Thursday, October 25, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Figure Skating Dresses - What, or What Not, to Wear
Nothing brings out the little girl in us females more than the thought of a new figure skating dress. Yet, at the same time, nothing can scream more "bling-overkill" than a skating dress. There was a whole lot of girly girl squealing happening in my neck of the woods recently. I just picked up my new dress for my 2011-2012 interpretive program! In this article, I'll present (and we can share) some thoughts on figure skating attire as it pertains to adult figure skating. I don't want to start by sounding sexist or discriminating, but by-and-large this really is a girl-issue. Skating guys seem happy to be in any kind of combination of black pants and a basic shirt, so long as they can move in it. This attitude seems to reflect the male approach to clothing in general, or maybe, it's just the particular males that I live with. Guys can also recycle figure skating costumes for greater lengths of time, providing they don't grow. For example, most keep pants from year to year, but will have a new shirt made, if need be.
Costuming is probably the number one subject that my non-skating friends comment on, as well as frequent topic of conversation on skating internet forums. In general, the dresses/outfits I'm seeing at world and grand-prix events are a lot more conservative than 10-15 years ago. Of course, ice dance is always notorious for over the top excess, but again, even the ice dancers seem to be opting for more conservative designs- a sign of the economic times perhaps?
As adult figure skaters, I feel that we have a few unique issues when it comes to finding appropriate attire. The most obvious is size and shape. We come in a lot more of them: apples, pears, sticks and triangles, just to name a few. I have found that "off the rack" dresses seem to be made using the proportions of younger, less curvy, bodies. Often, the skirts end up being way too short. Or worse, badly placed in a way that accentuates your wider features. Sometimes, the styles are just plain wrong, for anyone over the age of 10. Frilly and sparkly is cute on a 7-year old, not so much on a 47-year-old. If one is well-endowed on top, then halter-style or spaghetti straps present important structural deficiencies.
Many times, adults are reluctant to wear something skimpy due to feeling really uncomfortable and exposed. This goes beyond just feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed over the weight you may have put on over the past few years. It is a question of practicality too. In many northern climates, the air temperature in the area is chilly, if not down-right cold. The temperature of the rink where I train was 4° Celsius (39° F) this morning. I've taken skating tests there when it has been that cold and even the judge told us to go ahead and put on as warm a sweater as we could find. All those cute little backless and sleeveless dresses were buried in layers of fleece and wool that day!
When it comes to skating attire, what works (or doesn't) for you? Send me a picture of you in your favorite outfit and I will post it on my blog for all of us to enjoy. And a special shout out to you gentlemen: we want to see you too!
Next: My new dress (with photo!) and more advice about what to wear on the when you are a lady of (as the French would say) "a certain age".
If you are an adult participating in figure
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Figure Skating
Back in the 1990's a rivalry was heating up between three equally talented young ladies whose sole desire was to be the best figure skater on ice that the world had ever known. They competed against each other in every major competition, but the results never seemed to change, unless one of them fell on a jump, stumbled on the turns, or slipped out of a rotation. None of it changed, that is until one figure skater's boyfriend attacked another skater. He used a crow bar to hit her on the knee. The damage was so horrible; she could not skate for a few years, let alone complete the competition. At the time, the assailant was not linked to the other skater because he fled and was not caught by police until a few days later.
Sadly, the rivalry was put to rest that day by a decision that would haunt all parties involved to this day. The third skater was not injured in the attack, but she went on to secure her place in the Winter Olympics of that era for the United States team. These three skaters were Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, and Tonya Harding. Although Harding insisted that she was innocent in the attack on Kerrigan, she was banned for life from the skating world and has rarely been seen since. Kerrigan had a long road to recovery after her knee was damaged. Yamaguchi went on to do well in the Olympics and still remains a prominent figure skater today.
Figure skating was not always this brutal or competitive. It began in the middle of the 17th century with a group of Scottish skaters who began their own skating club, which was the first of its kind. Not much is known about this club, but it gave birth to other clubs that focused on figure skating. America's first figure skating club was formed in 1849 and was named Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society. The goal of this society had four parts: correctly use rescue equipment when skaters fell through the ice, give instruction on how to skate, provide constructive feedback on how to improve one's skating, and create and maintain a friendly feeling among the skaters. In 1870, Mr. Jackson Haines was the first figure skater to combine dance moves, specifically ballet moves, with skating. This routine was set to music. Because of this marriage of dance moves and music, Mr. Haines is credited with being the father of modern figure skating. The International Skating Union (ISU) was formed in 1892 to create and regulate the rules and judging of skating. The 1908 Olympics saw the debut of figure skating and it has evolved to the modern day version of today.
This year, the Olympics will feature many figure skaters, both individual and team skaters. There will be the traditional skaters who will incorporate dance moves, jumps, spins, and flips into their routines, and then there will be the ice dancing teams, which will not have their skates leave the ice. The fact that figure skating has branched out so effortlessly and so beautifully to ice dancing leaves the sport open to new interpretations of the sport and perhaps in a few decades, a new branch of this sport will emerge to be added into the history books.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
You CAN Skate Faster...Don't Let Your Skates Hold You Back!
If you are looking for a way to gain more power, create more speed, and experience maximum agility or just to truly be certain that your getting the most out of your skates, than consider having your skate blades aligned. Being a specialty skates store, we have developed and pioneered many unique systems for enhancing the performance of our clients skates.
One of the many things we have done is developed and refined the concept of 'aligning skate blades' However, even after more than twenty years and many thousands of 'blade alignments' we are still often asked 'what the heck is a blade alignment?'
The simplest definition of a skate blade alignment is; the positioning of a skate blade on a boot in such a manner as to be relative to the foot and the biomechanics of the skaters body that is going to be wearing the skate; or in other words...positioning the skate blade on the boot to ensure that the skaters center of gravity falls directly over the blade. Conceptually ...aligning blades on skates is the same as aligning the wheels on a car.
When it's done correctly, the wheels (skate blades) track 'straight' and 'true'. Skate blade alignment is by no means a new concept. In fact figure skaters have been aligning their blades for more than 100 years. Because of our extensive history with figure skating we simply used what we had been doing with figure skaters for so many years, and applied it to all skaters, including hockey and ringette players. Positioning the blade to allow for the biomechanical differences in your feet and body takes your skate fitting to the next level. The correct alignment will allow for maximum edge control, which will support you in maintaining a more efficient stride, better turning ability, smother stopping, stronger cross overs,etc. and will enhance your overall skating performance.
Because your skates are a production line item, the most that can be expected from the skate manufacture is that the blade will be mounted in the middle of the outer soul of the skates. That however does not accommodate the majority of skaters who pronate or supinate.Being certain that your center of gravity falls directly over the blade means that you will have better control of both the inside and outside edge of your skate blades.
The classic picture of the young skater trying to skate while using only inside edges is something that is easily avoided by repositioning the blade on the boot. Subtle changes to blade positioning on all levels of skaters can translate into significant gains in performance on the ice.
Just some of the indications that you may need your skate blades aligned may include; difficulty turning one direction , struggling to hold eith an outside or inside edge, weak crossovers, chronic knee strain, groin pulls, sore lower back. The manufacturing process is not perfect,so re-mounting a a skate blade mounted on a boot from the manufacturer can make a huge difference in skating performance.
In a perfect world blade alignment should be done with the skater, in person, in that way a perfect alignment can be attained.However, skates that have been worn for a period of time, will show signs of a poor blade alignment, so it can in fact be attained without the skater. It may not be ideal but significant performance improvements can be attained either way. Having worked with every level of hockey player and figure skater, including Olympic gold medalists. Blade alignment is an integral part of the skate fitting process and will help you attain maximum performance results from your skates.