**Announcement**

First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of both blog posts and tweets lately. As many of you might know, I am 17 and I graduated from high school back in June of this year. I am less than two weeks from moving into college and beginning a new chapter in the rest of my life. It's been a really busy month for me. Between cramming in family vacations, visiting with friends, graduation parties, trips to the city and packing for college I've been slammed. It's not that I'm trying to make excuses...well I guess I am...but I just wanted to let you know why the posting has been so sporadic lately.

Also, because I am going to be adjusting to a new life in college I am going to cut back the number of posts per week to just 2. One will be on Tuesday and the other will go up on Saturday. Thanks for continuing to read, I love all of you so much. When I started this blog, I was happy to have just one person reading it so I can't believe that all of you enjoy reading my thoughts so much!

Best of Luck and much love!!

Skating Films

Just incase there isn't already enough skating in your life, here's a list of skating films, some hockey and some figure skating, that are fun to watch with a giant bowl of popcorn....flavored rice cakes.

1. Ice Princess This 2005 Disney film is about a high school misfit who miraculously transforms herself from geeky teenager to graceful olympian. You'll find yourself laughing at how completely insane it is and it will leave your friends asking why you haven't landed your triple axel yet. Cute,
funny, and charming, this movie's got it all.

2. Ice Castles Don't be turned off by the fact that this movie came out in 1978, it's pretty timeless. But incase you have a deep rooted hatred for old movies, there is also a 2010 version starring Taylor Firth. It's about a girl on track to be a champion when she suffers a tragic accident. Definitely a chick flick, this film will have you laughing and crying at the same time.

3. Miracle on Ice Yes, a hockey movie, but this is a must watch for anyone in the skating world or any sport at all....or actually anyone breathing. Based on a true story, Miracle on Ice is a film about the USA Mens Hockey team in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid New York. It is motivating, uplifting, thrilling and it will send chills up your spine.

4. The Cutting Edge Another skating rom-com where hockey meets figure skating in a totally unbelievable match-up. A spoiled pairs skater who can't find a partner because of her rotten attitude and an injured hockey player who was forced to retire come together to make an olympic team. It's silly but it will pull you in, as all rom-coms do. There are several sequels in The Cutting Edge series.

5. Blades of Glory I'm sorry, but I had to stick this one in here. This has got to be my favorite skating film of all time and you haven't watched it yet, go watch it. You have to have a sense of humor to not be offended because this film is the ultimate parody on figure skating. Will Ferrel who plays a cocky arrogant ladies man is paired up with Jon Heder who portrays the stereotypical male figure skater. The two have been banned from the singles competitive world but they find a loophole in becoming the worlds first Male-Male pairs team. It's hysterical and disturbing all at the same time.

6. Go Figure This is a Disney Channel movie. Enough said. No, in all seriousness this film is about a young teenage girl who tries to balance Hockey and Figure Skating in order to get scholarship to a school where she can train with a renowned coach.

7. Youngblood This is a hockey movie but I saw it for the first time recently and thought I'd add it to the list. Starring Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze it has 1980's written all over it. It's about a young man, a very attractive young man might I add, who is trying to to work his way into an NHL league. It's got pretty faces, romance, and skating. What more could a girl ask for?

8. Rise This US Figure Skating film hit the theaters for one night only a few years back and figure skaters from every where took off their skates and headed to the movies. This heartbreaking documentary is all about the 1961 plane crash that took the lives of so many talented figure skaters.

Best of Luck!! And enjoy your movie night!

Smart Shopping Saturdays #4

It's the second Saturday of the month and you know what that means! It's time for another Smart Shopping Saturday! This is a mini-series where I review several different products and give my opinion on which products every skater should know about and which products every skater should stay away from.

Accessories
The board-side bag known as the Kiss and Cry Bag is a trend sweeping competition vendors and rinks everywhere, or at least my rink. This is a little colorful bag that you can dump all of your goodies into in order to easily carry them out onto the ice. The idea is great. It's much easier to have everything in one bag rather than trying to carry your CD, perhaps your phone, your water, your bandaids, and maybe your butt pads all separately. But is it really necessary to pay up to $49 for a bag? It's got all of the bells and whistles that will make every 10 year old girl scream for one, the pockets and dividers and the special little space for your tissue box, it has it all. Honestly, in my opinion, a little plastic bin from Target will do the job, come in fun colors, and will only set you back about $10.
Click to see the Kiss and Cry Totes website






Books
I recently checked out the bestselling book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg from my local library. Duhigg discusses the nature of habits, how they are created, and how they can be changed. As a figure skater I found this book very informative and surprisingly, very applicable to skating. The information in this book has the potential to help you change your training style and create habits that will make you a better skater. It is a good read and very informative as a plus.
Click here to purchase The Power of Habit
Click here to learn about the author, Charles Duhigg

Skating Tools
How a skater prepares their skates before a competition varies from person to person. Some tape, some polish and some merely clean. If you're looking to tape I would recommend Sk8Tape. It's shiny, comes in white, black, and tan, and sticks to the boot. It does leave a gummy residue if you want to take it off but this will easily come off with nail polish remover. If you are looking to polish your boots I would recommend Riedell's skate polish. It is thick, provides full coverage, and will leave your skates looking like new. This is the best polish I have found so far in terms of whitening my skates. However, it is quite messy and you have to put it on with a rag because there is no applicator. Doing this on the floor of a hotel room with your synchro teammates might not be the best idea....as I have learned from personal experience. A jar of this costs about $12.50 and lasts quite awhile. A little polish goes a long way. Just buff it out with a dry rag when the polish has dried and they'll shine right up.

Riedell Skate polish is available here

Best of Luck!!

Top 10 Warm-Up Songs

For most people music can really motivate a workout. Here, in no particular order, are the top 10 songs of summer 2013 that really get me going at the rink.

1. I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding

2. Treasure - Bruno Mars

3. Come and Get It - Selena Gomez

4. Can't Hold Us - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton

5. Crazy Kids - Ke$ha

6. #Thatpower - Will.i.am

7. Feel This Moment - Pitbull 

8. Get Lucky - Daft Punk

9. Love Somebody - Maroon5

10. Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Best of Luck!!

Why Not Synchro?

I joined my area synchro team sort of late in the game. It was just two years ago that I joined and I had already been skating for nearly 10 years. It was sort of odd for me, to try to balance both the singles skating competitive world with the synchronized skating world since it's rare for skaters to do both. What I learned, and what synchro has taught me has changed my perspective on skating forever.

I started initially because my singles competitive career was not going so well. I was getting tired of the constant pressure, the anxiety, the let downs, and the general individuality of it all. I decided to join a team because I thought that having other girls around me might help to lift me spirits up. Boy, I could not have been more right! In a rink with drama and tough to break into cliques, it was difficult to make friends and frankly, still is. Synchro gave me the support system that I had always desired. Even when I couldn't believe in myself, they were there to believe in me. It helped to get me back on my feet, restored my passion for figure skating and gave me a massive confidence boost.

As a singles skater, I know that there is sort of a stigma that goes with synchronized skating. I know this because I too was once a "singles snob". Synchro is easy. Synchro skaters can't skate. These are common thoughts amongst non-synchro skaters and at one time or another, I thought these thoughts myself. But on my first practice of my first day of synchro, I felt as if I had joined another sport completely. Where I thought things would be easy, I found myself falling flat on my butt. I thought I would be able to understand the terminology easily but as it turned out I didn't know the difference between a block, a wheel and an intersection. Even once I got the hang of the basics, there was nothing easy about synchro skating. Even with 10 years of skating experience behind me I still struggled.

Not only do you have to have deep, edgy skating but you have to be able to do it in perfect time with everyone else. It's not about having the highest spiral or the fastest twizzle, it's about being able to have your leg at the same height as everyone else and rotating at the same speed in a twizzle as everyone else. This is where the misunderstanding has itself rooted. Many singles skaters especially, believe that because synchro skaters might not have the highest legs or the fastest twizzles that they are not capable. That is not true. The hardest part about synchro is being, you guessed it, synchronized.

I'm glad I gave synchronized skating a chance because it opened me up to a vast sea of new experiences. A synchro competition for instance, is one of the most thrilling experiences of the sport. The crowd is so wild at times and so loud. It is incredibly different from the polite clapping of singles, pairs, and ice dancing. I participated in my first team cheers, my first team dinners, had my first team jacket, and for once I felt like I was truly a part of something in the skating world.

I never thought I would be skating on a synchro team, but I'm incredibly glad that I had the opportunity to experience one and I look forward to collegiate synchro this season!

Best of Luck!! (and #WhyNotSynchro2018)

I saw this woman at Synchro Worlds 2013 supporting synchro for the 2018 Olympics

On Frustration

We all know how annoying those practices are where we just can't seem to land anything, center any spin, or hold any spiral. It's frustrating to pop jumps, fall out of spins and trip in a footwork sequence but if you can't get control of your frustrations they will eventually take over your skating. I'm speaking from personal experience because I have a problem with frustration myself. It used to be much worse but I am still my own worst enemy when it comes to bad days. It's what my coach calls a vicious cycle. A few bad jumps and I begin to get annoyed. The more annoyed I get the less I focus. The less I focus the fewer good jumps. Fewer good jumps equals more frustration and so on. Over the years I've developed a few methods to dealing with my frustrations but like anxiety, there isn't a magic button you can press that makes it all go away. You have to believe in yourself, and for most people, myself included, that is the most difficult part. Here are some different methods to dealing with frustrations.

1. Take a break. Step back from your skating for a minute and breathe. Whether it's just a sip from your water bottle or whether it's sitting down for a few minutes, or deciding to sit out a session, a little rest might help you to come back feeling refreshed.

2. Stop being so hard on yourself. Much easier said than done, am I right? But in all seriousness, try to remind yourself why you skate. Your answer should be along the lines of because you love it or because you want to.

3. Do something else. If it's that tricky double axel that's got you tripped up for the day don't spend time obsessing over it. Move on to something else with a clean slate. Take a deep breath and work on something else for awhile, something you know you have mastered.

4. Fake it till you make it. If you are kicking the ice, slamming down hard on landings, smacking the ice, it will only add to your frustrations. If you pretend that you are perfectly calm it will eventually convince you that you are in fact, cool, calm and collected.

5. Bad days happen. Most of the time frustration occurs because we can't do something that is normally easy for us. Remind yourself that if it was easy at one point, it will be easy again. But getting into that vicious cycle won't help. A safe bet is to leave whatever is driving you nuts until the next day. Chances are, it will be back to being good after a good nights rest.

As I said in my On Anxiety post, I'm not a psychiatrist or a professional but I do have a lot of first hand experience dealing with these types of issues. The best I can do is give you the same advice that sometimes works for me and hope it does the same for you. The hardest part about dealing with frustration is that you have to want to not be frustrated. This seems like an obvious statement on a day where you are calm and collected but when frustration takes over, it's a much different story. Just like with nerves, the key is to believe in yourself. Don't be so hard on yourself, you're better than you think. Still, easier said than done, I know. But give it a shot, you might surprise yourself.

Best of Luck!!

Tips and Tricks

So today I thought I'd round up some helpful tips and tricks I've found out or figured out over the years and share them with you!

1. Clear nail polish. Clear nail polish is the best way to quickly fix snag in a pair of tights to keep it from running. Just dab a bit of nail polish on the snag, allow it a few minutes to dry and BAM! No worries, your tights will have no runs or holes! This is also a handy trick for competitions. You can quickly remedy a snag if you don't have time to change your tights. Great money and time saver!

2. Tape. Using either masking tape or scotch tape you can fix your frayed skate laces. I know from first hand experience how frustrating it can be when the little aglets (yes that's what they're called!) fall off of the tips of the laces leaving them frayed. If you accidentally pull out your lace it can take decades to shove it back through the daunting little hole. A quick way to fix this is to wrap some tape around the tip of the lace. It will act as the plastic piece and keep everything compacted so you can re-lace with ease. Another option, if you're a bit of a daredevil is to burn the end of your skate lace. This will melt the fibers and have the same effect as tape.

3. Nail polish remover. If you tape your skates with sk8tape or your skates are just plain dirty this trick is a life saver. Tapes can often leave a sticky residue on the skate when taken off. The first time I taped my skates they were fairly white but I wanted them to look spectacular so I put shiny white Sk8tape on them. When I took the tape off after the competition my skates looked dirtier than they did before. I was disappointed because I knew now that I would have to tape my skates before every competition and polish was no longer an option. There was a sticky black residue all over my skates which got worse after I put them in my bag. My skate sharpener passed this little tip on to me, so now I'll return the favor and pass it on to you! Just dab a little nail polish remover onto a cotton swab, as if you're going to clean your fingernails and lightly rub it over the gooey areas. It will take the residue as well as any residual chipped polish or boot rot stains right off. Even if you don't tape your skates they're probably still dirty. My skates had reddish streaks on them due to boot rot of the leather soles. Nail polish remover took that right off as well.

4. Coca Cola. If your blades get rusty because you haven't skated in a while or you left your skates in your bag Coke is great way to remove the rust in a pinch. One of the girls on my synchro team had this problem before one of our competition official practices. I hadn't heard of this remedy until her mom bought a bottle of Coca Cola from the vending machine, poured some on a paper towel and wiped down her blades. It took the rust right off! Just make sure to douse blades with water afterwards to get any remaining Coke off. To keep skate blades from rusting it's best to take them out of the soakers after practice and let them sit in the open air. Additionally, make sure to dry the skates as well as possible and never leave them in the plastic guards. If Coca Cola can get rust off of metal, what is it doing to the inside of your body anyways?

The Ballet Days

It seems like I've been doing a lot of "lecturing" lately so I figured I'd share some more personal stories this week.

I started taking classical ballet in seventh grade when my coach suggested that it might benefit my skating. You see before I took ballet I was probably the least graceful child ever. She used to tell me that my hands, when they were supposed to be delicate, looked like they were clutching grapefruits. My knobby elbows bent into sharp corners instead of into the round, soft shapes that they should have taken on.

My ballet training were made up of some extremely memorable moments, both good and bad. I only took class twice a week, Monday and Friday. I took one class on Mondays, but Fridays I was at the studio for three and a half, sometimes four, hours straight. In addition to ballet I also took jazz, choreography/partnering, and eventually an advanced ballet class. It was difficult and very sweaty but I managed. I left the house on Friday mornings at 5am for an early morning skate and didn't return home on until 9:30 after my partnering class had ended. Somehow though, I loved how exhausting it was. I felt productive and strong.

My ballet instructor, or Madame as we were told to call her, was a woman in her eighties but she had a youthfulness about her. She would sometimes dance with us, move with us, and she taught for hours and hours a week. She was tough and very strict, but those were the reasons I respected her so much. At least initially.

Into my second and third years of ballet training I began to notice some unhealthy things happening at the studio. She used to always encourage me to come to more classes, "it will make your skating better", "your ankles will be stronger", "you'll be a better skater" , "you need to be at Wednesday and Thursday classes" she would say almost every week. My response became almost scripted. I would tell her, very politely and carefully, that if I attended any more classes than I already was that I wouldn't have the resources, time and money, to continue to skate. Granted, I would have probably been worlds better if I had gone to class every day. Heck! My progress after the first year was incredible. I went from no turn out to quite a bit. I went from no grace to quite graceful. I went from sickled feet to pleasantly pointed toes. At this rate, I probably could have done great things with ballet but it wasn't my focus. My reason for taking classes was to strengthen my skating. To make me a better figure skater. And I constantly had to remind myself of that.

But that aspect wasn't what made me uncomfortable. It was that I always wondered if she wanted me to take more classes because it would benefit my dancing or if it was because it would put more money in her pocket.

In general, i'm a competitive person...which makes things difficult when it comes to competing because even though I want to be the best with every bone in my body, I also get incredibly nervous. But when it came to Ballet there were no nerves, I was competitive as usual. I wanted to be the best in the class, or at least one of the best. And I was on my way there if I hadn't quit. But Madame picked favorites, big time. She loved the new students, the young students. She gave them lots of corrections, talked them up in front of the class, praised them for their hard work. I was that student my first year and part of my second year. Once a student had been there for a few months, maybe a year, however, it was as if they had become invisible. I began to notice this by my third year. She was no longer correcting me and I know it was definitely not because there was nothing to correct. She rarely commented on anything having to do with my dancing, nor did she even look at me sometimes. She was pre occupied with the "triple threats" in her class. The "potential Broadway girls", and she seemed to forget about everyone else.


One day, she sat us all down for a lecture. She did this occasionally and we rejoiced that class had ended a few minutes early and we could sit. Usually she told stories of how hard she had to work in her day, how she has grown soft over the years and we should be thankful. Some comments were mildly frustrating to hear but this day, this day was different. She went around the room commenting on each person. On their dancing and on their personal being. When she got to me she looked at me a minute and I could feel my heart beat in my chest. "Now" and she said my name "I don't know if you are too socially, emotionally, or intellectually immature or all three...." she continued but the blood rushed through my cheeks so hard and so fast I thought my face might light on fire. I gnawed on my lower lip, clenched my jaw and tried to look as calm as possible.

What I really wanted to do was a cross between cry and scream. At 14 she was probably right, I was probably a little immature as most 14 year olds are but she had no right to call me out on it in front of the entire class. I did my best. I worked hard. She had even treated me the previous year as if I was her prized possession and now she was tossing me out onto the curb like a sac of used goods. For a girl that already struggled with self-confidence issues this was my tipping point.

I sat quietly in the car on the ride home, I never said a word. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth the cry would escape. My mom was concerned at my silence and she knew that something had gone awry. I didn't open up until later in the summer before registration for the next year began. I told her what had happened and that I didn't want to go back.

I miss ballet sometimes and I'm far from being bitter about my experiences with Madame. She taught me a lot about myself and what I am capable of. I learned how to be graceful, how to be balletic and delicate. I learned how to be mentally and physically strong. They were very important, those three years I spent with Madame and I wouldn't take any of them back.

I was glad that I could finally acknowledge that her teaching style was unhealthy and it had nothing to do with her being strict. It was the personal attacks that bothered me the most, and the favoritism. If ballet was my life long passion I might have stuck with it, but the reason I started taking it was to better my figure skating. For a girl with self-confidence issues already, this definitely wasn't helping.

It's ironic because I made my decision for what I felt, and still feel, were mature reasons. Staying in an unhealthy situation would have been immature, at least from my perspective. And it took a lot of guts to give up something I loved for what was right for me. It's been three years now without ballet and I'm thinking of starting again in colleg
e. Something light duty, easier going, just to revive my passion for movement and expression. Madame kindled a passion for ballet in me, and I'm thankful for that, and I cannot wait to rekindle that passion.

Best of Luck!! (and lots of love to all of my readers!)

On Popping

I've struggled with popping jumps since as long as I can remember. The worst bout of it I had was a few years back with my double lutz. I spent probably close to three months where I would not rotate a single one. I would pop and pop and pop continuously until I thought my coach was going to personally kick me up into the air with her skate...toe-pick first. If you haven't had a problem with popping the sensation is something like banging your head into a brick wall repeatedly. It didn't matter that I wanted to try the jump or that I really did think I was going to do it "this time". I could not, would not rotate. Up, pop. Up pop. Up pop. And thats how it went for about 3 months until finally my coach, frustrated and out of ideas threw me a Hail Mary.

She reached into her skate bag at the beginning of my lesson one day and pulled out a journal. The cover had Barbie dolls or something girly on it and it was spiral bound. She flipped open to the first page. On it were drawn three columns headed by a line for the date. One column was labeled land, the second was fall and the last column was for recording pops. There were six rows, one for each jump and I was to make a tally mark in the correct column after every jump I did. If I fell on a double sal I marked it down. If I popped a double loop I marked it down. If I landed a double toe I marked it down. It was tedious and slightly time consuming since I had to keep my pen and paper at the ready during every practice. At the end of the day I was to count up the percent of each jump attempt that I ended up popping.

Her point in having me do this was to make me see just how pressing my problem was. If I had to write it down, it would be much more visible. For instance I found that I popped something like 45% of my double loops and 97% of my Lutzs. For me, this was enough to shock me into changing my ways. Every time I circled around the rink it counted, and at first I was embarrassed to show my coach the notebook after a few days of keeping track.

In a weird way having to write it down made me realize how much time I wasted on bailing out. Instead of just wanting to land the blasted jump I started to want to make a check in the "land" column. This changed my focus from "stop popping" to "start landing". I believe that this technique worked for two reasons. The first is that it addressed my issue and shocked me into seeing how big of a problem it actually was. Secondly, the notebook made me want to "land" jumps instead of "stop popping" jumps. It changed the wording.

Popping, no shock here, is all psychological. It's all in the head. My coach told me to come up with a keyword to repeat to myself before I took off for every jump, such as "Up". There is one little catch to this technique however and it is that the keyword must be positive. It cannot be something like "Don't pop" or "Don't fall" or "Don't Stop Believing" (yes that is a Journey reference). When you say "Don't pop" what your brain actually hears is "pop", so it does what it's told. By making the statement affirmative such as "land" it is much more effective. I still say "land" in my head before I take off and it works almost 100% of the time. I stand by my belief that skating is 70% mental and 30% physical.

In fact, this technique is actually advocated in parenting classes. When you reprimand your child you are supposed to tell them something along the lines of "Next time keep the cat on the floor" rather than "Don't pick up the cat by it's tail". Affirmative is better!

An image from Duhigg's novel showing the habit loop
in regards to Alcoholism and how AA meetings can
help break the addiction. 

The major issue with popping is that it becomes a habit and habits, my fellow nail biters know, are very hard to break. I'm currently reading a nonfiction novel titled The Power of Habit. It's written by Charles Duhigg and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a summer read. In it, Duhigg discusses the nature of habit loops which you can read more into if you so choose.

Here is my personal 4 step method to handling popping:
1. Keep a journal. Record all of your pops, lands and falls.
2. Figure out the ratio of pops to landed/fallen on jumps. The number might be large enough to widen your eyes and send a shiver down your spine. If so, the shock factor step has been completed.
3. Pick an affirmative keyword to repeat to yourself right before you take off on every jump. "Land" is a simple and effective one.
4. Continue this process until you change your habit from popping, to landing! It takes about a month for a habit to be
completely changed so be patient.

Best of Luck!!

Envy vs. Jealousy

There is this big green monster that we are taught about in elementary school and that big green monster if you remember, is named Envy. Envy is a powerful, yet not evil, emotion. However, it's twin, Jealousy has a bad side that possesses many people. There is a big difference between envy and jealousy, that difference being that jealousy includes hatred. You can be envious of your friends new car and you can be jealous of your friends new car. Envy only implies that you want the car. Jealousy implies that you want the car and you hate your friend for having it.

As I'm sure many of you already know, both envy and jealousy run rampant in the skating world and it is one of the leading causes of, you guessed it, the notoriously insane rink drama. You would be lying if you said that never in your whole life have you ever experience either one, or both. It's human nature. We all have a tendency to get a little envious of our neighbors swimming pool, their new car, a child with an ice cream cone, or that other skaters triple flip. Envy isn't necessarily a bad thing. It only implies that we want something as well. Sometimes, envy can power us towards our goals and motivate us. It's jealousy, the evil twin, that causes trouble.

I spent probably most of my competitive years in juvenile through junior being both chronically envious and jealous of other skaters. It consumed me somedays, especially the bad ones. There were days where I would sit in the lobby lacing up my skates and stare at another skaters clothes, hair or skates and wish that I could have that too. I was jealous of other skaters for having big training facilities and schools of skating friends, for being stick thin and
for being able to sit in the kiss and cry at nationals or go to proms with fellow male skaters.

I don't know why I let it get to me so much. I always felt as if I had drawn the short stick. If I had just lived somewhere else, had more money and more ice time that I could have been more successful. It was especially painful the year I competed in Intermediate at my regionals. I didn't even make final rounds when another girl from my rink made junior nationals. She got flowers at the rink, send off parties, competitor parties at nationals and recognition back at home. All I got were big black mascara stains on my pillow at home.

I felt like a failure. I wept about my skate for days and wallowed in my self-pity. It was awful. In hindsight I wish future me could travel back into the past and give 13 year old me a big ol' slap in the face. I was consumed by jealousy after that. I wish I had a better rink. I wish I had more money. I wish I could skate more. I wish I was a better skater. I wish I made Junior Nationals. 

Just recently, I've made some emotional breakthroughs. It's been a long time since I felt that amount of jealousy towards another skater. Envy yes, jealousy not so much. It's difficult, but I am working on it. Going back to my "the grass isn't always greener on the other side" metaphor, it's useless to spend time wallowing about what others have when there's time to be spent bettering ourselves. Even those skaters struggle with their own demons, even they probably have someone they are jealous or envious of. My dad always used to tell me that while we are envious of the Millionaires of the world,  the Millionaires are wishing they were the Billionaires.

Best of Luck!!

Who Would We Be?

Yesterday I received a scholarship application in the mail from my Synchronized Skating team. They are awarding $500 to one of four graduating seniors and one of the requirements is an essay. The essay prompt reads " Write an essay about the impact that figure skating has had on your life". When I first read the prompt I did a little fist pump, this was going to be oh so simple. But as I sat down this morning with a cup of tea and the intent of pumping out my 500 word essay, I began to realize that this was going to be harder than I thought.

See heres the problem, its hard to say which areas of my life have been impacted by skating because skating has been my whole life. Where do I draw the line, I would literally not be the same human being I am today if I had not taken Learn to Skate classes. It has been such an integral part of my life since age 5 that it is impossible to separate "non-skating me" from "skating me". Every dimension of my life has been shaped by skating, how do I put that into 500 words?

Should I start with the emotional and mental aspects? That seems the most obvious. Skating has taught me determination, perseverance, self-control, confidence, dedication, blah blah blah, those are things preached about in every sport. Socially I have been impacted. Since I opted to not play a school sport in a high school of jocks and jockettes, I didn't have as many friends as I probably could have. My family has been impacted financially as well. We spend so much money on skating every year it's hard to imagine what we would be able to do if I quit. Heck! I would be able to purchase designer shoes instead of skates and we could take fancy vacations. That said, I wouldn't trade skating for the world...even a closet filled with Manolos, Louboutins, and Jimmy Choos.

Cognitively I have been affected by skating. If I had more time to study my grades might be much higher, I might be going to an Ivy League University in the fall. But it has also taught me how to work hard and plan out my time. I am a time management pro due to my busy schedule, even if it means waking up extra early to finish a World History essay before heading to school. Physically my feet are covered in old lady like bumps and my hands are shaped by callouses.

To be honest, it seems irrelevant to imagine this parallel universe where I never skated and compare it to the universe in which I do. It is as if I am trying to imagine a life in which I only had one leg, or for a parent with a Downs Syndrome child to imagine what it would be like if the child wasn't affected. Skating will not cease to be my life either. As I age I will hopefully grow a group of students to coach and in turn make an impact on their lives. I will explore the world through Disney on Ice and experience performing on a bigger stage. My extra income from coaching might one day permit me to compensate for those lost vacations and designer shoes. Or maybe not. Predicting the future is just about as useful as looking into the past, or into a parallel universe for that matter.

I guess by asking me what impact skating has had on my life, they are asking me who I am. And to be honest, at age 17, I really don't know. But I hope to find out someday.

Best of Luck!!

Smart Shopping Saturday's #3

Today is the second Saturday of July and that means it's time for another Smart Shopping Saturday's! Below is a review of some products you should know about and some you should avoid. Enjoy!

Apparel

Just like most skaters prefer one skate manufacturer over another or one brand of dress over another, many prefer one brand of tights. Mondor is my go to brand. I find that Mondor tights have a medium to thick waistband on the top that smooths everything out. I tend to pull my tights up high, just slightly over my belly button to give the "spanx" effect. This way you can ensure that nothing is getting smushed out over the top. Mondors fit very comfortably, don't slide down, and are very durable. I wear the footless version because I skate barefoot with Bunga pads but they carry over the boot, and footed tights as well. I don't usually purchase the knit type mainly because I find that they would be too bulky to be worn under skating pants. However, for younger skaters wearing dresses for practice or competition, knit tights are a must have. From a distance they don't appear to be bulky or knit but they keep the skater much warmer than regular tights.

http://www.mondor.com/en/see-our-products.php?search=tights&x=0&y=0

Hair
Hair nets, and not the kind that your elementary school lunch ladies wore, are the essential finishing touch to any bun. Hairnets come in various shades to match any color hair and are superb at holding down the fly aways and securing a bun. I wear Bunheads brand hairnets that I purchase through Discount Dance Supply but if you're lucky you might be able to buy them at a local cosmetics or pharmacy store. For just a few dollars, a hair net will give the polished look you're searching for and you might be able to get away with using half as much hairspray! Also, if you are not a bun making master and have yet to perfect the perfect bun, a hair net is a good way to correct any mistakes. It smooths out any bumps and gives a bun shape to any  mess of hair. When I first started taking ballet I used to just pile up all my hair, plop a hair net over the top, pin it down and it looked just as good as anybody else.

http://www.discountdance.com/dancewear/style_BH420.htmlpid=864&Shop=Style&SID=501373783

Accessories 

The accessory for today is something I have loved for a very long time. I refer to it as "The Roll". The Roll is a long foam roller used for getting into deep muscle tightness. It's technical name is something like Self-myofascial release, or SMR and it is painful and glorious all at the same time.There are various positions you can contort yourself into on the roller to get a deep stretch everywhere from your calves to your upper back. With a roller you can get into areas that you wouldn't be able to loosen up with a traditional stretch. For me, I found that my IT band, the muscle along the outside of the leg from hip to knee, was very tight. It was beginning to cause me some mild knee pain but once I started rolling it out the pain subsided. You can buy one of these foam rollers anywhere from Target to professional gym stores in various levels of densities. The denser the roller is the deeper of a stretch you will get.
HERE are some SMR foam roller stretches and HERE is a link to Target's website where you can purchase various foam rollers.

Best of Luck!!

On Body Image Issues

Alissa Czisny

I've been putting off writing this post because I'm not entirely sure I'm qualified to write about weight issues. I'm still dealing with body image issues myself. As a figure skater, we feel a lot of pressure to be that size two or less, stick legged athlete. I most certainly am not. For one, I am a size 6 and I have muscular legs which I occasionally whine about. I have hips, I am a girl after all, and I'm 5'6 which I complained about for the longest time. I have fully come to terms with my height now that I have stopped growing. I have also realized that not all competitive figure skaters are the size of an olympic gymnast. In fact, skaters with long legs like Alissa Czisny are sometimes much more beautiful to watch.  Just make sure that those "gazelle" legs, as one of my coaches refers to them, are not bent.


So as a 5'6", muscular skater with hips and boobs and thighs I sometimes feel like I have the wrong body for the sport. Between my freshman year of high school, which I entered at age 13, and my senior year of high school which I left at age 17, my body has changed dramatically. I went from one of those little stick figures to an actual human being. This is a transition I still haven't come to terms with. I feel betrayed by my body and by myself. Sometimes I think if I didn't eat as much through high school that I would still be a size 2.

Junior Ladies Champion Polina Edmunds

Skating is different from other sports in that you are being judged and everything is subjective. In hockey you either score a goal or you don't. In football you either make a touch down or you don't. In running you either cross the finish line or you don't. Sometimes the staff has to look really really close, but the placements are still objective. In a subjective sport like figure skating or gymnastics, every little detail about your appearance seems to count. Is your dress to small? Is your dress ugly? Does it go with the music? Is your hair a mess? Does your makeup make you look like the Joker? Are your skates white? And finally...what about your weight? Are you fat? Skinny? I always felt that if only I had a more glamorous dress, if only I could drop a few pounds, that  I too could stand on the top of the podium.

The truth is, none of those things will make a dramatic difference. The physical appearance aspect might separate placements 2 from 3 or 1 from 2 but it will never take a skater at the bottom of the results sheet and shoot them up to the top or vice versa. The only thing that should really matter in skating isn't the politics or occasionally wacky judging, it's how you skate that counts. If you feel that you are at a disadvantage for whatever the reason, the solution is to work harder. You will feel better if you had to earn the medal around your neck.

There are some skaters, like Caroline Zhang who have undergone this transition at around the same time as I have. Many of you might remember this very young national medalist from 2008 when she began to appear everywhere. Suddenly she fell of the national stage but she has made a comeback! Low and behold, she no longer looks like a 12 year old girl. Why is it that this normal, natural transition is so shunned in figure skating?

That said, I still look in the mirror every day and wish that I had my 13 year old body back. My point in making this post was not to sit here and whine about my own issues. It was to point out, to myself and to you, that if you want something, you have to work to get it. If that something is out of your reach, you have to work harder in other areas to compensate for it. When I was younger and Oprah was on television she would often have overweight individuals on the show where they would cry about their weight. I used watch them sob and say, as thought they could hear, "Tears don't burn calories!" In hindsight, I realize how insensitive my comment was. But yet at the same time, nothing is stopping you, or me, or them from greatness besides ourselves. It's time to stop standing in our own way and to get out there and fight for what we want out of life. Don't let the myths about skating tell you that you are not good enough.

Sorry if that was too preachy for you!  Saturday's post will be a Product Review so stick around!

Best of Luck and lots of love to my new readers!!

Is The Grass Greener on the Other Side?

My whole skating career with the exception of three or four years when I was younger, I have been an individual member of US Figure Skating. I would say that there weren't any clubs in the area but actually, the exact opposite is true. Within a 40 minute range there are about six clubs. Because there are so many, none of them are very strong. There are three synchro teams, each with barely enough for an open juvenile team. If we put all of the clubs, all of the synchro teams together, we could have one very strong, very popular club. But no one seems to want to work together, after all, it is the skating world. So instead we scrape by with our six clubs, each of which are always on the verge of sliding under. In addition to this there are also three rinks that do not have a club. No club means cheaper ice time, but it also means less ice time in some cases. I  spend most of my time at the rink closest to where I live but I often have to drive to several other rinks in order to get all of my skating in.

To be honest, I really wish my "home rink" had a club present and I wish it was a massive, extremely popular club with exciting skaters and famous coaches. I hope for something like Broadmoore, SC of Boston, All Year FSC, or SC of New York. But we can all dream. I could join one of these clubs, the one closest to me, just to have the name announced at competitions but it wouldn't be the same. 

What I long for is the closeness of the skaters at the rink. At my rink, the coaches are very territorial. It's as if there is an unspoken rule that you are only allowed to talk to other skaters taught by your coach. This creates a drama vortex. It seems that the coaches hate one another so much that it more often than not, ends up only hurting the skaters.

I know that at this point there is no changing the way that the rinks and coaches in my area operate. But I hope to one day, after college and traveling, come back to my hometown and start coaching. When I do I will make it my goal to create a warm environment for not only my skaters, but others too. I want to bring in an independent coach to teach off-ice classes and begin to make my home rink like those rinks I have envied my whole life.

When I was younger my parents would always tell me "The grass isn't always greener on the other side". This meant that sometimes we think someone has it better, but come to find out, they actually have it the same or perhaps worse. As I'm getting older I'm beginning to realize that sometimes in fact, the grass is actually greener on the other side. But rather than wallow and mope about how much you hate the grass on your side, you can do your best to water and feed  what your given and sometimes, just sometimes, the grass on your side will get green up. Don't give up on what you're given. Make the best of what you have because all the moping and the whining and the pouting won't change a thing. What will change something is hard work and dedication. In the end, when you put in effort to change something for the better, the feeling of satisfaction you get when you succeed will be worth your while. In the words of Drake, "Started from the bottom now we here". Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Best of Luck!!

10 Competition Essentials You Might Not Think About

Similar to my previous "10 Things That Should Be in Your Bag" post, today I am going to give you a list of 10 essentials to have with you at every competition.

1. Extra hair ties and bobby pins
Who knows when that hair tie currently holding your bun in place might snap? Or if those bobby pins might fall out? Always have these little extras on hand so you'll have one less thing to stress out about.

2. Back up dress
My mother always used to tell me to pack this one in case of an emergency of any kind. If you are enjoying a cup of hot tea in the cafe when an excited Juvenile girl knocks by you to see the newly posted results and you spill your tea all down the front of your dress you have a back up! If you suddenly lose mass quantities of rhinestones, you have a backup. If a hole tears in the mesh or you put an enormous gouge in the lycra, don't worry because you have a backup! Again, one less thing you might have to stress about.

3. Back up tights
The same thing goes for tights as does the dress. If you spill something or make a last minute hole you won't have to worry about going out on the ice looking sloppy. Having an extra pair of tights on hand is an absolute MUST! If you really don't want to bring an extra pair of tights at least pack a bottle of clear nail polish. If you apply the polish to a hole it will stop it from running.

4. Copy of your music for your coach
If your music skips or doesn't play your coach should have a backup or even your practice copy right on hand so the problem can quickly be solved.

5. Extra Laces
Break a lace last minute? Replace it quickly before you get on the ice. Please! No Tonya Harding drama here!

Watch the video if you haven't seen it already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI7qBAfWYP4

6. Skate repair kit
Your repair kit should consist of a screw-driver, your extra laces, and perhaps small bottle of polish for touch ups. This way, if anything goes wrong you can deal with it quickly and calmly. If your blade is squeaking or clicking you can give each screw a quick tighten. If your coach makes a face at your dirty skates you can dab on some quick-drying polish to the spots she hates most. I don't recommend polishing your skates in the 11th hour however, nor have I seen many skaters do it. Nevertheless, it's probably a good idea to keep some polish around, just in case.

7. Tampons (if you're a girl!)
Imagine your worst nightmare. Mine was getting my "monthly friend" right before I got on the ice for a performance. Oh wait...that wasn't a nightmare, that actually happened. I was warming up for a show and bam! Mother Nature strikes again! I didn't have any tampons or pads on me and I was completely unprepared. The whole thing could have easily been avoided had I just put some tampons in my dress bag.

8. Water bottle
I have a tendency to get very nervous before I skate in a competition which usually leads me to stop salivating all together. A 4 minute program is pretty hard to get through when your mouth is screaming for water. Take a drink during your warm-up and right before they announce your name. It will make your life a lot easier and your mouth a lot happier.

9. Print out of the schedule/groups
When you are walking around before hand, it's nice to be able to glance down at your own schedule and figure out where they are. This way, you can determine how much time you have and if they are running early or late. Some, not all, competitions will provide you with a schedule once you arrive but incase they don't, print out your own.

10. Headphones
Listening to music, especially rap, really puts me in the zone for competitions. It cancels out the background noise, the other skaters talking about their clean run-through or their triple triple combinations and lets you focus on yourself. I use actual headphones Michael Phelps style, not just the earbuds, because I found they stay on my head while I jump around and warm up. They also cancel out all noise around me so I can stay focused on the job I came to do.

I hope that helped and that next time you compete you consider packing some of those items!
Best of Luck!!

Olympitosis

Olympitosis. Have you heard of it? Probably not, seeing as I just made up the name for this chronic and slightly contagious syndrome. But I'm sure you would recognize the symptoms. Symptoms include crazed parents, yelling parents, six year old children landing multiple types of double jumps, skating for five hours or longer by force, unbelievable flexibility, skaters are always the youngest in their level, any many more. If you or your child are experiencing any of these symptoms contact your psychiatrist immediately.

Olympitosis is the belief that ones child will go to the Olympics. These parents seem to be blind to the fact that out of the thousands of figure skaters in the nation only 2-3 every four years will actually make the cut. No matter how hard you push your child, no matter how long you make them stay on the ice, or how young they are, the odds are not in your favor.

Olympitosis is often accompanied by living vicariously through the child. This means that the parent, who probably was not as successful in their day as he or she desired to be, is trying to fulfill their own dreams and compensate for their own regrets through their child.

Arguably one of the saddest symptoms of Olympitosis that appears in the child is burn out. Once the skater reaches age 12 or 13 they will no longer want to participate in the sport they have been forced to love. It's not to say that this occurs in every athlete, but it will occur in many. The chances of a child of Olymptoptic parents experiencing burn out are much higher than the chances of that child going to the Olympics. Yes they might make it to sectionals or even nationals but if the passion isn't there they will no longer want to continue to skate.

Olympitosis seems to sweep the nation every four years with the occurrence of the Olympic games. When a parent of a young child sees the athletes on television basking in the glory of their feats they, out of love or vicarious-living, want the same success for their own child. They often underestimate how difficult it is and how unique athletes must be to make it to that level. Olympic success is something born out of passion, not out of force.

I suppose I wrote this post to give a name to something people commonly know about and experience, especially at the rink. Most of these people exercise clouded judgement and will not listen to anyone who disagrees with them. The best thing you can do as a coach if you suspect that the parents of your student might have Olympitosis, is to limit lesson time and not take advantage. Many coaches often see this as a time to cash in on desires of vulnerable parents, even if it hurts the child. Please, coaches, try to exercise judgement and keep these parents at bay.

Happy Fourth of July and Best of Luck!!!

Smart Shopping Saturdays #2

Apparel
As you probably know by now, I am what you might call a Lululemon addict. I first discovered the company back in 2010. I was so excited for my first products to come in the mail: a scoop neck tank and another tank, both of which have been discontinued. Next I ordered a define jacket and a pair of Wunder Under pants, both in black and I fell in love. Wunder Under's are Lululemon's signature long spandex pants. They have a band around the top which sometimes has a color or pattern on it and keeps everything nice and smooth. The price is a bit steep but hese pants are so comfortable and last forever. I'm still wearing the pair I purchased back in 2010 and they're still in good condition. The only catch is that you cannot wash Lululemon products with cotton because it will cause the material to pill.

You can find the Wunder Unders under pants on the Lululemon website here

Hair
This product is an absolute MUST have for any girl, like myself, with long thick hair. Before I discovered the Scunci No-Slip Evolution Hair Ties I used to use two or three regular hair ties and I would still be adjusting my ponytail mid practice. By the end of my program my ponytail would be almost completely out and my hair would be in my eyes and in my mouth. It was disastrous. I was sick of my ponytails falling out and just when I thought I'd tried everything I discovered these magical hair ties. They are completely made of a rubbery material and are just a stretchy as any other product. I was in disbelief after a two and a half hour practice that I didn't have to touch my pony-tail once. You do have to be careful when taking these out at the end of the day however. If you simply pull them out like you would any other hair tie you will probably pull out half of your hair with it. I suggest that you unwind it out of your hair the opposite of how you put it in. These hair ties have made training so much more productive and I never leave the house without one.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Scunci-No-Slip-Grip-Evolution-Hair-Ties-14-count/21693253

Accessories
Skate laces are usually a personal choice and every person uses whatever they most feel comfortable with. There isn't one make or material of skate lace that I would list as a must have for all skaters because all skaters are different when it comes to their feet. I use 100% nylon laces in my skates. I find that they have more stretch and stay tighter longer than cotton laces. Because they are so thin, the nylon laces have a tendency to shred pinkie fingers and leave nasty callouses in their wake. Cotton on the other hand is thick but also very rough on dry hands. Cotton doesn't usually stay as tight for as long nor can it get as tight as the nylon. The thickness of the lace, however will probably save your hands. A cotton nylon blend is a good way to get the benefits of each.

Blades
When it was time for me to get new boots and blades I decided to go with something new and try out the paramount blades that were all the craze at the time, and frankly, still are. These blades come in all kinds of funky colors and are supposed to be an extra light material that will help you to jump higher. They are also supposed to be made of a metal that only requires sharpening once every two months or so versus once every two weeks. I purchased these blades and I was very excited for them to come. I had them mounted on my skates and the next day I was ready to go. Boy was I in for it. These blades look heavy-duty and bulky, nothing like my old delicate silver blades that were on my old skates. Worst of all they are loud. And when I say loud, I mean LOUD. Every movement, every edge, every jump take off and landing is amplified beyond belief. I used to be a soft, quiet skater. Now, especially on hard ice, I sound loud and heavy. The only benefit to these blades is that they don't need to be sharpened quite as much as other blades but it is far from being two months. I need them done about every 3-4 weeks as it does not take them very long to dull up. I will not be putting these blades back on when I get new boots.

http://www.paramountskates.com

2014 Rule Changes

Many of you may have heard about the big changes coming to figure skating after the 2014 Winter Olympics. US Figure Skating and ISU have announced that as of July 1, 2014 all singles and pairs skaters will be permitted to use music with words. Currently, ice dancing and synchronized skating permit music with words and pairs and singles only allow instrumental selections.

I have thought a lot about this change and the reasons behind it and I have narrowed my thoughts down to a few hypotheses. For one, it's evident that figure skating is losing popularity. With the economy circling the drain and the average family income decreasing, the participation rate in figure skating is falling. Skating is an expensive sport and families in a poor economy are much more likely to put their children in a school sport in order to dodge the mega-expensises that come with an individual sport. Not only is participation falling but so is viewership of televised events. It is my belief that ISU passed this change in an attempt to keep up with the times, and raise their viewership and participation rate by increasing their relevance.

This is going to make me sound like an old creaky coach, which I'm not...yet, but I must say that I am opposed to this change. Imagine every show, every synchronized skating competition you've ever seen. The skaters (some, not all) take the ice to pop songs, wiggling their hips to Justin Bieber and frolicking to One Direction. This is fun, lighthearted and very laid back. Skaters get the opportunity to express themselves to music they normally wouldn't be able to. But that is what separates a show from a competition. Competitions are supposed to be serious and intense, although you still have the opportunity to express yourself and have fun, the atmosphere in the rink is different from that of an exhibition. I think the change could be successful, after all it works in ice dancing. But my fear is that in singles skating mostly, it will be abused. You'll hear every top 40 hit skated to more times than you ever thought possible. This is so unprofessional, even at lower levels, that the thought makes me queasy.

The other change, which will be less profound, is that they are placing an age range on the Junior Level. Female singles skaters must be at least 13 but no older than 19. Male singles and all ice dancers must be 13 also but cannot be older than 21. In order to compete in Senior Events skaters must be at least 15 years of age. This rule will cut down on the amount of teeny weenies that are shoved quickly to the top by their parents in an attempt to make them the next olympic champion but it obviously won't change the mindsets of crazed parents.

Karen Chen 2013 Junior Ladies Pewter Medalist
and yes...she can do a triple lutz

Nathan Chen 2013 Junior Mens Bronze Medalist

Let me know what you think! Comment below or tweet me @Flutzing using #flutz
Best of Luck!!

Smart Shopping Saturdays

Happy Saturday, readers! As of today I'm starting the tradition of writing product reviews each week in a series I'll call Smart Shopping Saturdays. Each saturday I'll review 5 products in different categories. Get the low down on fads and find out which hidden products you really should be using!

Apparel
The first product I'm going to recommend is Fashion Forms Women's Ultralight Nude Adhesive Bra.  This bra is essential to any figure skater and has saved me (not to mention my mother) so much trouble. I purchased this at Target at the beginning of last season and it was the best $16 dollars and 99 cents I've ever spent. I am far from being busty or heavy chested, but I still needed some type of support and coverage inside my competition dress. No one wants to worry about revealing too much to the audience, not to mention the judges, when you are on the ice competing. I've had my mother sew countless bras into my skating dresses, I tried using pasties and clear backed bras, I tried using those paper stickers and I've even gone with nothing. I purchased this bra in a size B for the synchro season because it was listed under required team apparel. Our dresses had open backs, not even any mesh and the body was made of a thin lycra....not exactly the best design for a team of teenage girls, I must add. Anyways, I purchased this bra thinking it wouldn't stick on and spent my first competition sweating bullets about whether or not it would slide down to my stomach mid-program. To my relief, It didn't. The bra has a sticky gel on the inside that adheres to the skin fabulously but when it is time to take it off it is not painful in the least. I would recommend washing this bra in between uses not only for good hygeine but to restore the stickiness. I have been using the bra for both synchro and freestyle competitions and shows for almost a year now and it is just as adhesive as it was when I bought it. It gives a smooth, supported look under any dress and leaves you with a clean, finished look. This is an absolute MUST for any figure skater.

http://www.target.com/p/fashion-forms-womens-ultralight-nude/-/A-13793203#prodSlot=large_1_2

Hair
The hair product  I'm reviewing today is good old bobby pins...sort of. I first learned about Bunheads Hair Pins when I started taking classical ballet. I noticed that all of the girls in my class were pinning their hair up with these enormous bobby pins and so finally I excitedly asked "where are you getting those?!", exasperated with my teeny tiny pins that kept popping out of my hair like they were spring-loaded. It turns out, lots of dance stores carry these pins but I purchased mine first from a local dance shop and now from Discount Dance Supply. They come in a little plastic container of 12 and can be purchased in 2, 2 1/2, and 3 inches for varying hair thickness. They also come in blonde, brown and black so they blend in with just about anyones hair. They hold my long thick wavy hair in a bun and rarely ever come out, even through a solid pirouette class or half hour of layback spins. They're made of a thick metal and don't stretch out or bend out of shape so unlike regular bobby pins they can be used over and over and over again essentially forever...or until you lose them with your socks and hairbands. This product is also a must have for any bun-wearing figure skater!

http://www.discountdance.com/dancewear/style_BH434.htmlpid=5849&Shop=Style&SID=496408611
Accessories
Rockerz. The hottest skate guard craze and in my opinion they're just glorified skate guards. Like other brands of figure skate guards you can get these in any color of the rainbow, match them up or mismatch them, silver springs or gold springs, its your design. The only thing different about these guards is their unique wave like shape on the top and slight curve to the bottom. They claim to be ergonomic and easier to walk on which is great and all but really, compared to the amount of time you spend on the ice do you really spend enough time off the ice in your guards for it to make a difference? The other trick these guards claim, or are rumored to do is keep you on your feet if you accidentally step on the ice with them on. This is a fallacy however and you will fall flat on your face in a split just like Bambi, as you will in any other pair of guards. They do however allow you to walk on the ice in them if you are careful and very slow. This is not unique to Rockerz, and the whole idea seems irrelevant since if you step on the ice in your guards you're not likely to be moving slowly and gently. I must admit though, these guards have some pretty striking advertisements. Ultimately, I think these guards are a glorified, overpriced fad.

http://www.rockerzskateguards.com

Bags
Speaking of glorified, overpriced and fads lets talk about Zuca bags! These bulky, heavy, yet small bags are definitely very trendy right now but they're not as great as they're talked up to be. The benefit and big draw to these bags is that they have a metal bench to sit on so if you skate in a rink like mine where seating is limited, you have a place to put on your skates. If you are at a competition and just wish to put on your skates rink side instead of in the drama-soaked locker room you have a portable seat to do so on. This feature is actually quite handy, but with this bag, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits, at least for me. This $150 bag has a thick metal frame making it difficult to put in and take out of the car. When you want to put your skates in your room it's clunky and awkward to lug into the house. The mesh pockets on the outside are a good idea but if you carry a lot with you they bulge out and look tacky. I also had a tendency to lose a lot of gear when I owned my Zuca bag because things, like guards for example, would fall out of the mesh pockets while I was walking across the parking lot. In addition there wasn't really enough room inside the bag for anything but my, at the time, size 5 skates so I was forced to put a lot of my belongings in the outer mesh pockets. It's tempting to get sucked into this trend, it looks so flashy and "cool". The marketing on these products is unparalleled, hence all of the buzzing about it. Maybe this bag is for you, but it certainly wasn't for me. It's trendy and fashionable but other than the portable seat feature it's not really practical.

https://www.zuca.com

Books
Looking for a good read? Skating books are few and far between so when I heard about this one I immediately grabbed it off the shelf. All the Sundays Yet to Come is written by Kathryn Bertine and I would recommend it to anyone, figure skater or not. Even my dad, who usually likes Wartime stories and historical fiction enjoyed it. The book is an autobiography and memoir that catalogues the experiences of Bertine as she travels with a skating company. She discusses her battles, both inside and out, with a voice that will leave you grasping for more. Her experiences are not only worth reading about, this humorous and emotional autobiography is impossible to put down.
You can purchase All the Sundays Yet to Come here
And you can read about Kathryn Bertine on here website here


Comment below with any product reviews of your own or tweet me @Flutzing with #flutz
Best of Luck!!

10 Things That Should be in Your Bag

Here's a list of 10 things you should carry with you in your skate bag (other than your skates!). These items are essential to every skater, regardless of whether its your first week at the rink or your whether you've been doing it for years.

1. A "first aid kit". Now this doesn't have to be a hardcore plastic box with a hundred different first aid tools all crammed inside. Your rink should provide a standard first aid kit if anything serious happens, however every skater should have their own supply of bandaids, Advil/Tylenol/Ibuprofen, and maybe even blister relief pads with children's scissors. My "First aid kit"is just a plastic bag with a few of my most commonly needed items inside. I keep it in the front pocket of my skate bag where it is easily obtained but not in the way.

2. An extra pair of gloves. Every skater knows, falling is part of the sport. Sometimes your gloves just get too wet and rather than take them off it's nice to have the luxury of being able to put on dry ones in between sessions.

3. Hairbands. If you are a girl, keeping extra hairbands stored away is a must. I keep a bag of about four or five at all times. If one breaks, I always have a backup. If I'm coming from school and happen to forget, I always have a backup. This way you'll never be caught scrounging around the floor for something to keep those flowing locks out of of your eyes.

4. A phillips head screwdriver. Loose blades are incredibly common and it's much more convenient to be able to pull out your own screwdriver and give them a quick tighten.

5. Extra laces. If your rink doesn't have an open skate shop this one is definitely a must have. It isn't too common for laces to snap but if they do, you won't have to waste time sending your mom out to look for a new pair.

6. Tissues. Lots of Tissues. Toilet paper does the job but tissues are so much better. I keep the small plastic wrapped packages of tissues on hand at all times.

7. Nail clippers. I'm not suggesting that you make a point of clipping your fingernails or toenails at the rink but if you need them, you'll have them. Sometimes our feet just want to hurt and clipping down a toenail or cutting off a hangnail might relieve some pressure,

8. A small hairbrush. If you go from school to the rink frequently it's nice to have a hairbrush on hand for pulling back your ponytail.

9. An Extra Copy of Your Music. If you forget your CD at home for some reason its good to have a backup in another spot in your bag. This will prevent your coach from having a melt down during your lesson.

10. "Emergency" money. Whether you need something from the vending machine, forget to grab money for buy-on ice time, or need to buy a water bottle it is definitely important to have spare money on hand.

Best of Luck!!