Hi all!

Now that I have somewhat recovered from the fun of Nationals, also known as the fun that ensues following the win of your favorite skater when neither you nor anyone else you know expected, I have finally gotten some of my thoughts together to write a report on the skating clinic. Granted, it's almost three weeks after the fact, but later is better than never, I always say <g>

This was probably the best prize I could ask for, especially following the previous week's events. However, my only qualm was that it was poorly organized. First of all, I never received the FedEx that contained the information about the clinic, such as time and place. I had to call repeatedly to finally get the information. Then, I (or shall I say my mother) received a phone call on Sunday afternoon from Scott Williams (yes the Scott Williams), informing her that I was actually supposed to be at the clinic at 8 am instead of 9 am. Of course, once I received the message, it was near 1 o'clock in the morning on Monday. Oh well.

Kellie and I arrived at the clinic at around 7:30 am since there was no traffic from Downtown L.A. to Burbank. I set my skates down in the hospitality room and we went and observed the freestyle session taking place. I went to retrieve something out of my bag, and was greeted by Richard with a "Good Morning."

Breakfast was served as registration took place and fleece vests were given out. We were divided into three groups which consisted of those who had never skated, those who have skated and those who were working on double axels and higher. I was in the group of those who had skated and the level varied greatly.

After breakfast and registration, I headed off to my off-ice class which was an hour of warming up and stretching, which I'm glad was first since the rink was so cold. I don't just mean cold, it was freezing! We were then instructed to lace up our skates and head to the ice. We started off by stroking and warming up on-ice. Some of the other instructers helped us out with that stuff. Then, we moved into a discussion about jumps with demonstrations by Todd. The discussion was quite basic but it was really cool to see Todd do singles and doubles, including a gigantic single axel to which I turned to Kellie and mouthed, "I want one of those!" Richard also asked Todd to demonstrate a toe axel, which is a double toe loop that is done wrong. He couldn't do it and laughed it off by saying he'd never done one before. We were then divided into two groups and my group, which consisted of adults, started off by working with Richard. We continued working on jumps. We started off working on waltz jumps, which I was told was "Great jump, but everyone knows you're going to do it since you're flapping your arms around." I had to laugh, since I only do that when I'm nervous. We then worked on toe loops, to which I received another "Great, now that's a real toe loop." Many of the others were doing toe waltzs, which, like a toe axel, is a single toe loop done wrong. Then we worked on loops, which also received a "Great!" from Richard. Towards the end of working on loops, Richard came back to me and asked me to do it again, this time with my eyes up. I proceeded to do the loop with my eyes up, and two-footed it! I have been doing that jump forever now, and was quite embarrassed to do so! Richard then tells me, "See, feels different, huh?" I must say that it was nice to work with someone who knows what it's like to work with someone who is "rotationally-challenged," since I am as well.

Then it was time to work with Todd. He asked us what we wanted to work on, and someone mentioned spins. I was more than happy to work on spins, especially with the spin master himself. We started working on scratchspins. I must say that what he told me really stuck and is the best advice anyone has given me on a scratch spin. We then worked on sit spins. I didn't get a chance to work with Todd on those, but did get some good advice from another instructor.

After working with Todd, we worked with the off-ice instructor on-ice doing spirals. Not too much to say there. Then we got Richard again and worked on some more spirals, this time with a couple of steps inbetween. During my turn, I started off well, but then got cut off by the other class, so I turned around and finished my sequence up, only to be greeted by a "Keep your eyes up!" from Richard.

After that, it was time for lunch. During that time, we also had the opportunity to take a picture with Todd, which, when printed, was on the cover of "Skating" magazine. The headline read, "New U.S. Champions Crowned," so when I took it home and showed it to my mom, I joked that Todd and I were the new US pairs champions, even though I'm only an inch shorter than he is. She got a good laugh out of that one . It was really a nice gift, since they took everyone's name and everyone got a personalized autograph and picture from Todd.

After lunch and saying goodbye to Kellie, who had to head to the airport, it was back on the ice for a brief spin workshop with everyone on the ice. Todd demonstrated spins for us, but Richard was usually done with Todd before Todd was done spinning, resulting in some funny exits from spins. It went, demo, spin, demo, spin, demo, spin. There wasn't much of a chance to get any feedback since there were about 35 people trying to spin all at once, as well as me trying to fit in since I spin the "right" way. But to be on the ice with Todd, no more than 10 feet away from him, watching him do one of the things he does best was worth it. Just absolutely amazing.

That drew the end of the clinic. We gathered around for a group photo, and then Todd passed out certificates of completion. It really went by quickly, but it was a lot of fun and I did get a chance to congratulate both Todd and Richard on the win and say good luck for the Olympics. I must also say that if I was presented with the opportunity to work with Richard again, I'd jump at it. I swear, I become a bigger Richard fan the more events I attend.

Crossing my fingers for the Olympics,
Autumn