The Blade's Edge

January 2015 Edition

President: Heather Patterson Vice President: Lauriel Wills skating session so as not to distract our skaters or create Past President: Chantelle Crete Secretary: Chantal Leblanc Treasurer: vacant Registrar: Tanya Allard a traffic hazard. Test Chair: Laurie Rail Communications: Stephen Karl Gala Committee: Alison Medeiros Awards Committee: Melissa Maunders Thank you for your attention and cooperation. Coaching Rep.: Stacy Duguay A call for volunteers – yes, you!! 2015 - Happy New (Skate) Year!! An organization like the Metcalfe Skating Club cannot The busiest part of the skating season is now in full be run without the help and efforts of a group of swing with preparations for our 2015 gala show well dedicated, unpaid volunteers. We do not have paid office under way (see details below). There are also a number staff. We are not supported by city government or your of competitions and test days still to come, which are tax dollars. The fees you pay are used entirely to pay for listed in the STARSkater’s Calendar. the costs of delivering ’s premier learn-to- skate program in your community. The day to day We also have a very special ticket offer to see administration of the club, special events such as gala, professional skate troupe Le Patin Libre perform their AGM and Awards Banquet, financial and staff Vertical Influences show “ ” here in Ottawa. Read the management are carried out by non-paid volunteers. review and ticket ordering information later on in this newsletter. We ask that you you us to continue the work that was started over 40 years ago when the Metcalfe Skating Enjoying our time at the rink. . . Club was founded by parents like ourselves. The Metcalfe Skating Club has continued to be run by We all like to see our young skaters learn new skating generations of parents ever since to give their children skills, sharing in their moments of success and helping and their children’s children the same wonderful life them in their moments of struggle. What we do ask is experience and a love of the sport of skating. Please that while watching and encouraging our youngsters on contact a member of the MSC board for more the ice, that we do so from the stands, and not from the information about volunteering with the club in an area immediately behind the boards surrounding the ice executive or non-executive role. You can also contact us surface. This creates a foot traffic congestion hazard and by sending an email to [email protected] . also distracts the skaters from their coach-lead lessons. We look forward to hearing from you!

We request that you view the session from the stands once the skaters are on the ice until the end of the A reminder to Pre & Canskate skating session or when signaled by a coach or PA to attend to your child’s needs. Under no circumstances parents ______are non-skaters allowed on the ice surface. Please return skating report cards by February 19th & We also ask that any siblings and invited guests also February 23rd. remain in the stands or adjourn to the lobby during the

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Region 5 Interclub Ottawa Feb 21-22 Rideau SC Gala 2015 (Leitrim) Spring Festival Ottawa Apr. 10-12 Gloucester SC Skate Invitational (Gloucester) METCALFE SKATING CLUB IS RSC Test Day Manotick Apr. 22 Rideau SC

* Registration for Winter Skate is now closed. PROUD TO PRESENT… ** Registration for EOSIC is now closed.

The End of Season Gala!!

WHO? Le Patin Libre’s All Metcalfe Skating Club Skaters, this includes: Pre-Canskaters, Canskaters & STARskaters. We encourage everyone to participate, but please note that it is not Vertical Influences – mandatory. Not your ordinary skating show! WHAT? Gala is an on ice end of year recital and is a wonderful opportunity for all of our skaters to showcase to family, The Metcalfe Skating Club working in cooperation with friends and peers what they have accomplished during the National Arts Centre is making available discounted the 2014/2015 skating season. This year's theme is Circus!!! tickets to professional skating troupe Le Patin Libre’s Stay tuned for more information. presentation “Vertical Influences”. The show will take

WHEN? place at the Minto Skating Club complex located at th Saturday, March 7, 2015 - Save the date!!! 2571 Lancaster Road on Saturday February 28 at 7:30 pm. WHERE? Larry Robinson Arena ~ Metcalfe, ON “Le Patin Libre is a five-strong collective of prize-

WHY? winning performers who specialize in the unique art We feel that it is important that all our skaters have a tangible of contemporary skating. The troupe is creating a new goal to work towards. Gala is the highlight of the season for kind of ice dancing, far beyond the confines of many skaters. It’s where all their hard work & dedication finally pays off! traditional . There are no sparkles, no stereotypes and no fuzzy animal costumes. The For MORE INFO or Volunteer Opportunities please email: iconoclastic Montreal-based troupe is reinventing ice [email protected] skating by bringing urban street dance and high-level STARSkate News artistic expression onto the ice. Vertical Influences is a double bill showcasing their signature mix of

MSC sent a contingent of competitive skaters to the Prescott movement, wit, speed and grace.”

Invitational on the weekend of January 10 and 11. “Skating is a magical way to move human bodies – Congratulations to our competing skaters and a special and we can dance like crazy on that ice.” - Le Patin “Thank You” to our STARSkate coaches for all the hard work Libre founder, Alexandre Hamel that they have put into preparing our skaters for this and future events. This is a chance to see something that is unique in the world of ice shows. As described in this critical review; If you are interested in participating in any of the events in the STARSkater’s Calendar, please talk to your STARSkate coach “. . it was not about traditional figure-skating spins and for eligibility and registration information. jumps … it was about pushing skating choreography into emotional realms far deeper than anything at the Olympic STARSkater’s Calendar Winter Games or ‘Disney on Ice.’

If you are interested in participating in any of the — Victor Swoboda, The Gazette (Montréal) following competitions and test days, please speak with To purchase tickets: your STARSkate coach first.

Regular tickets are priced at $30.00, with a 50% price Competitions – Upcoming discount ($15.00 per ticket) for all elementary, high Event Location Dates Host Club school and post-secondary students. The NAC will apply 2015 Winter* Skate Whitby Jan. 30 – Feb 1 Whitby FSC a discount of 20% for all regular priced tickets if we RSC Test Day Manotick Feb 4 Rideau SC EOSIC** Ottawa Feb 13-15 Nepean SC, Inc. sell 10 or more tickets (regular and student) for a (Nepean) performance - a savings of $6.00 per ticket! MSC Test Day Metcalfe Feb. 16 Metcalfe SC 2

Look for the “Le Patin Libre” poster and an MSC executive representative during MSC skating hours in A jump that takes off from a back outside edge and lands on the rink lobby at Fred Barrett (Leitrim) and Larry the same backwards outside edge. For a jump with Robinson (Metcalfe) during the weeks of January 19th to counterclockwise rotation, this is the right back outside edge. February 13th. It is named from its similarity to the loop compulsory figure. The invention is widely credited to Werner Rittberger, and the Payment for adult tickets will be in full, with any jump is also known as the "Rittberger" in Europe. Evidence applicable discount refunded after we have reached our exists that it may have been first done as early as the 1880s. sales goal of 10 tickets. Lutz Figure skating jump named after Alois Lutz, an Austrian Discounts for student tickets will be applied at the time skater who performed it in 1913. It is a toepick-assisted jump of purchase. with an entrance from a back outside edge and landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. All purchased tickets will be distributed at the rinks where orders were placed during the week of February th th A two foot turn on the same edge that continues along the 16 to the 27 . same lobe.

Prepayment is required for all tickets. No exceptions! Salchow

For more information send an email to: A jump with a takeoff from a back inside edge of one foot. The rotation in the air is made in the direction of the curve of [email protected] the take-off edge. The landing is made on the back outside

edge of the foot opposite the one used for take-off. One or The Extra Blade more rotations may be made in the air. It was invented by the

Swedish skater Ulrich Salchow in 1909.

What are they doing on the ice? Shoot-the-duck A skating position in which the skater travels on one foot with Like any sport which has been around for a number of the skating leg in a bent position and the other leg held years, decades or even centuries, skating, in particular, forward, parallel to the ice. This is the basic position for a sit figure skating, has acquired terminology and a lingo all spin. of its own. The term “Figure Skating” comes from the roots of the sport when skaters would carve and follow defined shapes or “figures” in the ice with precision. A spin position with the spinning leg bent at the knee and the free leg extended forward. Over the years the sport has broadened and become more formalized with every move given a name to identify it. Stroking Here are a few common terms defined (borrowed from A way of moving across the ice and gaining speed by using Wikipedia) that you will hear used by our coaches and the edges of the blades. skaters at the rink, or while watching figure skating shows and competitions on television: One of the simplest jumps in figure skating. It is a toe pick- assisted jump that takes off and lands on the same backward Axel outside edge. A jump with a forward take off, named after Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen, who, in 1882, was the first skater to Waltz jump perform the jump. Compared to other common figure skating A 180 degree rotation, one of the first jumps skaters learn. jumps, an Axel has an extra ½ rotation in the air because of its ______forward take off. Most skaters perform the jump with counter- clockwise rotation, taking off from the left forward outside The Blades Edge is published semi-regularly as your source of edge and landing on the right back outside edge. information about the activities of the Metcalfe Skating Club.

Camel Spin A spin position during which the free leg is extended in the air in an arabesque position parallel to the ice.

Choctaw turn A two-foot turn with a change of edge that results in a change of lobe.

Forward Spin A spin performed on a back inside edge.

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