Jan. 3
Novice Men Free Program Practice
Ice Forum is located north of Atlanta and has at least two rink surfaces. The rink used for U.S. Nationals practices was located toward the back and next to an upstairs café that had windows overlooking the ice. There were local pair skaters in costume in the front main rink of the Ice Forum, and I almost got confused in finding the skaters for Nationals practices. It was somewhat sparsely populated when I arrived, but leaving around noon was another story. The hallways were buzzing with skaters, mostly the little league hockey players and parents. There were also some children there for ice skating. And outside, the facility's parking lot was now nearly filled to capacity.
The rink for Nationals practices was a hockey setup with about a five-foot window shield mounted on the boards of the ice surface. There were sets of bleachers only on the left side of the rink, and the coaches were on the right side of the rink and in fairly close proximity to each other.
General Novice Thoughts: Wow! I really wasn't expecting to see this level of skating. I had never before witnessed a Novice level skating event, so I admit that I didn't know what to expect. But, I believe the term 'novice' is in reference to the age group and not limitations on capabilities. The speed of the group was quite good, as were the jumps being attempted and executed. And, especially, the moves in the field were not bad at all, which is something that can take time to develop.
Ones to Watch - Those that caught my eye in particular include: William Brewster, Lenny Raney, and Princeton Kwong.
My notes are not indicative of all the moves each one attempted; just some details I noted while watching all six together on the ice. Each skater's music was played lowly over the sound system, and the skaters did run-throughs of their programs.
Novice Men Free Skate Group A:
Stephen Carriere - gray T-shirt and black pants
He fell on a triple lutz. He put a hand down on a triple lutz that was two footed. He was attempting the lutz almost always in the same spot of ice in the corner. This must have been where the jump was located in his program. He did do a clean triple lutz and in combination on the spot of ice he was attempting it.
Brandon Mroz - red T-shirt and black pants
He executed a flying camel spin with a little bit of travelling. He can do three jumps in a row in combination; it looked like triple-double-single. I could be wrong. He was working on the lutz jump and did a double lutz, fell on a lutz, and popped a lutz.
Princeton Kwong - blue and white T-shirt, black pants
He did a double lutz from fast stroking. He executed a short spread eagle. He did a double-double jump combination. He put a hand down on the triple loop. He performed lunges in the choreography. He did a triple flip in combination. He did a double axel. He executed a camel to sit spin while holding onto the free leg. Why is he one to watch? Princeton had a very mature presentation style and quite a bit of flow and smoothness in his skating. He has a very confident and developed style. I was impressed with his overall body line.
Douglas Razzano - black T-shirt and black pants
I have only made notes on his spins. He did a flying camel to sit change foot sit spin. And, he later did a combination that included a sit spin with steps leading into a scratch spin that was fast and well-centered.
William Brewster - gray T-shirt, blue pants with a white vertical stripe down the side
He did an amazing circular footwork sequence with lots of one foot turns in succession. The sequence covered a large portion of the ice surface. He did a scratch spin into a pose as part of his run-through. In the general practice time following the run-throughs, he did a particular routine down the diagonal of the ice. He would start at one end of the rink and swish back and forth in a rocking motion, on one foot the whole time down the length of the ice. Then, later, in a similar move he went down the length of the ice alternating from one foot to the other in this rocking, swaying motion. Watch him - because he's quite accomplished. He appears at first like a lively young kid, but he has the makings to be quite good. He has potential for the smoothness and spins (well-centered and fast) of Todd Eldredge, the footwork of Kurt Browning, and the lyrical stylings of Paul Wylie. Time will tell.
Daniel Raad - black T-shirt, black pants with yellow stripe down the side
He did a triple loop then later a double axel. He executed a combination spin with camel to change foot camel to sit spin. The sit spin revolutions were a bit brief. He later did another sit spin with his legs down lower, but his arms were high.
Brandon Mroz and Princeton Kwong were the last to leave the ice in this group.
Novice Men Free Skate Group B:
Lenny Raney - black T-shirt, dark blue long-sleeve shirt, black pants
Several skaters remove layers of clothing as they warm up on the ice during the practice session.
He began his session with footwork and turns in the choreography. He did a double, double lutz, double axel, and double flip with a step out landing. He went back and did a triple flip, at the end of the ice, in the spot where he had previously done the double flip. He was practicing the axel jump in a specific spot of ice, too. He did a single axel, fell on some double axels and kept working on it. For his run-through to Matrix selections, he did choreography from the starting pose into a double axel. He had shoulder shaking in the choreography. He stepped out of a double lutz. His combination spin included sit to camel to sit change foot sit and featured low positions in the sit spin. He did a triple-double jump combination and a well-centered camel spin. He executed straight line footwork into a series of jumps that ended in a double axel. He did a sit spin to a scratch spin where he may have had a bit of trouble entering the sit spin. Another spin combination at the end included sit to camel to sit to scratch spin. He achieves very low positions and has legs of great length. He's one to watch because he has a wonderful posture. It is confident in a majestic sort of way. He has his own style and has a great presence on the ice.
Daisuke Murakami - yellow long-sleeve shirt, yellow sweatshirt with black and white lining, black pants
He started with sit spins and combination spins. He did the straight line footwork. Then for the jumps, he did a double loop, double flip, and double lutz-double combination. He did a triple lutz with the landing swung around a little. He did triple lutz-double and double axel-double combinations. Then, he began rolling off other double-double combinations. This guy is energetic and a fighter - he was eking out landings of some triples. He did a spin combination with camel to sit to camel to egg beater position. He actually bowed to the spectators at the end of his practice group before leaving the ice, and that was the first time of the day that this move was seen.
Daniel Eison - navy blue long-sleeve fleece shirt, black pants with a white stripe down the side
He did a scratch spin into a pose. The spin was fast, but the head position was not as centered and steady. He did a triple loop. He executed small split jumps into a jump and had a brief camel spin.
Charlie White - red long-sleeve shirt, black pants
When I saw him, he was practicing footwork with a lot of lunges and nice turns.
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