Events

34th Annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD)

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Today we celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD). I want to recognize all my female Learn-to-Skate students and my fellow peers for leading an active lifestyle and pushing themselves every day to reach their potential. 

On Feb 4, 1987, President Ronald Regan issued a proclamation to honor outstanding female athletes and their extraordinary contributions to sports. The day was initially intended to remember the untimely death of Olympic volleyball player, Flo Hyman, for her achievements and dedication to promoting equality. Since then, NGWSD has evolved to recognizing all women in sports and is celebrated across the country with community events and celebratory activities. 

Sports greatly contribute to one’s emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being. Participation in sports builds character and confidence, and studies have proven that athletes develop leadership skills which are critical to success in school and in the workplace. Sports are especially beneficial to girls as they create a sense of inclusion and build self-esteem. Not only does skating provide these mental benefits, it is also a great year-round cardiovascular activity and offers many health and fitness benefits (pls see my Jan 27, 2018 “Skating Promotes Fitness and Good Health” and Aug 15, 2019 “Skating Creates Lasting Friendships” posts).

Let’s all stay active in sports and commit to working hard and be an inspiration to future generations. 

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Happy New Decade!...Learn New Skills & Enjoy a Lifetime of Skating!

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What better way to start off a brand new decade than learning to skate?! 

Embrace winter and learn new skills that will last a lifetime while simultaneously enjoying the fun and fitness of skating. For those who already skate, the new year is the best time to set short and long-term goals and challenge yourself to new experiences. Please see my Sept 9, 2019 post “Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals” on how to make clear and defined goals to better keep you on track (https://www.figureskatingetc.com/new-blog/2019/9/16/setting-smart-goals).

US Figure Skating National Skating Month

US Figure Skating National Skating Month

As January is National Skating Month, this is the perfect time to get on the ice as many of your local rinks will host open houses and offer free lessons and exhibitions. I will once again lead my club’s National Skating Month event in Howell, NJ on Sat, Jan 25 (please see the “Events” page for more details). Also, in honor of Martin Luther King’s legacy of service, I will be giving free lessons alongside my colleagues at another local rink in Middletown and would love to have you all come out with your friends and family for a fun winter workout.  For more info, check out https://www.figureskatingetc.com/my-events/2019/12/31/5bc0o7o2jo5oe0rc37jp9dmbthuezw

Source: US Figure Skating FanZone

Source: US Figure Skating FanZone

Also, January is a big month for figure skating as the US Figure Skating Championships are held every year to crown the national champions in ladies’ (girls’) singles, men’s (boy’s) singles, pair skating, and ice dancing for the senior, junior, novice, intermediate, and juvenile levels. For information on, or to get tickets for, the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, go to ncskate2020.com. For those who can't travel and watch live, there will be full coverage of the event on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone, https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/sports/2020/1/19/2020-toyota-us-figure-skating-championships-competition-central.aspx .

I look forward to sharing the joys of skating and making special memories on the ice with all of you.  Happy New Year!

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‘Skate to Superpowers’

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I’m so happy to organize and lead another successful National Skating Month open house event for my community. National Skating Month is US Figure Skating’s biggest annual campaign and the goal is to increase awareness and participation in the U.S. Figure Skating programs and Learn to Skate USA and recruit new skaters. This year’s National Skating Month theme is discovering your inner superhero and ‘Skate to Superpowers’! With the help of my Garden State Skating Club and Howell Ice Arena, we offered free half-hour group lessons taught by professionally trained instructors with the assistance of club members. Following the free lessons, we put on a skating exhibition showcasing the many skills and talents of my club teammates who performed their new season’s freestyle programs. We ended the event with a family public session to encourage families to enjoy more skating on their own. Thanks to the coaches, skaters, and parents who all came out to volunteer and help promote the great sport of skating to our community.
Everyone enjoyed a great day of skating and fun times and laughs with friends and family.

Check out my photos which US Figure Skating posted as some of their favorites from this national skating campaign on their Learn-to-Skate page - https://www.facebook.com/LearnToSkateUSA/photos/a.1999714813439820/2018528794891755/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/LearnToSkateUSA/photos/a.1999714813439820/2018528811558420/?type=3&theater

National Get Up® Day

February 1st is National Get Up® Day, a campaign launched by US Figure Skating to encourage and support individuals, whether they are skaters, gymnasts, tennis players, students or parents, to face life’s challenges by picking themselves back up and giving it another try to overcome and ultimately succeed. This campaign was introduced over two years ago with the goal of showing how much grit and determination figure skaters have, and to attract others to learn more about the sport with hopes of increasing membership and viewership. The Get Up® program offers a platform for everyone to share their Get Up moments and provide inspiration to others. It’s not just about skating but about every aspect of one’s life when faced with setbacks and learning to conquer and defeat one’s fears and doubts by not giving up.

I support this campaign because I truly believe every obstacle has a hidden opportunity which can help enrich one’s learning and experience. When you fail, you grow and mature and gain valuable lessons from the painful situation. Despite the frustration and discouragement, you need to find encouragement and motivation to pick yourself up and get back on course and build resilience and persevere through adversity. How we handle failure is more important than how we handle success. Please remember that even the best skaters in the world fall and have struggled and experienced setbacks along the way.

The upcoming celebration of National Get Up® Day could not occur at a more perfect time as I just started a new group session of Learn to Skate students. One of the very first lessons I teach my students is the importance of falling- how to fall and how to get right back up. Remember to always fall on one’s side and not forward or backwards and never use your hands to break your fall (please refer to My Essential Skating Tips For Beginners). Eventually you will learn and master the new skill and reclaim your power and when that time comes, you will be extremely proud and overjoyed of your accomplishment!

"If you can handle ice, you can handle anything"®

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GLOVES for L❤️VE

It’s now Week 3 of my summer Learn to Skate session. All is well, except one pressing issue that I have struggled with ever since I started teaching two years ago. My students never show up to class with gloves! This week, my ENTIRE class had either forgotten or refused to wear gloves on the ice. I was absolutely shocked and dismayed at this and immediately addressed the issue. Each student denied the fact that they were cold, despite one sheepishly crossing her arms, another shoving his hands into his coat pockets, a third pulling her sleeves over her hands, and a fourth blowing warm breath into his palms when I wasn’t looking. Although they claimed they were not cold, their actions spoke otherwise. I always carry spare gloves in my bag but unfortunately, I did not have enough for all seven students to borrow. It hurt my heart to see these young kids suffering from the cold which prevented them from having an enjoyable learning experience on the ice. Although I remind students and parents to bring gloves every week, there is always someone that forgets. I often feel like a broken record- constantly repeating myself about gloves. After two years of teaching, this issue clearly has not improved; in fact it has gotten worse. No pun intended, but this has gotten out of hand! I am tired of wasting time teaching my kids what to wear when I could be teaching them what they signed up for: learning to skate. Why do kids never show up with gloves??? Is it because they want to look like figure skaters who don’t wear gloves during competition? Or do they feel it is a nuisance to wear? Or do the parents simply just forget? It is time to address this issue of gloves, or lack thereof, once and for all. 

Jason Brown Fundraiser

I want to thank all my supporters for their generous donations to the Jason Brown Fundraiser. The event was held today at the Mennen Arena in Morristown, NJ and it turned out to be a most successful event, raising close to $16,670. Your contribution helped raise money for the NJ Council of Figure Skating Clubs (NJCFSC) Scholarship Fund which provides much needed scholarship awards for all participating NJ figure skating clubs.

Jason Brown is an Olympic medalist, US National Champion, Four Continents medalist, World Junior medalist, Junior Grand Prix Final Champion, and National Junior Champion. It was such a privilege for skaters in New Jersey to have the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and skate with such an amazing skater in addition to winning great prizes.  Skaters attended free skating clinics taught by Jason and an autographed and Q&A session.  Some of the prizes included VIP meet & greet, private skating time, competition program critique, selfie photo shoot and lunch for the top ten fundraisers. 

Everyone who attended had an awesome time and enjoyed meeting and skating with Jason and learned valuable skating tips.  Again, thank you to all my friends and family who contributed to the fundraiser as I'm truly grateful for your help and support.


http://skatewithjason.org/u-s-national-champion-olympic-medalist-jason-brown-is-coming-to-new-jersey-on-sunday-june-10/

Sponsored by: NJ Council of Figure Skating Club and Lucas Sports