Gate City Grapevine A Publication of the Gate City Club

Gate City Figure Skating Club is a community Spring Issue Volume , Issue oriented skating club for Our Nationals’ Experience recreational, as well as By Karen Simms my picture taken with her. I loved competitive, figure skaters. The U.S. Figure Skating National Champion- GCFSC exists to encourage and 's performances. I also really ye a r -round instructions ships are every young figure skater’s dream liked and 's Michael and individual development at some point. But even if you weren’t com- Jackson and and Charlie in the sport of figure peting at the recent championships, just by s k a t i ng . White's dance too. It was super exciting seeing virtue of being there you feel like part of the who won nationals. Everything was awesome and Inside this issue: action and sense the buzz. Many of our club all the skaters did great. I wish I could have gone members were fortunate enough to attend to all of the events. I had lots of fun with my Mom sessions of the Championships, which were and Grandmom.” National Champion- 1 held in January in and hosted by the Gracie Dortona: ships Experiences . "The best part was seeing my favorite skater, Attending the championships made you feel Gracie Gold skate, I even made a sign for her. I Picture This 1 like part of the larger skating community. loved it when all the Olympians were introduced at Walking along the concourse, you could catch the end of the show and they threw out auto- Spotlight on: 2 a glimpse of many famous skating icons. It graphed frisbees. My wish came true when I got one and it was signed by Gracie Gold. Go Team Coach Chrissy Silver wasn’t unusual to nearly brush shoulders with competitors at every level. USA!!" Happy Birthday! 2 Here’s what some of our members had to say: Allison Clark: Ashley McCrady: "The best thing about watching the Women's Short “I went to the pairs/dance and the ladies long Program was seeing Ashley Wagner perform. It Tests Passed 3 program. I got to meet Kimmie Messier and had was awesome to see the 2014 Olympic Team in- troduced at the Smuckers Spectacular too!" See more GCFSC Members’ Comments on P. 3 Synchro Stars 4 It’s Spring Show Season year, the group will be focusing their ef- Junior Inventor 4 At last count, there were more than 63 forts on a CRAFT SUPPLY DRIVE to ben- GCFSC skaters signed up to perform in the efit Girls, Inc. of Greater Nashua. Keep 11th Annual Spring Show. A Little Bit Country, a an eye out for flyers and emails in the Little Bit Rock n Roll”. While we’ve been anx- coming weeks for more details . The iously awaiting the start of rehearsals, the group will also be working hard on mak- MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Junior Activities Committee has been busy ing this year’s CAST PARTY bigger and thinking about their Spring Fundraiser. This better than ever!

 April 17 TEST SESSION  May 3 Spring Show Fun and Games at the GCFSC Spring Party Rehearsals Start (Basic Lev- els) Saturdays 11:10 CheckPICTURE out our website for more greatTHIS! event photos  May 9 Spring Show Rehearsals Start (Advanced Levels) Fridays 5:40  May 10 Picture Day  May 24 Spring Show Run- through (11:10—12:10)  May 30 Spring Show Mandatory Dress Rehearsal (5:40 p.m.)  May 31 Gate City FSC 11th Annual Spring Show 1:00 pm

Club Members at the Conway Arena 10th Anniversary Celebration Page 2 Gate City Grapevine

SPOTLIGHT ON: Ga Ci SC Coa C is S Spotlight! By: Karen Simms Imagine Coach Chrissy Silver as a teenager, with ior, finally landing it a couple of times before she Lisa Langley and a gang of other girls stuffed into went off to college at Merrimack where she earned her little car, hitting MacDonald’s or someone’s her B.A. in Biology and went on to work in microbi- pool back in the days when they all spent their ology, with a little bit of coaching on the side. summers skating together at the rink in Winchester, Coaching turned into her primary occupation when MA. she was expecting her son and she’s been doing it ever since (that being 25 years). You might not believe it when she’s telling you what’s what during a moves lesson, but Chrissy is a Her most important advice for skaters: DON’T fun-loving, outdoorsy woman who, as a young GIVE UP ON YOURSELF! She knows what she’s tomboy really wanted to play ice hockey but set- talking about- she failed her seventh figures test tled for, and thrived on, figure skating. Growing three times, and ended up going to NYC to test it, up with brothers in a neighborhood full of boys, where she finally passed. she had to keep up and it shows in her enthusiasm We always love to hear about people’s most em- In each issue, for skating and for all outdoor activities. Snow- barrassing skating moments, and Chrissy has a we’ll introduce you mobiling, hiking, camping, canoeing, zip lining, spectacular one. During her first solo performance splitting wood, shoveling snow – it’s all right up her as a Winchester club member, she did a split jump to some of the alley. She’s also an ardent fan of the Irish folk too near the curtain and, flying through the curtain band the High Kings, and she has travelled all in mid-air, hit a coach, then the wall, narrowly miss- many familiar faces over to see them perform (11 times and counting), ing the skaters waiting their turn behind the curtain. and the band counts her as one of their personal Then she had to get up and go back out and try to around the rink friends. Her license plate even bears the name finish her routine! “HGHKNGS”. That’s serious fandom. What else do we need to know? Well, unlike many In her skating career, Chrissy was not as interested coaches, Chrissy truly likes moves – likes doing in competition as she was in conquering new and them, likes teaching them, likes the challenge of the more difficult moves or jumps or spins. She loved frequently changing expectations. the challenge of learning the next hardest thing. She finally ran up against her personal brick wall And last but not least – she has finally given in and with the triple toe when she was a high school sen- taken up texting….TAFN!

Be Sure to Wish them HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Grace Jones 4/1 Carola Mandeville 4/30 Jess Hanifan 5/17 Megan Dugan 6/12 Hanna Jordan 4/10 Mannat Sidhu 4/30 Alexandra Benson 5/17 Julia Fellows 6/20 Kathryn Miele 4/12 Vivianne Snell 4/30 Anne DelSignore 5/19 Cassie Child 6/20 Nicole Lawyer 4/16 Merida Kepnes 5/2 Katelyn McCarthy 5/20 Maggie Fitzgerald 6/20 Dominique Dame 4/17 Sarah LaPointe 5/3 Ashley Stewart 5/21 Alison McGonagle 6/20 Courtney Tello 4/17 Avya Petrocelli 5/6 Jia Waterman 5/24 Emma Kelsey 6/23 Catherine Hovan 4/18 Skyler Goss 5/9 Lexy Powers 5/27 Sara Ducols 6/24 Jennifer Brady 4/21 Devon Dillon 5/14 Genevieve Gratton 5/31 Angelina Piscitello 6/25 Jackie Knight 4/25 Bethany Robbins 5/15 Jillian SansoucieEnright 6/2 Candace Sullivan 6/27 Louisa Petrocelli 4/25 Chris ne Silver 5/16 Sophia Tomasello 6/11 Danielle Shepard 6/29 Grace Lumley 4/28 Katya Johnson 5/16 Volume , Issue Page 3 CONGRATULATIONS! Please let us know when you have represented Gate City Figure Skating Club, either at a competition, or at another club’s Test Session. Please Email [email protected] or leave a note in the Skating Club Mailbox behind the front desk. MOVES-IN-THE-FIELD: FREESTYLE: Pre-Preliminary : Hannah Loomis, Emily Miller Pre-Preliminary : Isabelle Hallisey, Jia Waterman, Hannah Goldthwait Preliminary : Ashley Stewart, Julia Zhang Preliminary: Anne Nyland Pre-Juvenile: Jackie Knight, Emily Fleming, Ann Nyland Pre Juvenile : Kiara Chase Hannah Goldthwait ADULT MOVES: Juvenile Moves: Merida Kepnes, Eleanor Quarles Adult Gold: Ioana Jadic Novice Moves: Madelyn Hallisey The Next GCFSC Test Session is scheduled for April 17, 2014 .

Our Nationals’ Experience sitting below our section. Her ters eyes.” Continued from page 1 favorite skater of the night was Gracie Gold.” Emily Langley: Eleanor Quarles: Emily is also a member of the SCOB, and Jackie Knight : “It was really inspiring to be right there and was one of the skaters in the opening cere- I liked everything about the nationals compe- see all the amazing skaters and really interest- mony, which took place on Thursday, Janu- tition. I thought that it was great to see the ing to see their reactions when they found out ary 9 at the TD Garden at the competition skaters in person. I thought that the "kiss and their scores. My favorite skater was Jason kickoff. cry booth" was very cool, and I thought that Brown.” “The energy was so big, and stepping on to the name was perfect for it. There wasn't Valerie Peters: the ice all of this energy and adrenalin and anything I didn't like about the competition. “I attended the senior men's free skate. My emotion just came over you. It was a big It was really cool to see Marisa and Simon favorite performances of the night were from venue to skate in, with all these people perform because they came to a Conway Jason brown, Douglas Razzano, , watching, and being on the ice network and Arena show and I got to watch them perform and . Douglas Razzano skated NBC being there - it was just surreal. There at nationals and at Conway, which I thought a heartfelt program that brought his coach to was a part when we paused and … we just was pretty cool. When I went to the nation- tears. Jason Brown skated to River Dance and stood there looking up into the rafters and als competition at TD Garden there were a had a very entertaining program that just drew all the way up into the balcony. How many lot of people there and I thought it was the audience in. While I was there I got to people had actually skated on that ice, not amazing to see the skaters and see inside TD meet Gracie Gold and got her autograph. just figure skaters but hockey players, and Garden because it was my first time going Nationals was so inspiring to me especially great basketball players had played there? there. I got to see the Senior Pairs Dance because it was so close to home. Also so many It was a once in a lifetime thing to be able and the Senior Pairs Freestyle, they were skaters from Boston that I have skated with or to do that.” amazing. I hope that one of the teams that I competed against were there competing.” Joy Gray: Mother of Synchro Stars skater watched at the nationals competition will win Meghan Lapointe: Sydney Brey, actually worked as a volunteer at the Olympics. If the national competition “I personally went to the Championship Men's at the competition, and had a fabulous (if ever comes to Boston again I hope that I will Free Skate event! I had an amazing time and exhausting) experience. It began with a be able to go! got to see my favorite skater Jason Brown, marathon of paperwork, background checks Morgan Read: absolutely rock his long!!! I felt so honored to and training leading up to the event. “Nationals was so much fun and a great have witnessed such a pivotal point in his ca- Among other things, the volunteers were learning experience because you could see reer. Jeremy Abbott also did a fabulous job, drilled on expected behavior, which basical- how the jumps and spins were supposed to be as did , my two other favorite men. ly boiled down to “don’t speak to a compet- done and try to mimic it. It was so exciting to While I was there I also ran into and got pic- itor unless they speak to you first”! Beyond see all the skaters, we didn’t get to meet any tures with , Caydee Denny & the obvious reasons for this, says Joy, are but it was still just as fun!” John Coughlin, and Maia & Alex Shibutani, some you might not think of – for example, Kayla Steinberg the two who got me into following competitive some of them are very superstitious so say- “I attended the women's final as well as the skating.” ing something like “good luck” might feel ice dancing final and met Jason Brown, Jere- Stephanie Longchamps Mosher: like a jinx to them. Joy worked two twelve- my Abbott, Max Aaron, Meryl Davis, and “Sarah and I went Thursday night and Satur- hour shifts on consecutive days, and she got Charlie White. The skaters were all incredi- day night to watch senior ladies. Sarah loves an eyeful as to what it is like to run a major ble and it was one of the most exciting expe- Gracie Gold and was so excited to see her competition. She says the SCOB had 600 riences of my life! My favorite skaters were live. Sarah also enjoyed watching Emily Lang- volunteers working and could have used Gracie Gold, Polina Edmonds, and Mirai ley in the opening number and seeing her after more. Though she thought things ran quite Nagasu, who were all stunning in the wom- the performance. The funniest moment was smoothly, there were lots of really stressed en's final.” when Sarah was so excited to run down to committee chairs. “When I walked in they Kelley Dugan for Meghan Dugan: meet snowplow Sam!!! "He shook my hand were already there, and when I left, they “Meghan was excited to see mommy and gave me tissues" Sarah said. For were still there”, she recalls. inducted into the hall of fame. She had done me as a coach and parent, it was awe- a book report on her last year. She also saw inspiring to see the skaters through my daugh- (Continued on page 4) Gate City Grapevine Page 4 A TRIP TO HERSHEY Our Pre-Juvenile and Open-Juvenile skaters proudly repre- sented The Club at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Syn- chronized Skating Sectional Championships in Hershey, Penn- sylvania at the end of January. It was the first time at East- A GREAT FINISH TO A GREAT SEASON! ern's for most skaters on the Pre-Juvenile team, who posted one of their finest performances of the year at this high-profile event. The Open Juvenile Team skated a very solid perfor- mance in highly competitive division, narrowly missing the med- al round but besting many strong teams in the process.

Our proud medalists posed for pictures following their final competition of the season at the Wallace Spring Syn- chro Classic in March.

Tryouts—Upper Level Skaters: Placement Clinics for Younger/Basic Skills Skaters:

Sunday, April 6 May 4, 4:30-5:30, Cyclones Arena (Hudson, NH) 4:20-6:00, Cyclones Arena (Hudson, NH) June 7, 11:10-12:10, Conway Arena (Nashua, NH) Required level: Freeskate 1 through MIF Levels Skaters are encouraged to attend both sessions Ages: 8 and above Placement clinics are for skaters aged 5 and above, Basic 4 and above. Skaters unable to attend the Advanced Skater Try-Out's are encouraged to attend the Placement Clinics. Interested in finding out more about the Synchro Stars organization? Contact us at [email protected] or visit http://www.synchrostars.net/

Our Nationals’ Experience did not notice anything that was happening around them. “We Continued from page 3 forget how much work goes into what they do”, says Joy. One of times she was able to sit in the audience, senior ladies skater Franchesca Chiera came up into the stands after competing to sit Joy Gray: At times, she was virtually surrounded by skaters. At with relatives right behind, and Joy was struck by how totally ex- one point, she was manning the volunteer sign-in table and trying not hausted she appeared.Joy says volunteering for the event offered to stare as the pairs skaters did their off-ice warm ups all around great opportunities for people-watching and meeting really nice her. One thing that stood out was “the incredible level of FOCUS”. fellow volunteers, and she hopes to volunteer again when the Each pair of skaters were so focused on their own preparation, they World Championships come to Boston in 2016.

Big Ideas for Little Skates Gate City Coach Stephanie recently discovered that she Figure Skating Club had an Award-Winning- Junior Inventor in her Basic 4 Learn-to-Skate Class. Maggie Cosstick, a 2nd Grader at Mastricola Elementary School PO Box 7252 loves to skate, but had a problem; her laces were Nashua, NH 03060 always coming untied. Maggie invented “Skate Clips” to solve this com- mon problem. Maggie’s clips are not only useful, but pretty as well, sporting beautiful heart- shaped jewels. Maggie recently demonstrated the clips at the rink, showing Miss Lisa how she attaches one to each of the lace tails, then to a Like us on Facebook and stay solid lace. up to date on We weren’t the only ones impressed with her upcoming events! inventiveness; Maggie was recently an Award Winner in the 2014 Young Inventors' Program: Email: [email protected] Invention Convention. Way to Go Maggie!