Wednesday, March 8, 2017

LAKE PLACID ADULT SKATE CAMP 2017




The Lake Placid Adult Skate Camp announcement was posted last night. There will be two sessions:


June Adult Skating Weekend -June 22-25, 2017
August Adult Skating Week -August 20-26, 2017

Registration begins March 13. You can find the 2017 handbook here.

A list of coaches (don't expect all of them on the list to be there) can be found on teh  Professional Staff page. There may also be famous skaters there. Ryan Bradley showed up one year and taught lessons. My prayers for Johnny Weir to show up will probably be unanswered.

Coaches I've skated with in group lessons:

Natalia Dubova--skating skills, and performance skills. I've written quite a bit about Natalia's technique. I really like Natalia's classes, especially for lower level skaters.

Joel Dear--skating skills.  These were classes  on improving technique. He taught classes off ice and on ice.  My memory of his off ice class was his focus on small details such as placement of the blades in stroking, posture and body position. Joel has appeared as both a dancer and skater on television and in theater, so he has performance skills to teach that would be useful to a skater who wants to improve presentation and expression.

Mark Fenczak- ice dance and figures (I only took his figures group class, I think he's heavily booked for ice dance, so if you want to take lessons with him for dance, you don't want to wait.)

Gregory and Petukhov-- I took a group class with them that was a fun skating obstacle course class. It really put me through my skills in balance, speed and control. However, skaters that took private lessons from them raved about their team teaching. Melissa Gregory got high marks for her jump coaching.

Mimi Wacholder--I took both a private and a group class from Mimi about mohawks. I'm not sure she still teaches that mohawk group class, but she was a fine and thoughtful coach with good methodology; my hips just weren't ready for mohawks then. If she is still teaching the mohawks group class, I'll take it to see if she can up my mohawk checking skills, since I'm nailing mohawks now.

 Paul Wylie--the divine Paul Wylie. He taught a group class on performance skills, and private lessons. What can you say about Paul? He's not only a great skater and a great performer, he's a great coach. I watched him take a skater who had self taught himself jumps and Paul just tweaked his skills to an amazing degree in an hour.

Evelyn Kramer "The Spin Doctor"--I took a group class from Evelyn and she got me over my fear of spins in about 10 minutes--in a GROUP class! So if you've got spin 'issues', at least try her group class.

There were also coaches for group classes whose name I don't remember, but they were all good.  There are also guest coaches from out of town, so you should show up at the first night meet and greet when the coaches are presented.

Whether you go to the June weekend or the August week, I hope you have a wonderful time!

4 comments:

  1. I went to the Adult weekend in 2016 as someone who had passed Adult 3, so you have an idea of where my skills were. Before I went, I saw the schedule and emailed the instructors to ask if, given my skills, I would get anything out of the classes. I heard back from two. I took 3 classes with Joel Dear. I don't want to say he changed my life, but he certainly improved my stroking a lot and helped break down my almost paralyzing fear of skating backwards. Mimi taught me to do the side toe hop while she taught everyone else Mohawks. I took two classes with Natalya Dubova and I may not be the most elegant skater but what she taught about carriage has reduced my neck and shoulder pain tremendously. Going to Lake Placid was a real skating life changer for me, changed how I viewed myself as a skater and an athlete. I can't say enough positive about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm really happy for you that it worked out so well. I hope you have a chance to go again!

      Delete
  2. I'm thinking about going to the August week this year. I'm an older - pardon me, I mean more mature - adult who is a beginner (haven't passed any tests). I would like to experience jumping. Have you seen any coaches at the camp put adults in the harness to work on jumps?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know they work on jumps, and I think there's a harness on one of the rinks, but if you're interested in pursuing that, why not email skating@orda.org and make an inquiry?

      Delete