Just wanted to give everyone a report on the Chevy Clinic that was held in Grapevine Texas this afternoon. As with all of the clinics, this one was also a great success. Lots of people participated and everyone seemed to have a good time. Let me preface this report by saying that I was there helping out as part of the Nationals Committee, so I was not skating and cannot give the details of what Todd said to which skater, etc. But, I do have a general report concerning the clinic and will have photographs in the near future.

I arrived at the arena around 10:00 am and was helping make sure that everything was set up and met with several of the other Nationals people, etc. It has been raining all weekend and, consequently, many of the outside events had been moved inside to accommodate the weather. This included the Chevy tent where autographs were to be held, the music/dj booths, the bounce houses, games, etc. Thank goodness the facility is setup with a big central lobby area, so it was able to adequately house everything - but it did make for a very loud, very hectic event since so much was going on in such a small, enclosed space.

Todd and Richard were suppose to arrive around 11:00 am and Todd had an interview that he was to do at 11:15 am. Unfortunately, Todd and Richard had just flown in this morning and they didn^Rt arrive from the airport until 11:20 am. I briefly got to talk with Richard, but Todd was hurriedly rushed into the interview since he was already late. Richard commented that he had expected nicer weather here in Texas and I laughingly said, "we do too". Since Richard still had his skate-bag and the Chevy people were trying to move him along to meet up with Todd, we agreed to talk more later on.

I went back to doing some work and they announced that the first group was to line up and prepare to take the ice. Todd came out shortly thereafter, waved to me as he passed, and headed for the ice to get a quick warm-up in before the first group of skaters was let onto the ice for the first session. Being a long-time Todd fan, I have to say that his warm-ups are one of my favorite things to watch, so I just happened (yeah, right!) to be positioned next to the ice in order to see him doing those long, deep, edges down the rink as he got a feel for the ice and his skates. He looked very good, happy and relaxed despite the morning rush from the airport.

The format of the clinic is such that there are four timeslots (each getting a color) and four levels of experience (each getting a number A,B,C or D). The A group was the never have skated or beginners, B was slightly higher being able to skate forward, etc., C could do spins and D's had to be able to do at least a single axel. They were split into the four corners of the ice. Richard started out in the A group and worked his way around to each group during the session - Todd started in the B group and worked his way around, finishing with the A group and then posing for photographs, etc. I have to say that it was great fun to watch both Todd and Richard working with the various skaters. They worked with each person in the group, even if just for a moment and I heard several of the kids say that they had learned something. During the third session, I was talking with one of the skating mom's (who happened to be taking photos of her daughter) and she said that her daughter had decided that she would stay in the C group because she wanted to work on her spins with Todd. Apparently, the daughter thought that it would be pretty cool to receive spin pointers from "the best spinner in the world". Needless to say, "mom" was absolutely thrilled to see Todd spend a fair amount of time working with her daughter on her sit spin and her daughter was all smiles. ;-) I'm sure each person who skated with Todd and/or Richard have their own individual stories but I can guarantee that this event will be remembered by everyone as an experience of a lifetime.

There were two morning training sessions and then Todd left the ice to go do the autograph session from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Being indoors - this was a total mob scene and I hadn't even realized how many people were there until they all lined up to get Todd^Rs autograph. Richard had stopped to talk with me as he got off the ice, but then got pulled away by the Chevy people for something. He told me that he'd be back and as it turned out he did make it back to see me and we were able to have a nice long conversation (albeit interrupted on occasion for his autograph, etc.). We talked about lots of different things including my work for Nationals, and also Jenny's skating. Richard says that Jenny is skating much better. I'm looking forward to seeing how she does at Skate America and seeing her at Nationals in January. For those of you who are dying to know - Richard has no idea what numbers Todd is doing at Scott's show in Philly - apparently, Scott is to provide him with the music, so we'll just have to wait to find out. Also, it hasn't been totally decided which individual number(s) Todd is going to do for SOI. It may be the new Bocelli number or it may be another one(s) that they are now pondering - obviously, since this is still under consideration, Richard would not share what exactly it might be - he did say, however, that the decision would have to be made soon. As everyone should have heard by now, Todd is confirmed for Canadian Open and Hallmark (thankfully!) so Richard can head to Skate America and Skate Canada without having to worry about Todd's schedule for the rest of the season.

After having this nice long chat, Richard said that he'd better go and see how Todd was doing. I have to admit that I really felt for Todd today as this was a none-stop event and he was on the go the whole time. I think that he managed to get a sip of water during the autograph session, but other than that, it was "do a session, do another session, go do autographs, do a session, do another session, take photos.." - (you get the point). After getting up early to fly into town, it was no wonder that he was tired after the event was finished. But, despite being tired - he was friendly and pleasant and put up with lots of picture taking and autographs and people wanting his attention. I finally managed to get to talk with Todd for a few minutes at the end of the clinic after he had gotten off the ice. He acknowledged that he was tired especially since they had gotten up so early (and we all know what an early riser Todd is - NOT!). He said he was looking forward to getting a nap on the plane heading home. We talked about SOI and a few other things before I wished him a safe trip home and told him that I'd see him in Philly on Wednesday!

Todd and Richard left shortly thereafter heading back to the airport. I finished up talking with a few others and ended the day, like we do at all other good events, in the bar having a margarita. A toast to Todd, Richard and Chevy for a clinic that definitely lived up to its name - "It's Great to Skate with Todd"

Betsy