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This from coach Bob Emerson: "He moved a disc out of place about 12 weeks ago and has not been able to really train. I don't care who you are, it takes a minimum of 8 - 10 weeks to heal. We are on a fine line. I don't want to push it. It can go either way on either side of the fence. Not skating in NHK or Russia would not be a good idea."

Tomas says that he spent 2 weeks in California in the summer with Rafael Aratunian where his goal was to work on jumps. He had been experiencing some back pain before going and on the advice of his Dad tried stretching and physio. He thought it was muscular and he could work through it. Truthfully, he didn't help himself by jumping like a man posessed his first week in California and by the time the second week rolled around he had to miss sessions. He even found that over the course of 3 days, he coouldnt reach his feet to put on his own socks.

Once home, he gave in to the fact that this was serious and sought help.  It was one step forward and two steps back for the first few weeks when the disc problem flared up agai. he had decided that if it happened again he would have to give up. Fortunately, he found acupuncturist Susan McRae whose strategy is to motivate the body to fix itself and it seems to be working. Overall, Tomas is pleased that he was able to stay n the ice working on edges and "everything else" with Lori Nichol. He is back jumping and spinning with the exception of his sit spin which he will only try at NHK.

On another note, Tomas showed Lori and me a picture of him as a model for a Calendar called Passion, avaiable in the Czech Republic. He was delighted to be asked to be part of this initiative which supports AIDS and HIV awareness and education.

Here is more from Tomas Verner:

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I asked Lori and Denis separately if they thought that 'movers' were born or if they could be taught. Lori said definitively: "It can be taught. There are more than a few out there whose skating draws you in - and I can assure you there are more that are taught than are natural."

Denis answered it this way: "There are natural movers and there are skaters who get taught. I think that in order to win you need to be a combinaton of both."

Hmmm...interesting. I don't know about you - but I think I can tell the difference. Denis is one of those natural movers that I first saw on a teensy tiny TV monitor while calling the 4 Continents Championships a couple of years ago. At the time, his material was not what it is today but I could still feel his passion infusing the program rather then being superimposed on top of his skating.

Regardless of results, I still think he is wonderful to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYg0qej5P04

On our way out of the coaches' room - Lori said - "make sure you get him to smile - he has a great smile". As usual, when it comes to skaters and skating - she's right :)

 Fun to watch the evolution of a terrific skater and wonderful young man :) The still pic by the way was taken at the Thornhill competition in the summer...looks like he has grown again??

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As for skating - she has been working really hard in anticipation of her start in the Grand Prix series this weekend as one of 3 Canadian women competing.

The first thing I noticed was Andrei's energy and openness and quick smile when we sat down to chat after a practice session at his suburban Toronto home training base, the Richmond Training Centrre.

His start in skating came after seeing Olympic Champion Alexei Yagudin on television where he was intrigued by the champion's huge jumps, his power and his interesting and creative programs. Andrei found his way to the rink where he has been coached by one of his two coaches, Inga Zusev from the very beginning. Andrei says that he has skated at lots of different clubs along the way and has also picked up Alexei Berezintsev as an additional coach.This season's choreographers are Shae-Lynn Bourne, who created his 'modern classical' short program and Carol Lane and Juris Razgulaevs who choreographed his free program to Spanish music. Andrei's self perpective is: "I am sometimes lazy but I work really hard." He describes the gift that skating  has offered him: "It helps me become motivated and determined to achieve a certain task. I take this really seriously." He is a young man very focused on skating but it isn't all serious: "Fun for me is jumping and I also like competing. I love the fact that I am getting to travel the world." This is no doubt one of the advantages of being a good competitive skater. Andrei is excited to not only be competing at Skate Canada this season but he will also be competing at the Rostelecom Cup of Russia.  This event will have particular significance for the 18 yr old as it will be the first time he will go back to Russia, where he was born, since leaving the country as a five year old.  His goals for the season are to finish in the top 5 at both Grand Prix events and to be one of the two Canadian men heading to Senior Worlds in Nice, France in March 2012.

As part of his training, he heads to the gym and additionally does some running. He has also been known to do back to back run throughs of his programs where sometimes the focus is not so much the jumps but rather the training.

Keeping on top of his game is essential obviously in preparation for competition: "It's certainly nerve wracking to compete, but it's what I am trained to do. I am always nervous before my first jump but then I concentrate on skating the best that I can."

Closer to home, Andrei is focusing on finishing his last semester of high school online and says that he is a biology/science guy as far as his favourite subjects are concerned. He is very much like any other Canadian kid who enjoys video games and goofing around with his golden retriever Axel. With great pride, he fills me in on the move to Newmarket from Richmond Hill that he and his Mom are making to a new house whose downpayment was partly made with  prize money Andrei earned from competing..

As for the future, Andrei makes no predictions but would love to be at the olympics in Sochi in 2014 and in Korea in 2018, where he won his junior world title.

Andrei says he is concentrating on "now" and as far as being in the senior ranks,

"now" is almost here.

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For this catch-up, I went to Richmond Hill where he and wife Gladys Orozko-Stojko were on the ice. They had been in Toronto for a good portion of the summer teaching and Elvis was also keeping in shape for the many shows he still does.

"The body always follows the mind"

Elvis' way of thinking about things is to competely eradicate the negative from his mind."As a competitor one of the biggest mistakes people make is to worry about what other people think and it can be a huge distraction. The truth is many people who are negative don't have the guts themselves to do something."

I like the way that when he talks about young skaters it is in a protective way - wanting to help them benefit from the lessons that he has learned. "The strategy for skaters has to be to consistently keep skating. You can't stop. You have to continuously make the muscles go through what they have to go through in order to be able to make things happen."  As a coach and a man who still performs as well as offering seminars, he has this to say: "Consistency in performance is what would contribute to the sucess of more skaters." He counsels: "Stop worrying about the outcome of the event and what is expected of you and focus more on what your own goals are."

Elvis' shares his point of view regarding the sport this way: "Every aspect of this sport is subjective. the thing is when you do well, you are liked and I don't think searching for approval from the outside is the way. The key factor is to not fall into the trap and to follo your own path." good advice from a man who is well known for marching to the beat of his own drum.

In Elvis' time as an amateur skater, there were lots of 'characters' and we talked about the fact that under the current system which he feels is controlled at every level giving the appearance that many of the skaters are looking the same. "I think that too much structure isn't a good thing and there has to be room for the skaters to have freedom of expression."

We both agree that skating is like everything else and has peaks and valleys as it contunes to evole. For his part, Elvis is still very much involved and skating 'his way' to excited crowds in packed arenas as his schedule confirms:

October 29 7pm Progressive Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular at iWireless Centre Moline, Il air date: NBC january 2012; November 18 7pm
Kaleidoscope at Bojangles Coliseum Charlotte, NC air date: Fox November 24 4:30pm eastern follow NFL game cancer awareness - tribute to cancer survivors;
December 18 Bathurst, NB; December 19 St John, NB; January 1st 2pm Symphony on Ice Mclintyre Arena Timmins, ON -100th anniversary celebration; February 15
Rock the Ice III Peterborough, ON

According to Elvis, success is a process with the mental preparation aspects playing a key role. It would appear as if some things haven't changed.

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He first started creating a buzz with interesting and original choreography as part of his own programs. When he made the decision to retire after Worlds in Prague in 1993, almost immediately  the late Carlo Fassi contacted him to ask him his plans. Pasquale wasn't sure what  he would be doing exactly but had already thought about coaching. With a gentle nudge from Fassi asking him how much he would charge for choreography, he was put to work the very next day. Pasquale is a thoughtful man; intent on finding the perfect work to express his ideas. I get the feeling that he is the same on the ice; the steps carefully chosen to express the program idea, concept or theme. "The difference between being a skater and a choreographer is: as a skater, everything is done for you. As a coach/choreographer, everything is done for others. You can't be selfish and be a choreographer."

It is because of Carlo and his wife Christa's encouragement that Pasquale thought about the move to the United States. "They always mentioned the US and how great the possibilities would be there because there are many more rinks and many more skaters". He now makes his coaching base in the Detroit area along side wife and coaching partner, two-time World ice dance champion Anjelika Krylova. "I am here because of Anjelika. She built her life here and already had everything: a house, rink, life. Did you know that she is the only one to win world medals in ice dance with 2 different partners?" he says with pride.

It didn't take long for Pasquale's work to catch on as he started with Stanick Jeanette and Georghe Chipeur but in my opinion it was his work with Daisuke Takahashi that really put him on the map. "I got an email from Daisuke's agent 4 years ago asking me if I could do some choreography for him. Anjelika saw the email first - I couldn't believe it when she told me." Focused on his work he says: "I can say that everything really started from there. It was then that I got the commitments from a lot of big skaters."

With the amount of choreography that he is doing, he also finds the time to put coaching front and center and is responsible for Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje and France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat among others. "I have learned as a coach to keep the balance on everything and it's a very hard thing. The relationship between a coach and skaters is to keep the balance in work, motivation and to create chemistry."

His advice for skaters? "Listen to your heart. We know what is right and often cannot explain why."

For Pasquale, skating is "about expressing." When asked how he would describe himself, he says: "I am Pasquale. I am myself."

A simple statement about a complex, confident and visionary man. I am sure there is lots more to write in this book. Stay tuned :)

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"Okay...sit down...
Do not read this while driving or operating heavy equipment.
:)
Sarah's 4th Annual Food Drive results
Sarah's goal was to raise 1 tonne of food.
Here are the totals:
508 pounds ( from our street, friends, family and from North Toronto Skating Club)
1870 from Sarah's School
2286 from Tremblett's Valu Mart ( including 25 turkey dinners)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4664 pounds of food
In addition, she raised just under 2K in cash, which the Daily Bread Food Bank counts every dollar as a pound of food.
All in, cash and food donations:
drum roll please.....
3 tonnes of food.
Can you believe it???
We can't. We are all in shock.
Not too sure if you heard her, but Gail Nyberg was on CBC Radio today and was talking about Sarah. She was talking about the great work that Sarah has done. It was awesome!"

Great work indeed!!  Way to go Sarah -  If this is what you are doing at 9 - I can't wait to see what you will be doing 10 years from now!!

What a great way to end my Thanksgiving ...Thanks to the fans and families who helped support this cause...and thanks to Sarah for letting me part of this!

Sarah - the newest and maybe best example of what a Skating Warrior Princess can do (she just got named to this very select group)...would like to challenge everyone else to do their best this week!!

The Power of One. :)

Pj :)

Not surprisingly, elite athletes seem to have the extraordinary ability to put aside their physical selves in order to accomplish the task at hand. After talking to Skate Canada people to discuss not competing at Worlds, Vaughn left for home on the Monday after the Games.  He went to the rink on Tuesday and found that he couldn't make it across the ice because of the intense pain. It would appear that once he had accepted that this was serious, he allowed the reality of the pain to seep into his consciousness meaning he couldn;t skate where he had been able to just a few days before. This is a case of mind over matter like so many others in the sports world.

So if your life isn't about Worlds happening in the next 3 weeks and you have to change gears, what will it be? "Now what? At that point, I still didn't decide to retire. I took 4 months off for the first time in my life."

it seems from speaking with Vaughn that the decision to retire happened in stages.  He decided just a few days before scheduled surgery that it wasn't the solution for him. "As much as anything I needed the break." Aside from some "noises" in his feet when he lands jumps, he says now he is in good shape.

Skating is...."my job" and the way that Vaughn now makes his living. Currently on the cruise circuit with Royal Caribbean, Vaughn continues to be a contradiction in terms: from enjoying physical pursuits like sky diving and bungee jumping he is interested in the emotional and is considering an education in psychology with a view to becoming a clinical psychologist.

He would advise anyone pursuing a career in skating "Skating is a long road. Don't get into skating for the short haul." He and coach Scott Davis had a plan that worked for them and that was for Vaughn to "skate as directed." Vaughn says "skating is one of the few sports that noone in the word can do well competitively skating at a recreational level." True enough. So, skating at a competitive level like he did, what was the secret to Vaughn achieving his dream of competing at the Olympics? "I skated as directed." he said with a chuckle.

The best gift skating has given Vaughn? His relationship with singer Amanda Avila pictured here, whom he met on the cruise ship.

More from Vaughn:

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For many people, her debut into our collective consciousness came at last year's Canadian Championships where she was dazzling in her Short program and finished in 2nd and in 4th overall.  For many Alexandra was 'the spoiler' and the skater that inspired the competitiveness in the final flight of Ladies at Nationals.

Catching up with Alexandra after the FSB Thornhill Summer Skate competition I got the sense that although there are other aspects to her life, like wanting to become a lawyer at the end of her studies at Toronto's York University, for the moment skating is front and centre. She can easily talk about other hobbies like watching and playing tennis and enjoying crafting while continuing to engage her brain in the 'how to's of improving footwork and adding to her jump inventory in skating.  In other words, despite what else may be going on, she is very 'present' in her skating life, constantly balancing it all by establishing priorities.

In this season,  she was assigned to compete at the Junior Grand Prix in Australia after which she will be focusing on her Senior prorgams in order to be ready for the Challenge and Canadian national events.

"Skating is exhilirating and fun and very exciting for me." says Najarro who continues "I love to move to music. I love to perform."  It shows.

Olympic Champion Yu-Na Kim is Alexandra's role model: "I really like the fact that she has the 'full package.' It is Kim's example that offers her the need for better consistency, stronger focus and a triple/triple combination. 

This year's short program is the same as last but the free is brand new. Alexandra is skating to The Black Swan in a program choreographed by Myke Gilman which should deliver on her ability to perform.

Former Canadian Champion, Tracey Wainman knows a thing or two about performing and provides the base coaching for Alexandra. Between them, they are working on achieving clean and consistent triples including new-ish Loops and Lutzes in competition, footwork at a higher level and skating skills. Alexandra says: "I want to improve from last year as far as my speed and flow are concerned."

I would like to take credit for Alexandra's success at the Senior level from the amazing Ten-Fox  dance lessons I gave her all those years ago...I would like to...BUT...I can't. 

Alexandra Najarro a great example of creating success on her own terms: hard work, dedication and talent.

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