April, 2024 - A note from the President: If you are not a club member, we welcome you to our website and newsletters. If you wish to receive all club communications regarding competition and club updates, consider becoming an associate member. It does not interfere with your current club affiliation and gives you access to our most current information. The cost is only $40.
2024 Spring Jubilee and SVO
Registration for Spring Jubilee, scheduled for May 11-12, 2024, is now open and closes on April 19, 2024, at 8pm PST. Excel and Solo Dance events are in EMS with all others in Entryeeze. This competition offers showcase events that are qualifiers for National Showcase. Because National Showcase is scheduled during the usual SVO window, we will not be hosting SVO. To continue to support solo dance, we have opted to add the series to Spring Jubilee. We will not be hosting NQS dance in 2024. We realize that the competition is on Mother’s Day weekend but we had no other option. Officials are scarce and this was the only date that worked for us and other events scheduled in May. Please check our website for updates, click here.
2024 National Showcase
The Peninsula Skating Club has been awarded the 2024 National Showcase! It’s scheduled from August 5-10 and is a prestigious, fun event with skaters from all over the country attending. We have a draft announcement that is pending USFS approval. We will post it to our website as soon as it is approved and club members and associates will receive email notification. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
After numerous facility walk-throughs, the Orange and Black rinks have been chosen with Orange being the main rink. Lighting contracts have been negotiated and signed with professional spot operators, ice partitions have been purchased, and pipe and drape sourced. Officials, photographers, and videographers are assigned or contracted. We’ve met with rink management, the USFS program manager, and the San Jose Sports Authority. Hotel special rates are being negotiated and scheduling information will be made available as soon as it becomes available. Please be patient!
We are all volunteers and to actually run a five day, two rink competition requires a huge effort. We are currently looking to assemble a volunteer team. We need:
Volunteer Chair
Registration Chair
Practice Ice Chair
Ticket Sales Chair
PR and Marketing Chair
Hospitality Support
Credentials Support
Set Up Support: carpentry and electricians
We also need volunteers to help with finding corporate sponsorships willing to exchange food and goods for advertisement in the online program and within the venue.
If you are interested in getting involved, please respond to this email!
What is Showcase Skating?
Showcase programs should tell a story with expression and interpretation valued over technical elements such as jumps and spins. If you choose to add technical elements, they should add to your story. The judges want you to create your own little world and they want to be drawn in. It’s much more than pretty skating. You want to reach the audience and have them feel something emotionally. If, in your singles skating, you are told that you need more expression, showcase can teach you that. If you want to have fun and not worry about landing that darn double toe loop, showcase is a great option. Singles skaters, explore the benefits of adding showcase events! YouTube is a good source for examples if you are unclear as to the expectations.
To find out more about theatrical showcase skating, click here.
Scholastic Honors Team
We are honored and proud that two of the ten winners are Peninsula members. Highest congratulations to Minseo Park and Blake Gilman . This marks the 28th year of the Scholastic Honors Team award and scholarship program. In partnership with the Denver Foundation, this award is meant to recognize athletes who have dedicated themselves to their academics, their community involvement and their involvement in figure skating.
This year’s distinguished team and honorees were selected from a pool of 61 student-athletes. Those named to the Scholastic Honors Team receive a $3,000 scholarship and an additional $1,000 to be donated to a charity of their choice.
Graduating Seniors Scholarships
The Graduating Senior Award program recognizes student-athletes who have worked hard to pursue figure skating while maintaining their academics. It is the goal of U.S. Figure Skating to help ensure these student-athletes are recognized for those skills. There are four categories of recognition based on competition and test achievements in all disciplines of figure skating. Student-athletes are rewarded based on their highest level of achievement at either the Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze level. We are proud to have five skaters honored this year:
Minseo Park - Gold
Olivienne Kamriani Beard - Gold
Natalie Yang - Gold
Sienna Dyer - Gold
Jennifer Ren - Silver
Scholarship information can be found, click here.
High School Team and the Cyber Challenge
The Cyber Challenge is a virtual, competitive option for our high school team that contains both Maneuvers and Artistic events. This is the perfect opportunity for skaters to participate in a nationwide competition without the need to travel. It can also serve as the perfect supplemental activity for skaters who are participating in other facets of skating, like our Sectional HS Final, Theater on Ice, and Excel Series to name a few. You can access the announcement on Members Only under Skating Opportunities > High School > Cyber Challenge.
This is the second year for this team and we had great participation in the Cyber Challenge. In Maneuvers, we placed third out of thirty-six teams! In Artistic, we had fewer skaters and still placed seventh. Overall, the team placed sixth out of thirty-six teams! That’s amazing! The Artistic results are, with special recognition to Joanna Lee who received all first place ordinals from the judges:
Name | Level | Place |
Joanna Lee | High | 1 |
Joy Song | Intermediate | 2 |
Allison Kim | High | 4 |
Nahono Yanagi | Intermediate | 4 |
Sienna Dyer | High | 4 |
Arsen Meghavoryan | High | 6 |
Michael Long | Intermediate | 8 |
For all of our Seniors, thank you for being part of our initial years of High School Skating. Each of you are pioneers and leaders brave enough to start something new. If your college has a team, I hope you consider it. It sounds really fun.
For everyone else, I hope you consider being part of the team next year. We are transitioning so that the skaters take on important leadership roles to provide growth experience and resume enhancement. To that end, if you're considering being part of the team, contact Liz at secretary@peninsulaskatingclub.org to discuss the type of role you'd like to take on.
For more information, click here.
2024-2025 NQS Series
Registration for the series opens on July 2, 2024, and skaters may sign up for a maximum of three total NQS competitions. Club and USFS memberships expire on June 30, 2024, so make sure you renew early.
The handbook can be found here.
A list of NQS competitions can be found here.
Excel Exhibition
On March 28, an exhibition and critique session was held for our Excel skaters. 14 club and non-club skaters participated and with guidance from Rick Perez and Kanae Tagawa, USFS national judges, skaters and coaches received excellent feedback on how to improve programs and interpret the ever changing rules. I advertised and organized the session and created the schedule but Rick, Kanae, and Beth made it happen – thank you! A special shout out goes to Beth Bottos for handling all of the music and announcing – no small task.
End of Year General Meeting, Awards Ceremony, and Picnic
Save the date: May 25, 2024! More information will follow but it’s tentatively scheduled at Kelley Park in San Jose, near the rink. Junior Board awards, High School Team pins, and NQS pins will be handed out.
If you are interested in being part of Peninsula leadership, please email me at president@peninsulaskatingclub.org. We appreciate your support!
Linda Price
President
Peninsula Skating Club