UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 21, Page 3
February 25, 1993
They can cut it; Adult skating team to compete in championships

     If you want to see team spirit in action, meet the 28-member adult
precision ice skating team that practices at the University's Blue Ice
Arena.
     Precision skating combines the intersecting movements employed by
marching bands with the leg-kicking steps made famous by the Rockettes of
Radio City Music Hall, and the emphasis is on the team creating sharp edges
and a uniform flow in its movements.
     "The key to success in precision skating," assistant coach Alice
Rakowski said, "is everybody doing the same thing at the same time."
     The team practices two nights a week, both on and off the ice,
sharpening the skills essential for regional and national championships.
     "On Monday nights, the team works on different parts of the routine,"
said Nancy Kirk, team member and a returning adult student at the
University. A full-team practice is held on Wednesdays.
     When not on the ice, the members are busy in the lobby of the Blue Ice
Arena, learning the various steps of the routine, with a special emphasis
on presentation skills. On-ice practice sessions are videotaped and
evaluated during breaks by coaches and team members.
     "A good deal of practice time is spent learning how to perform as a
group," Rakowski said, and "there is also a focus on free-style skating and
ice dancing."
     Team members work on their individual skills by taking advantage of
lessons offered at the Blue Ice Arena.
     "The strength of the team is in the various levels of skating ability
that each member brings," according to team member Betty Garvin, a staff
assistant in Cooperative Extension. "We help each other as a team."
     Adults entering competitive skating can experience the same anxiety
encountered by returning adult students. "I felt that I just couldn't do
it," said Kirk. "You just have to get used to it."
     Kirk and Rakowski said it's also a little tougher physically for
adults in skating, since they tend to have occasional back or knee
problems.
     The Delaware Diamonds team started competing in 1983 and first
qualified for national competition in 1986. Team member Jane Koehler,
Delaware '84 said that, while team competition is limited to a three-month
winter skating season, they skate year round. During an actual competition,
a team presents a 3 1/2-minute program, where the skaters perform their
routine to three different types of music.
     Members of the Diamonds are currently working on perfecting their
skills for the Precision Team Skating Championships and Blue and Gold
Invitational, a regional meet to be held March 5-6 in the Blue Ice Arena.
     "Our team must qualify here in order to get to the nationals," skater
Nancy O'Brien explained.
     Last year, the Delaware team placed fifth in the nationals and the
year before finished seventh. This January, the Diamonds finished third in
the Precision Classic International Competition, held in Lake Placid, N.Y.,
beating the Canadian national champions. At the upcoming Newark event, the
hometown team will be skating against the current adult national champions,
The Esprit de Corps of Lexington, Mass.
     "This is going to be a great competition," Kirk said. "People will get
to see a lot of good skating."
     Rakowski said the top four teams in the Eastern Regional will travel
to Detroit in April for the National Finals.
     Kirk and O'Brien both have daughters on the novice precision team, but
the adults have their own reasons for getting involved in competition.
     Koehler said precision skating is good mental and physical therapy,
and "it's a second chance for grown-ups who did not get to ice skate a
child."
     "We don't have to live out our childhood fantasies through our
children," she said.
                                        -Jerry Rhodes