National Sports Center Blog

Spooky Skating at the Schwan Super Rink

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

The NSC's Schwan Super Rink has been organizing a series of monthly theme skates -- public skating sessions with fun games and activities. Each month is a different theme. Last Saturday, was the Halloween "Spooky Skate." Kids (and more than a few parents) enjoyed skating, a costume contest, DJ Dave Druk playing spooky music, and trick-or-treating.

I stopped by and snapped a few photos of the fun:

Our next theme skating event will be the Gobble Gobble on Nov. 11, from 12:50-3:00 pm, $6 per person, with a special Thanksgiving turkey coloring contest. Then in December we're presenting our annual Santa Skate, on Dec. 22, 12:50-3:00 pm, $8 per person, with cookies and the opportunity to skate and have your photo taken with Santa!

For more information, call Paige Maybrey at the Schwan Super Rink, 763.792.7351, or email at pmaybrey@superrink.org.

 

Schwan Super Rink's figure skating program attracts top ice dancers

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Ice dancing is a form of figure skating that many fans are unfamiliar with. But if you hang out at the Schwan Super Rink's skating school for long, you'll find out that the SSR is carving out a bit of a niche as an ice dancing center. That's clearly because two of the coaches, Pamela O’Connor and Jonathon O’Dougherty, are ice dance veterans with an international resume, and they have earned a huge amount of respect as effective coaches -- and engaging, positive people as well.

I blogged about Pam and Jonathon when they first arrived at the SSR last winter. The pair were the 2003 British Ice Dancing Champions and three-time British Championship silver medalists.

Working with Pam and Jonathon here is another Brit, Jamie Burns, 20, who skated here last spring with Nicola Trippick. He's back this fall, but with a new partner, Melyssa James, also 20. Melyssa moved here from Washington D.C., but she has dual Canadian-British citizenship. Jamie and Melyssa will compete in the British Championships, Jan. 7-13 in Sheffield, with the goal of finishing in the top two, which would earn them a spot in the European Championships in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, Jan. 21-27.

Also moving to the SSR to ice dance under Pam and Jonathon is the brother-sister pair of Malcolm, 15, and Sage Kelner, 11, from Minnetonka. This talented pair are current Minnesota champions. This summer they competed at the Lake Placid International Championships, where they finished 4th out of 19 teams. Their next big competition will be the USFS Midwestern Sectionals, Nov. 14-17 in Rochester Hills, Mich., and from there to the U.S. Junior Nationals in Salt Lake City, Nov. 26-Dec. 1.

The Schwan Super Rink's crew of ice dancers: Left-to-right: Coach Pamela O'Connor, Melyssa James, Jamie Burns, Malcolm Kelner, Sage Kelner, coach Jonathon O'Dougherty.

Malcolm admitted it's somewhat unusual for young skaters to pick ice dancing as their skating specialty, but for him it's perfect.

"I like it because there's so much expression and acting," he said. "There's no jumps allowed, so there's more emphasis on technical skating skills and lifts."

We'll keep you informed about the performances of Jamie, Melyssa, Malcolm and Sage in their upcoming competitions.

From the Road

By Colleen Bourdon, Recruiting Director

It feels great to be back out meeting with soccer people.  When Schwan's USA CUP is completed each year it's a letdown when all of the players, coaches and parents we have been talking to all year go home.  So when we can pack our bags, get in the rental car and hit the road to meet the folks that will come to Schwan's USA CUP 2008, it energizes us.

We just completed a road trip to Moorhead, Minnesota; Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota and Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Each of these communities have soccer programs that bring many teams to the events at the National Sports Center, especially Schwan's USA CUP Weekend.

The other fun fact about this trip was that our interns, Adrien and Camille (that's Adrien in the glasses, with Camille in the grey sweater), presented the information at the meetings.  Our interns from France have been with us for almost six months, so it was great to see what they have learned and what their perspectives are.

We had the opportunity to meet with one of the stellar volunteers from the Schwan's USA CUP media group, Garry Frankel.  Garry is a photographer that volunteers during schwan's USA CUP and he took some shots of us in action in Winnipeg.

If you have a team or club interested in a meeting, let us know.  If we are in your area we would be happy to assist with this.  Contact Colleen at market@usacup.org with questions.