This is Chelsee in her first roller competition at four years old. She put on her first pair of quad skates when she was 17 months old. I was a competitive quad dance and figure skater and she would come to the rink with me when she was just a tiny tot. This is how she began skating...

Chelsee Foster- US Silver Medalist
competing in the United States National Roller Skating Championship 2000.

Chelsee discovered ice skating at a friends birthday party when she was five years old and decided it was much easier than rollerskating. She began lessons on ice at 5 1/2 years but continued with roller lessons also for over a year. The roller skates proved to be too different in foot placement and balance than the ice so she decided to give up the quad skates. Here she is this past Feb. 2001 in a juvenile ladies ice competition.

This one is Chelsee doing the limbo last year(2000) under a bar set at 6 1/2 inches.

http://www.iifsa.com/Chelsee.html

Michelle Foster <mikkif4@aol.com>

She skated only ice until her mom discovered the Pic skate at a pro shop in Denver about a year later. She would only skate public roller sessions and would not try any freestyle until she was asked to do a demo at an elementery school. In one weeks time she transfered her ice jumps and spins to the Pic so she could do the demo.
This picture is 2001 Nationals-Pensacola.

She has continued with the ice competitions and began inline competitions at the beginning of 2000. She received a lot of negative feedback in both the ice and roller world but it did not stop her and she has changed a lot of opinions by her perserverence. She has had a rough time trying to choose which one to do because of pressure from her ice coach to concentrate solely on ice and her love of her first sport-roller.
Another 2001 Nationals photo.

It has been difficult for her to do both sports and very time consuming. She leaves the inline periodically but misses it terribly and always returns. She has so much to offer to the inline sport but she is also a successful ice competitor.
Picture-2001 Nationals.

Last picture-2001 Nationals. Chelsee says the inline skates are harder to execute her jumps and spins than the ice blades, but the Pics move more like ice skates than quad roller skates. The reason she has been so successful on the Pic inline skate is because she has knowledge in both quad roller technique and ice technique and has combined the two to make the inlines work. She uses more the ice technique but has to revert to some quad tricks to make things happen on the inlines. She believes the inlines make her a stronger ice skater because there is no room for error on spinning or jumping on inlines- if you are not exactly centered on spins on the front wheel, you will not spin. If you miss your toe pick (toe stop) or edge going into a jump there really isn't any way to save the jump. The technique on inlines has to be superior in order for a jump or spin to happen. Chelsee can do everything on her Pics that she can do on ice including layback and flying camel spins and all double jumps through double lutz.