Summer Ice 2010

There is nothing quite like some really good ice cream (if you are in Rochester NY, read "Abbott's Custard") on a hot summer day.  Unless, of course, it is having the chance to have summer ice to train on.   Same cold, no guilt and no brain freeze!  Two weekends in a row, I've had the opportunity and the luxury of clinics with lots of ice time and lots of dryland.  As the advertising campaign goes, Life is Good.

On the weekend of July 31st, Anthony Lobello came in to Rochester to lead us in two days of ice, dryland and inline--a opportunity taken by about twenty of the masters skaters of the Rochester and Buffalo teams, and one young skater who is determined to show her (considerable) speed.  Anthony was a patient and very informative teacher, and I think will one day, when his competitive career is done,  prove to be a fantastic coach.  He gave us exactly what we needed after several months without ice:  a return to basics, breaking down the elements of skating and working on the small pieces that, done right, should improve the skating form of each of us.  Anthony did a great job of explaining and presenting  word pictures  of what the positions, done right would feel like.  Having stepped on the ice with great trepidation, fearful of a recurrence of last season's injuries, after several hours with him, I felt both more comfortable and much more psyched for the coming season!  The Rochester Speed Skating Team has a pretty intense dryland program under Coach Tom Rossborough, but Anthony presented some variations that will serve us well as we move closer to the start of the ice season.  Thank you Anthony!

This past weekend, it was off to Morrisville State College IcePlex where members of the Center State, Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo clubs had two perfect summer days, and that fast, terrific Morrisville rink to work on ice; and  a new astroturf football field for dryland skills, this time with Coaches Jenn Barber, Marty Medina, Tom Rossborough and Mikey Burdekin, who came in to show us what he's been learning over the past year in Salt Lake City.      I am so looking forward to the start of our regular season!