This is a new concept introduced this year that will benefit our entire program. All of our skaters will develop individual skills and drills on a session set aside to teach and practice specific elements.

Rest assured – our skaters will be given advanced skills beyond the basic drills, as most of the skills will be individual. Safety is a priority here, so the groups will be separated as needed.

The session is designed to introduce or improve some of the elements that our skaters may be lacking for the Juvenile / Novice divisions or which could use some additional work.

Twizzles, bracket footwork, change of direction elements, open block concepts with tracking and spread eagles/bauers are just a few of the priority items that I can identify now as needing additional work, but there are many more we can benefit from practicing. Through this session, we as coaches can work more closely one-on-one with your skater, while also building a team spirit among our various teams by bringing them together to work side-by-side.

We are very proud to announce that not only have we added a team to the Phoenix family, we currently have 65 skaters for the 2009 season. This represents an increase of 34% over the 2008 season. For those of you who are returning synchro skaters or taking private lessons, this will provide that little extra needed for next season as we assemble our teams (specifically Novice).

This is also good news for your wallet because we can offer this program at the low rate of $40 per month based on strong enrollment. Our coaches will include myself (Jeannine), Helene Wolf, Hazel Murphy, Kelly Zavza and Erin Bridge. Additionally, all skaters will have the added benefit of skating with the Pre-Juvenile team during these sessions. The 13 girls on Pre-Juvenile will be skating the training session as part of their weekly training, so we look forward to having these teammates set the bar high for all of our skaters. The skaters and the skills and drills will be separated into elements of varying skill levels, to accommodate the various levels of skaters participating. It’s always good to see what challenges are ahead though!

The Training Program will be held from 5:40 – 6:35 p.m. each Tuesday, following the Pre-Juvenile team practice.