Anaheim Competition

Last weekend California Gold took the ice for our first competition of the season in Anaheim, CA. The senior team arrived early to cheer on our novice team as they skated (beautifully) to Stardust. The program earned the team a second place finish and beat their goal by 6 points.

After some time spent preparing for our own competition, doing our hair and make up, we returned to the rink to lend our support to our beginner team, the California Gold Nuggets. The Nuggets skated to music from the animated film Rio and were adorable in their feathered blue dresses. Coach Falkowski smiled up to the stands as the Novice team, Senior team, Gold Alumni and parents chanted “Nuggets! Nuggets!”.

 The senior team then left once more to make our final preparations and warm up for our competition. We did not compete against anyone this time around, as the Ice Kateers Senior team competed their short program and we our long. However, attending the competition was extremely beneficial as it gave us an opportunity to perform and get feedback on our program. Getting a chance to see how our program will be scored helps us to figure out which elements need to be altered or worked on the most. While the program certainly isn’t perfect yet and we know we have a long way to go, we were proud to put out a strong performance so early in the year. It’s going to be a great season!

Written by:
Emmeline Weinert - Senior Blog Writer
Senior Team Member 2010-Present
Co- Captain 2011-2012
USFS DREAM Skater 2011-2013

Happy Haunting from California Gold

This past weekend skaters on the Senior and Novice teams wore their frightful costumes to practice. From Herb Brooks to Pirates, various animals, batman, a gypsy and many others it was a scene unlike any other.

These costumes were voted favorites by the skaters:
The Black Swan
Elf
Twister
The White Swan

I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright
-Oogie Boogie Man, Nightmare Before Christmas-

California Gold wishes you an enchanted Halloween night.

2012 Team USA Monitoring Session Update

We had our official Team USA monitoring session this past Monday, October 3rd. We will be traveling to France February 2012 for the French Cup Competition, so we were very excited to get feedback from international panelists so early in the season, to help us to prepare. However, it being so early in the season, we were also a little nervous. We have had both of our programs finished for a couple of weeks and have been running them, however it still hasn't been much time.

We scheduled a special afternoon practice and showed off the hard work we have done so far to Dan Kruger, Karen Wiesmeier and Jeanette Davey. They were very understanding of the fact that since it is so early, we do not yet have our lifts integrated into the program and are still figuring out how best to apply new rules and requirements. We were given advice on how to alter elements like our wheels to make sure that we receive top credit. We were very pleased to get positive feedback on our programs, as well as helpful corrections and suggestions. We as skaters were given reminders of how much ice we need to cover and to always remember to commit to those body movements.

It was a great opportunity to put ourselves out there for this season and I think that it helped the team to prepare mentally for competition mode. We were all very pleased with our performance over the course of the monitoring session and our coaches said that we skated some of the best programs that we have so far this year.

Written by:
Emmeline Weinert - Senior Blog Writer
Senior Team Member 2010-Present
Co- Captain 2011-2012

Meet the Golden Girl, Emiko!

Emiko has skated with California Gold for two years, her first year was the 2009-2010 Novice team, and this is her debut season on the Senior team. Emiko does not only skate with California Gold, but also volunteers to teach children at the Westminster Ice Palace on a regular basis.

In her little free time she enjoys cooking, gardening and most importantly volunteering. Combining her two interests of gardening and volunteering, this Girl Scout did a lot more than selling cookies. She recently attained her Gold award- planning and making a healing garden at the Los Alamitos Cancer Center. This serene healing garden, which held plants of specific healing essences, took over 65 hours of planning and work. Adding to her philanthropy, she also does charity work through the American Legion Auxiliary.

Emiko is a national AP Scholar as well as Girl’s Stater, ranking her in the top 500 girls excelling in academics and leadership throughout California. During the off-season of synchro, she is the varsity captain of her high school track and field team where she competes in the triple jump.

We are so glad to have this gifted and accomplished girl scout on our team!

Written By:
Melissa Lee - Senior Blog Writer
Senior Team 2009-Present

Meet Kaitrin

California Gold would like to introduce you to one of the newest members of our team. Kaitrin Curran is from Santa Rosa, California and started skating synchro in 1995 with The Pacific Skates followed by one season with Team Mystique. Unfortunately, the rink closed and the team moved too far away for Kaitrin to continue skating with them. She did stay on the ice however, and even played the role of Snoopy in Snoopy on Ice.

When it came time for college, Kaitrin decided to move down to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount University, where she was an animation major. During her time there Kaitrin traveled to Japan and in place of skating took up dance and joined one of LMUs dance crews, B-Boy Status.

After graduation, Kaitrin says she decided she needed to look for something new to give her purpose and started researching synchronized skating teams in Los Angeles. She found California Gold and we're so happy she did! Kaitrin adds a lot of swag to our team and has quickly become one of our most vocal comedians. When she's not skating, breakdancing or drawing, Kaitrin works at the Apple Store and enjoys nerdy TV shows, such as Doctor Who.

Written by:
Emmeline Weinert
Senior Team Member 2010-Present
Co- Captain 2011-2012

Getting Ready for the 2011-2012 Season

Yesterday we had our last off-season practice! The whole team, both senior and novice, is looking forward to hearing the music on August 6th, the first practice of the 2011-2012 season. Working on last week’s focus of crossovers, a simple yet paramount skill needed in synchro, Coach Cipresso explained the intensity and sharpness of the style Cal Gold is aiming for this year. Not forgetting about the artistic side of skating, Coach Falkowski also explained the need for emotion to be expressed through the body and not only by the face. After moving on to one of the more difficult maneuvers, a pivoting block, Coach Falkowski also explained how new rules required the block to consist of four consecutive turns- as if it wasn’t hard enough! Pushing through the newly choreographed steps- literally! – the team managed to get through the block by counting and knee bend..

Overall the team is excited and energized to start the new season.
Go gold! (:

Melissa Lee
Senior Team 2009-2012

April Workshops

Synchronized skating is a fun team sport that skaters of any age and level can enjoy! Come try it out at California Gold's April Workshops!
Location: East West Ice Palace
Date: Saturday April 2 and 9

• Novice
• Time - 5:30 to 6:45 am (please arrive 15 minutes early)
• Requirements - Juvenile, Intermediate or Novice MIF
• Cost - $20.00 per session
• Preliminary/Juvenile
• Time - 6:45 to 7:15 am (please arrive 15 minutes early)
• No test required
• Cost $10.00 per session
• Senior
• Time - 7:30 to 9:15 am (please arrive 15 minutes early)
• Requirements - Junior and Senior MIF
• Must be at least 14 years of age
• Cost - $30.00 per session

2011-2012 Season Tryouts

Date: Saturday and Sunday April 16 and 17
Location: East West Ice Palace

• Preliminary/Juvenile - Team placement will be assessed at workshops
• Novice
• Requirements - Juvenile MIF and Must be under 18 years old
• Saturday April 16 - 5:30 to 6:30 am (Please arrive 30 minutes early)
• Sunday April 17 - 6:00 to 7:00 am (Please arrive 30 minutes early)
• Cost - $55.00
• Senior
• Requirements - Junior MIF and Must be at least 14 years of age (exceptions must be approved by coaches)
• Saturday April 16 - 6:30 to 8:00 am (Please arrive 30 minutes early)
• Sunday April 17 - 7:00 to 8:00 am (Please arrive 30 minutes early)
• Cost - $65.00

For more information, click on the links in the side bar connecting you to the California Gold Website or Facebook Page.

Nationals: Saturday

Cal Gold supporting the Adult Team!

Cal Gold Adult Competition

It was an early morning for both Adult and Senior, but the strong practices brought confidence to Adult going into their competition and to Senior who skated their official practice later that morning. The nice thing about having competition in California is that we can do off ice outside in the warm sun! When we skated, our program was solid and powerful which made us excited for the competition later that night. When we got back to the hotel, we had a little bit of down time before we left to watch Adult team compete. And didn't we look fantastic!? Every California Gold supporter was geared up with funky glasses and headbands! They skated with a couple bobbles, but all in all, we thought it was amazing!
Then, after coming back to the hotel and resting awhile, Senior got ready for competition and headed to the rink for the last time. Off ice was intense as we got into our warrior character. When we had our skated on and stood by the side of the rink, we shouted our motto for this season: "We will rise and rise again, until lambs become lions." Our program was not the best that it could have been, but it was still enough to maintain our fourth place finish. We held our Pewter medals with pride and 14 of the 18 on our team were ecstatic to have our first Senior division National title.

California Gold Senior - Pewter Medalists

As our season comes to an end, I look back on all of the amazing memories that have come from this team over that past eight months, and I would not take back one minute of it. This was one incredible season for California Gold as an entire organization, and I am so proud to be a part of it.

Congratulations California Gold!

Nationals: Friday

Today was an awesome day starting out with short official in the morning. We had a rough first run with a problem with the music, but stepped it up for an amazing second run through. We felt confident going into short program that night. We came back to the hotel for a little bit of down time, but got right back out to cheer on the adult team in their official practice. Their program has improved so much since sectionals and have added another skater too! They are very impressive for the ten practices they've had since they started.

Fans Cheer of Cal Gold

Then, Novice got ready for their competition and the Senior team sent them off with a "tunnel" to their bus. Unfortunately, we couldn't go and scream for them in the stands because we had to prepare ourselves for short program, but we were definitely watching on icenetwork! They skated an awesome program that got all but one of their calls! We are very proud of them!

Novice Competition (watched on icenetwork)

After putting our hair up and make up on, the Senior team stepped onto the bus and to the rink for a bit of off ice before we competed. We put our skates on and got on the ice and skated a smooth and powerful short program. We were very happy with our skate and accomplished our goal of getting 3's in our G.O.E. that counted. We are sitting in fourth place right now and ready to blow the judges away with our long program Saturday night!


GO GOLD!!!

Nationals 2011

The U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships are upon us once again, but unlike other years, they take place just a short drive from our rink. This weekend, in Ontario, California, Novice and Senior Short are on Friday night and Adult and Senior Free Skate will be on Saturday Night. We are so thrilled to have the chance to perform for our friends and family in a national competition, so come out and support us and our fellow synchronized skating teams!

Sectionals: Saturday

Throwin' up peace signs for the Adult Team!

It's always exciting to sleep in when you're a synchro skater. And this morning, everyone got to sleep in :] Unfortunately, one of our skaters is sick with a fever and another has an injured wrist. But, we conquered these obstacles at Senior Long official practice in which we did an amazing program and two more awesome sections. After our practice, we went back to the hotel and had some downtime while Adult and Novice slicked their hair back and put their make-up on. A short bus ride to the rink later, we cheered for Novice team and they are now the Pacific Coast Silver Medalists! Then our Adult Team skated and, again, we cheered loudly with our "groovy" hair bands tied around our heads and psychedelic flower cutouts. They are currently the Pacific Coast Champions and are committed to working hard to place at nationals! Tonight, Senior Team rocked it in our long program! And again, we set the goal of breaking 100 points and we were able to achieve and surpass it! We are proud of what the California Gold teams have accomplished today and we're all ready to keep training when we get home.

Senior Award Ceremony

Sectionals: Friday

Novice Skates Their Official Practice

Friday morning, Novice woke up early to go to an unofficial practice to get used to the ice. It was a little shaky, but they had a great off ice and skated two awesome programs for their official practice. Then, Adult and Senior went to their unofficial practices at a separate rink. We both had very productive practices and Senior ended with a fabulous short program. Team manager Cheryl complimented the Adult team in saying that every single time they skate, they look so much better! After that, we went back for a Panera lunch and some down time.

Everyone on California Gold!

Last night, Senior competed short program with a goal of breaking 55 points. We were so pleased with our skates and the fact that we scored over our goal and broke 60 points! In California Gold history, we have never scored a short program over 60 points. We know that our competition is not over yet and had another unofficial practice last night to prepare for our long program today. Novice is all ready to compete this afternoon with their Wizard of Oz program. The Adult team will reveal their program tonight as well.

Today, everyone competes, so let's finish it out strong! GO GOLD!

Pacific Coast and Midwestern Sectionals!

The Adult Team skates their official practice.

Hello from Rochester, Minnesota! California Gold is safe and warm inside their hotels right now after two great official practices. First, the senior team skated their short program with confidence and poise. They are ready to blow the judges away with their presentation and speed! Then, the adult team went out and skated their program to "Hair" and everyone loved it! The parents and senior skaters were shocked at how amazing they were after only 6 practices! Since the coaches were busy skating, Annaleigh helped critique their program. Tomorrow, Novice will have their official practice and Senior will skate second for short program. We'll be sure to keep you posted, but if all fails, you can visit the official website at http://www.rochsports.org/synchro/

California Gold on TV!

The upcoming movie, RISE, is being promoted big time during the US National Championships on television. About a minute into this trailer, California Gold makes a short appearance from our performance in Spokane, WA for last year's Nationals. Be sure to check out RISE and support US Figure Skating by going to see the movie February 17th!

Later this week, California Gold will be leaving for Minnesota where it is FIVE DEGREES outside! But, the freezing cold weather will not faze us and we are ready to out out some great programs. This morning, both our Novice and Senior teams had amazing practices and are pumped to perform this weekend. Another thing we are excited for is the debut of out Adult Team! They will be performing for the very first time this weekend and we will be cheering our loudest for them!

SKATEFEST!

Come see Southern California's rising stars on ice at Skatefest!
Including performances by California Gold Novice, Adult, and Team USA Senior Team.

Ticket Pricing
Adult- $10
Children -$5 (10 and under)
Lunch- $10 - Taco Bar hosted by Baja Sonora

Price includes a public skate with our stars! (Skate rental not included)

Taco Bar opens at noon and the show begins at 1:00pm.

The event also hosts a silent auction and raffle baskets made by our skaters. Raffle tickets at $1 per ticket or $5 for six. As well as an IPad raffle!!! Tickets for the IPad raffle are $5 each.

Come show your support for the California Gold skaters and enjoy a wonderful show! If you can not make it to the show you can still participate in the IPad raffle as well as our raffle baskets. Contact Team Manager Cheryl Meyer or one of the skaters for information on how to purchase raffle tickets.


If your on Facebook, the event invitation is right HERE!

Willkommen in Berlin!

Cal Gold at the Brandenburg Gate

California Gold has made it to Berlin! Our two practices earlier this week were extremely productive and we had some great run throughs.

After our practice thursday morning, we had the

opportunity to go out and tour the brilliant city of Berlin. We bought day passes for the "Bahnhoff," Berlin's subway system, and visited major sights such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie. After seeing the streets of Berlin, we walked just had to stop in a chocolate shop called Fassbender & Rausch and had ourselves a nice cup of hot chocolate. 

Our lifts on an outdoor sheet of ice outside the practice rink.

When we were preparing for short program last night, we were doing off-ice in a hallway in the hotel. There was a group of elderly German onlookers that were intensely interested in what we were doing. Our ridiculously happy smiles were probably very entertaining to them! 

In competition last night, we had an amazing time skating our short program. The fun and swanky program is always a blast to get into with our surprised and smiley faces! Going into long program today, we are sitting in 3rd place and are ready to push ourselves to skate a fast and clean program. GO TEAM USA!!

Preparing for the Cup of Berlin

  We're down to our last few practices before we leave for the Cup of Berlin and we couldn't be more excited!  Our focus on the ice, however, has not been altered and we have been training hard these past weeks with the goal of skating two flawless programs in mind.  We recently received our new Team USA jackets and pants.  We were fully expecting to take a nice picture all dressed up in our outfits, but Alison pulled her pants out of the bag and asked "Are these supposed to be capris?" The pants were tiny and could not possibly fit anyone older than 10!  Our team started busting up as we all pulled our own pants out and found that they, too, were miniature!  It turned out that the inseam and outseam measurements had been mixed up, and our team manager tried every trick in the book to get them fixed by the time we left for Germany.  They will probably arrive after the competition, but we realized we had enough of the old Team USA pants for everyone to wear and that our new pants will not have to get dirty from the rain/mud, so it turned out to be a positive thing.  Plus, it gave us a funny story to tell :]
  For those of you who are not coming along with us, this blog will keep you up to date on what Cal Gold is up to in Berlin.  The Cup of Berlin Website can give you more information on the competition.