaukee, and catching up on skating, homework, and blogging!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I arrived at the Pettit Center last Thursday at around 10 pm. Most of my readers know me as "the figure skater", the one who is at nearly every competition and is most comfortable and familiar with figure skating Jr and Senior Grand Prix events. I have been to several of these events, and compared this one to a combination of Sectionals (where skaters from each section have a chance to qualify for National competition) and the National Championships in figure skating. You see, in figure skating the selection process for world teams is much different. Monitoring sessions usually start in summer, when US Figure Skating officials observe skaters both in practice and competition to determine who should be sent to Grand Prix events, the equivalent of the World Cup series in speed skating. The qualifications are based on who has placed well at Nationals the previous year, as well as high placements at key summer competition. Then they get a few chances to "show their stuff" internationally and hope to compete up to potential at Nationals, which determines who goes to Olympics or Worlds. Speed skating has a bit of a different rhythm; at this competition, skaters who placed well went off to the World Cup events, which would eventually lead to the Olympic Qualifiers in Calgary and Salt Lake City this December. If they do not place in the top 24 in one of the World Cups, they are off; if not, they continue throughout the series. This year, eventually everything culminates in the Olympic Games in February.



Luckily I made it for the last 1000 meter pairings of the evening; among them was fellow Lake Placid Speed Skating Club team mate Trevor Marsicano, who skated with tremendous fight and determination. He came in 7th in that first race, and continued to improve.

Friday was a day off in which both skaters and spectators had a day of rest before the next two days of racing.

Saturday events were the mens and ladies 1500 M. Sunday was probably the most tiring day for the athletes, with the 1000 and 5000 M for the ladies, and 1000 M and 10,000 M for the men.
I was getting tired just watching them skate!

There were lots of other differences to observe, and I learned a lot about the structure of speed skating meets as compared to figure skating competitions.

First, the arena was different. The Pettit center has been described by some as a "warehouse", but to me it felt smaller, friendly, and more comfortable than some of the arenas used in figure skating; they are huge!! For example, the XL center, (formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center) in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, has the capacity to seat approximately 16,000 spectators, while even the 1980 rink has the capacity to host 8,000 fans. Pretty gigantic compared to a few bleachers! This works in the advantage of the spectators, as they are much closer to the action then if they were sitting up in the "nosebleed" section of a rink!

Second, the scheduling is way different than figure skating. In a figure skating Grand Prix event, there are no breaks in between, and no days off; the competition goes straight through with no stops! Luckily there are four disciplines in figure skating (mens singles, ladies singles, ice dance, and pairs) so the skaters do get a bit of a break as their events are not on consecutive days.

Of course, there is the factor of the skating itself. I remember when I first started speed skating I had difficulty understanding the idea of highly efficient and compact movement; figure skating is all about stretch, extension, line......and speed skating is all about power, speed, and flow. There are a little bit of each element in the sports; figure skaters need to be fast and powerful as well as elegant; speed skaters do exhibit some beautiful flow and technique while racing.

In preparation, a speed skating meet can resemble a figure skating competition- they warm up (usually on a bike), do some plyometric exercises, stretch, and prepare to focus on the task at hand. Then the skates are on, there is a short warm up, and it is time to go! The differences? No makeup, pretty costumes, jumping, or spinning of course! :)

All in all, my experience was fantastic; there were some truly thrilling moments. Of course, I was cheering for Lake Placid Speed Skating Club member and Lake Placid Oval alumni Trevor Marsicano.....but I was truly astounded by some other performances. I had heard of Shani Davis' mastery in all disciplines and his incredible speed and strength in every event....but nothing compares to seeing it live! Watching Shani's 10,000 meter skate was amazing, as he kept speeding up towards the end. While other skater's times would increase and they would get slower, Shani got FASTER. It was amazing! Yes, it was as thrilling as when Brian Boitano won the Olympics in '88!

In the end, skating is skating, technique is technique, strength is strength. When watching skating in general, there are always going to be differences, but a person cannot deny that in all instances skating of any discipline can be beautiful.....even without rhinestones :)

LP SKATER

Monday, October 26, 2009

World Cup/Olympic Qualifier-Days 3 and 4

Yesterday wrapped up four days of great racing. I was very impressed with how FAST everyone skated, despite comments made about the slower ice conditions. While there really were no surprise winners, the surprises came in the great times posted this early in the season.

Results for days three and four haven't been posted yet, but I did get some times:

Mens 1000 Meter:

1) Nick Pearson (1:09:65)

2) Trevor Marsicano (1:09:74)

3) Chad Hedrick (1:10:38)

4) Jonathan Kuck (1:10:96)

5) Brent Aussprung (1:11:05)


Men's 10,000 M

1) Shani Davis (13:29:01)

2) Jonathan Kuck (13:39:52)

3) Brian Hansen (13:40:49)

4) Paul Dyrud (13:42:51)

5) Ryan Bedford (13:46:26)


Complete time postings to come later! I'm on my way home.

LP Skater








Saturday, October 24, 2009

World Cup Qualifier- Milwaukee Wisconsin




I finally made it to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the 2010 World Cup Qualifier at the Pettit Center, and Olympic Trials. I arrived Thursday night to catch the last few pairings.
Following are some results:

1000 M, 3K, 5K


Mens and Ladies 500 M


I will post pictures soon; tomorrow racing resumes at 1 pm.

LP SKATER