Thats right everyone, synchro competition season has finally arrived. California Gold made our debut this past week at Anaheim Ice, with our Senior, Intermediate and Nuggets (beginner) teams skating. My life experiences with synchro competitions have overwhelmingly involved slushy buses and cramped indoor spaces. Competing in southern California in November is anything but that. Teams sat outside as they prepared for competition, complete with lawn chairs and inflatable mattresses.

It was an incredibly long day for the senior team. We arrived at our home rink in Artesia at 5:45 am and didn't leave the rink in Anaheim until 7:00 pm. We had our own practice and two official monitoring sessions, along with competition and preparation. We got to watch our intermediate team pull out a great performance to, The Princess and The Frog, and take home a silver medal and chant for the adorable Nuggets skating to, The Cat in the Hat. There were also long periods of doing hair etc, where I felt the team was able to bond for the first time.

As I said in my previous blog, this team comes from all over, literally and figuratively, and many of us still don't know each other well. But this past weekend gave us the chance to be silly and chat as we showed off our skills. It made me think about how competitions, in many ways, define a team. A team is who they are at a competition, when a lot is at stake and excitement is high. Those are the memorable moments.

This team has yet to travel together, but based on the tone set this weekend, I look forward to it greatly. We have only been together a short time, but already we have come so far. In Anaheim, we weren't competing against anyone for the short program we put out, but we took it seriously none the less. The skate wasn't perfect, however, we can now see more clearly what we need to do. A memorable moment from the competition for me was getting my hair piece stuck to a teammates tights as I ducked under her leg in our spiral. A synchro snapshot for my memoirs, good for retelling, not ideal for scores

 

Written by:

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

2013 Here We Come!

My name is Emmeline Weinert, but most of my teammates call me Emmy. You will be reading my blogs all season so I thought I should introduce myself. I grew up watching my older sisters skate back home in Michigan which led me to ten years skating synchro with the Hockettes Synchronized Skating Teams. I came out west for College where I joined California Gold to continue my love of the sport. I am a junior at Loyola Marymount University where I am majoring in Political Science and Dance. This is my third season skating with California Gold senior and my second year as team captain. I am also a member of the DREAM Team, representing Team USA in synchronized skating and SoCal on the national skating scene.

Blog Writer Emmy strutting her stuff in Rouen France

California Gold senior has been together for almost seven weeks this season and yet everything still seems rather new. This is my third season with the team and things feel a little different. Teams typically talk about the amount of turn over each season, or returning skaters, but in this case, 'turn over' is a particularly apt phrase. It is not only that we have a very different team from last season, we have also brought back skaters from several years ago, 'turning over' the proverbial pile. as these individuals find themselves being the faces of Cal Gold once again, and not just our base.

2013 Senior Team USA (Alexa not pictured)

This makes for some interesting demographics. Less than half of our team has returned from last season (eight skaters), though an additional five skaters have skated on California Gold senior before. Four skaters moved up from last year's novice team and we are very excited to welcome two young women into the sport of synchronized figure skating for the first time. This totals nineteen individuals and one fantastic team.

Coaches Jill Cipresso and Amanda Falkowski talking with skaters during practice

However, Cal Gold isn't just working with skaters from many different synchro backgrounds, we are all at very different places in our lives. Six of our teammates are in high school, eight of us are college age and five out of school. Our ages range over a decade, from fourteen to twenty-five. Team Captain Brittany got married to Kevin Hurst this past June, while some of our high school athletes had school dances this past weekend. Our skaters come from Orange County in the south, to Santa Monica in the north in order to meet in Artesia early in the morning for practice.

Tiana - Pictured right, ready for her last high school Coronation Dance. Tiana is a 2nd year member of Team USA

Team Captain Brittany with her husband Kevin

Coach Falkowski and Brittany getting ready for the ceremony - Fun Fact: Both Coach Falkowski and Brittany have been skating together since they were elementary kids and met their husbands in the same Ice Rink Pro Shop.

Past and current Cal Gold Skaters at Brittany's wedding - Katie, Britney, Coach Cipresso, Brittany, Coach Falkowski, and Megan.

All of these things can make it difficult to build a team. Our skaters go to school full time, working grown up jobs and one is even an Air Force Cadet. However, with this difficulty comes an appreciation for commitment. The team is still working to get to know one another with after practice Panera Bread bonding sessions and facebook jokes. Practice is full of laughter as we push ourselves to coalesce as a team and prepare for the coming competitive season.

 Fun fact: I'm the coolcat in the stunna-shades

We are also thrilled to announce the news that Coach Cipresso is expecting her second child, due to arrive April 2013! It is sure to be another exciting season in the California Gold Family, and we look forward to sharing it with you.

Jill, Mario and Luca on their summer camping trip.

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

2012 US National Championships

This past weekend California Gold traveled across the continental United States to attend the Synchronized Skating National Championships in Worcester, Massachusetts. After a long flight, our Novice and Senior teams did a small amount of sightseeing at Quincy Market in Boston, but then it was all skating, all the time.

As a member of the senior team, my teammates and I were eager to improve on our scores from our international assignment in Rouen, France. Since France, our team had really amped up our presentation skills and hoped that we would see that reflected in our Program Component scores. All season we had worked hard to ensure that every member of our team understood our technical requirements, so that we would be skating smart, thinking about what needed to be done in each element. We knew going into our final skates of the season that a competition can be won or lost on those technical calls.

After several days of practice and preparation in Massachusetts, it was time for competition. In those two days of competition, we had several team talks and focus sessions, discussing reminders with one another and pumping ourselves up for the culmination of the season. We had practices both competition days between our official ice time in the morning, when the panel watched, and when we competed, to ensure that everything had been solidified.

Both our short and long programs were strong, clean skates that we are very proud of. I know that I feel incredible about how far this team came over the course of the season and how much each member grew. With a sixth place finish overall, we are pleased with out accomplishments and the wonderful season we had representing the Los Angeles area, the Pacific Coast and the United States of America. We will be cheering for the Crystallettes and Haydenettes as they represent the US once more at the 2012 Synchronized Skating World Championships! GO TEAM USA!

Its odd to have the season over, it feels so soon to me. Personally, I will enjoy sleeping in (far) past 3:30 a.m. for about a week and then be happy to trade in that lifestyle for more synchro practices!

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

Cal Gold Wraps Things Up in France

At the beginning of this month California Gold senior had the amazing experience of traveling to Rouen, France to compete in the French Cup international competition. After the long flight we got half a day in Paris to see Notre Dame cathedral, the Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower. Then it was to Rouen for the next several days to practice and compete.

Participating in the event's opening parade and hanging out with our other Team USA members were so much fun. Our team grew in leaps and bounds while overseas and the experiences while there were priceless. We are so excited to have finished in the top half of the competition and seen the amazing international talent present on the ice.

While neither of our two competitive skates was flawless, we had some of the best official practices we've had all season and our presentation improved immensely. The team is motivated and ready to go into nationals with a renewed vigor from the experience of representing the US.

One highlight for me was watching the top senior teams compete in the free skate after we had competed. Many of my teammates had never had the opportunity to see teams like Team Unique of Finland skate before. I love seeing the choices that teams make in their choreography and style and it reminded me not only how much I love to participate in this sport, but also how beautiful it is to watch.

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

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

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.

International Assignment

California Gold has been selected to go to the Cup of Berlin!

U.S. Figure Skating posted the International Assignments on September 17th.

Click Here for USFS Article

Official Cup of Berlin Site

Team USA!

We are thrilled to announce California Gold is once again a proud member of Team USA!! This is our fourth season on Team USA and we will work hard to represent the United States in international competition.

The official start of our season will be Saturday, August 7th. We will have summer sessions, we encourage all skaters to enjoy their summer vacation, but when you're in town, please attend our summer sessions and be ready for some hard work.

We still have a couple positions open on the Senior and Novice teams for qualified candidates. If you know of any skaters who might be interested, please let us know.

We are looking forward to another great season!

Long Program

After resting for a couple of hours, we started to get ready for our long program. Thankfully, there were no pudding spills this time and we were able to get by okay. We had a short off-ice before we left the hotel, warming our muscles up, and then left for the rink. After doing our regular warm up, we went through our program, put our lifts up, and did another program with just our faces.

Soon after, we left for the locker room to put on our dresses and skates. When we were all ready, we did our team cheer and the USA cheer. After the ice cut, we went to the side of the ice rink, took some deep breaths, turned our performance on, went out there and skated a nice program. We were happy with our performance and ended up in 10th after all 16 teams had skated

If you missed our performance, click on this link to take you to see it! http://normandie.france3.fr/french-cup/index.php?page=article&numsite=6245&id_rubrique=6410&id_article=14060

After skating, we watched the rest of the teams (and cheered on Starlights who got 9th!) and loved watching Nexxice, Paradise, and Team Unique. We went and saw our parents and watched the awards ceremonies then went back to the hotel for some yummy pastries, bread, cheese, and (for the parents) wine. Most of us were dead tired, but we stayed up until 4 in the morning (later for some of us...) talking, packing, showering, and just having a good time. The next day we would be leaving, so we were spending our last moments in France with our friends and looking back at all of the fun times we had.

We'd like to thank the people who have been so supportive of us. We really appreciate it! And we were so happy to hear that some of the families got together last saturday to watch us and support us at the Creme de la Crepe in Long Beach!

Short Program

So after walking back to the hotel, we got dressed for short program. Our purple dresses and make-up made us feel all the more sexy in our program. However, while we were getting ready, Megan had tossed her pudding cup on the bed which wasn't the best place to put it because soon after, Donatella comes along and accidentally sits on the pudding cup. It explodes in the sheets and they try to clean it up, but Megan is more worried about the fact that she wouldn't be able to eat her pudding any more.

Once our hair and make-up were done, we took our dresses and walked to the rink. We found a place outside to warm up and walk through our programs. When we walked into our locker room, we put our dresses on and chilled for awhile. We got pumped up by singing our Big Spender song at the top of our lungs to beat out the people shouting in the locker room next to us (it's a good thing we don't sing while we're on the ice...). We put on our skates, walked out to the rink, and prepared ourselves by taking deep breaths and massaging the skater in front of us.

We stepped onto the ice, confident and feeling sexy, and skated a great short program. We beat our score from Porter and were happy to have skated the way we did. We are sitting in 10th place right now (aside Starlights who are in 9th) and we will be skating 6th for the long tonight. After taking off our skates and dresses, we went up to the stands to watch the rest of the teams skate. A lot of us haven't been able to attend an international competition, so it was cool to see teams from different countries. The event ended around 11, so we walked back to our hotel after the draw and went straight to bed.

This morning, we were able to sleep in until 9 am. We went down for breakfast and had time to get ourselves ready for long program official practice. In a conference room down stairs, we had off-ice to warm us up and go over small details. Walking to the rink has now become a breeze (since we have walked it many times over the last week), and we had another off ice before going into the locker room and putting our skates on. Our practice went very well and we did (almost) 2 full programs. Were happy with our practice and pulled our skates off and walked back to our hotel. We ate at the same Italian restaurant that we ate at on Wednesday and had a very satisfying lunch. Now we're back at the hotel taking naps, doing homework, and (of course) updating the blog :]

If you missed us live..

Click on this link to watch a recap of the competition!

http://normandie.france3.fr/french-cup/index.php?page=article&numsite=6245&id_rubrique=6404&id_article=1405

Woke up in the morning feeling like...

skating official practice! Everyone was really pumped to perform our programs for the technical panel. After strolling on over to the ice rink we headed into the locker room. We laced our skates and tried to (unsuccessfully) translate our fellow Finish competitiors cheers. We took the ice and skated two strong run-throughs and still had time left to stroke around and really get our feet beneath us.


After lunch and a NAP :) we walked back over to the rink and cheered on our fellow Americans, Chicago Jazz. It was difficult to really watch the teams skate since we were being mobbed by French elementary students. The language barrier did not stop them from getting our autographs, shaking our hands and giving high-fives.


Now feelings of excitment and anticipation are in the air as we slick back our hair and beautify ourselves for short program tonight! We skate around 9:00PM (about 1:00PM, for you)! So, send good luck wishes and watch us LIVE on the official French Cup website:


http://normandie.france3.fr/french-cup/index.php?page=article&numsite=6245&id_rubrique=6266&id_article=13787

Rouen

So, since we didn't blog yesterday, we'll cover both days :]

Wednesday, the team slept in until 8 am, then got up to eat breakfast and do homework. We went to walk around Rouen and eat lunch. Amy and Britney Mathis talked about the history of Rouen including the Notre Dame in Rouen and Joan of Arc. We ate a delicious lunch complete with teeny-tiny mousse desserts. We then walked back to our hotel to prepare for unofficial practice. After a minor scare in which Brittany Cisneros got locked in the ice rink's bathroom (successfully saved by Gail Harriett) , we were ready to skate. In the middle of practice, Taylor, who had already injured her finger, dislocated her thumb. Thanks to our well-qualified team doctor, she was ready to skate in no time. After a good practice, we went to a small pizzeria where we had dinner. When we arrived at the hotel, we had a quick stretch/meditation session with Coach Meyer. It really helped us calm down and get to bed after a long day.

Thursday, we woke up at 5 am to walk to the ice rink for another unofficial practice. We had three half hour increments on the ice that were all successful and productive. Other teams were starting to show up at the rink which made the competition seem all the more eminent. Lynn Benson, our USA team leader, gave us the basics on how the competition will run. Shortly after, we had a couple hours to relax and do homework. When the team was refreshed, we went into town again to eat and shop. We were impressed by the large selection of French pastries we came across (they were so cute!). The team came back to the hotel and relaxed some more before going to the draw. Brittany Cisneros and Megan got to pick between a variety of toy bunnies and bears to determine our skate order for short. We drew fifth! (Starlights, our fellow Team USA members, will be skating third) After meeting up at the rink, we ate dinner and went back to our hotel for another quick stretching/meditation session. And now, we are going to bed! Goodnight!

P.S. Since it takes us 20 minutes to walk to the rink, we found a more efficient way to carry our bags (see below).

Into Paris We Go!

This morning, we all woke up early, ready to skate a great practice. After a short 20-minute walk through the streets of Rouen, we arrived at the rink, wandering aimlessly, looking for a rink assistant, let alone a light. Then we got on the ice (loving the fact that it was blue) and prepared to get our feet back underneath ourselves. We worked really hard during our 2 hours on the ice and accomplished our goal of getting used to it. While we were taking our skates off, we passed a group of Europeans, who stared at the logos on our Team USA jackets (the first of many today).

The hotel hosted a wonderful breakfast for us and another team…a men’s futbol team (that’s soccer, by the way). Once Cheryl told us that we had a whopping 45 minutes to get ready to venture into Paris, we booked it to our rooms for showers and primping, since we knew the vast amount of pictures that would be taken.

The bus picked us up from the hotel and drove by the famous Moulin Rouge. The rather small windmill was hard to capture through the rainy windows. Then we had to depart from the bus and walked to Montmarte Hill to see the Sacre Cour. After climbing up the steps to see the cathedral, we saw an amazing view of Paris. Stephanie and Chelsea introduced us to the history and significance of Sacre Cour. It was an astounding cathedral, with beautiful architecture. We came out of the cathedral to walk into the little souvenir shops, where street artists lined up to display their art, even in the rain. Somebody discovered a crepe shop at the side of the road and suddenly there was a mob of hungry girls surrounding the shop.

Walking with our crepes, we approached the entrance of the metro station. We bought our tickets and raced onto the train, a first for many skaters. While waiting for our stop, we guarded our bags, eyeing every person who hopped onto the train. Pushing ourselves through the crowded metro car, we hurried off, worried that somebody would be left behind (luckily that didn’t happen).

Continuing our self-tour of Paris, we visited Notre Dame next. Elizabeth and Alaina talked about the background of the cathedral, especially the construction and architecture of the building. Escaping the wind and rain, we entered the gothic cathedral to see the awe inspiring stain glass windows and towering ceilings. Sadly, we didn’t go up the bell towers, mainly because we wanted to save our legs to skate. Deciding that we wanted to eat something, we wandered through the Latin Quarter, and found the Café de Flores.

Once we finished eating, we walked to the D’Orsay Museum. Caitlin and Annaleigh explained how the museum was once a train station and how it came to house the largest collection of impressionist art in the world. A quick hour later, we had covered most of the museum, claiming that the Birth of Venus was one of our favorites.

In our last stop of our self-tour, we walked for several blocks (or miles…we couldn’t tell the difference) to see the Eiffel Tower. Coach Amanda and Megan presented history and fun facts about this well-known landmark. Although it was late at night, some of the team took an elevator to the second floor. The view was SPECTACULAR! We snapped many photos, and returned to the elevator. But as the doors closed, poor Caitlin was left standing outside, sadly waving goodbye (the elevator was stuffed). Eventually everyone made it to the ground and back onto the bus for the 2-hour ride back to Rouen.

It was a fabulous start to our adventure in France :D

Bonjour! 

We've made it! California Gold is now safely tucked away into our beds getting our beauty sleep before an early practice tomorrow morning. We arrived in Paris around 5:00am U.S. time, 2:00pm here! After clearing customs we made our way to meet up with our luggage and Sammy our bus driver! We then drove about 20 minutes into the heart of Paris and right around the Arc de Triumph.On our way to the Louvre, Brittany C. and Melissa gave us a little run down of the museum's history, noting such facts as its previous purpose as a dungeon! Thanks to our flashy Team USA jackets we were allowed to experience the Louvre free of charge. We saw everything from Mona Lisa's smile to Michelangelo's spectacular Sculpture of the Dying Slave. Sammy then took us to the Seine River where we would be taking a night-time river boat cruise through the city. Hungry skaters ate some "french-style" hotdogs (a hotdog stuffed into a tradtional french baguette, with all of the fixings) while waiting for out boat to wisk us away! Soon enough we were traveling down the Seine taking in the "city of lights,"as Parisians call it. And lights there were, we all watched bright-eyed as the Eiffel Tower light up with dancing lights on the hour, each hour.Pictures of our adventures to come, but now we must hit the pillow and prepare for what brought us here...skating! Goodnight USA!

Tout notre amor (all of our love),

CALIFORNIA GOLD in France!

Au Revoir!

As we leave on our trip to France, we wanted to thank everyone for their support. We are extremely excited to take hold of this amazing opportunity. This morning's practice went smoothly and we are now putting our skates in our bags and heading to France.

To those of you who will not be coming with us, we wish you were coming, but apparently any bag over 50 lbs. will cost $100 (and 100 euros coming home!), sorry! On a serious note, if you want to check up on the competition, you can check out this the official competition site: http://www.frenchcup.fr/index_uk.php?menu_language=UK. Also, there is a live webcast (similar to icenetwork, but in French) that you can watch: http://video-direct.france3.fr/player.php?id=675%20. Again, thanks so much for the support.

A shout out to Coach Cipresso: We love you! And we promise to go to bed on time!