We had an AWESOME time at the Skaters Care event!!! Looking across the arena from us, it appeared that the turnout was light - but I heard later that those were seats for season ticket-holders. Our side had a much bigger crowd, but still far short of capacity. I hear that the big newspapers and TV stations didn't step up to help with the publicity. Booooo! Lots of people missed out on a really special evening!
The program started with an introduction of the cast, starting with some of the figure skaters. Then our Ice Club DeMorra (SCSSA) speedskaters blasted onto the ice to the cadence of Japanese drums - all dressed in black - with Kendal Pumphrey leading the way carrying the Japanese flag.
The first half was devoted to figure skating. There were quite a few youngsters - pairs and singles, and there was an entertaining program by the Los Angeles Theater on Ice, all dressed in French Revolution-era costumes, to the music of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
After the intermission, we came back to our seats and noticed that pads were up, and blocks were set - so we knew what was coming next!
Zach Fuller was the announcer for the ST demonstration, and the skaters were
J.R. Celski, Kyle Uyehara and
Chris McLaughlin for the men;
Meng Wang (CHN), Sun Linlin (CHN) and
Kendal Pumphrey for the ladies.
It seemed like a largely figure-skating fan base in the audience, so as our skaters entered for the warmup, I looked around. People were sitting on the edge of their seats (or standing) and getting their cameras ready - I'm guessing that most of them were seeing ST for the first time, and they seemed really excited!
The skaters came in and warmed up, including an impressive in-line TIGHT circle in the center of the arena. They did this several times during the demo, and at one time, J.R. skated so low that he actually touched his helmet to the ice!
The arena was a lot narrower than a normal competitive rink - so for safety reasons, they couldn't go as fast as they would have gone in a regulation-sized rink.
First they did two 500M races - one for the ladies, one for the men, with
Walter Rusk as the starter. They introduced each competitor, sans helmet, just as they do for Finals in competitions - giving each skater's accomplishments. It was BEYOND AWESOME when they introduced
Meng Wang. I could literally hear people in the crowd gasp in amazement as they heard her credentials and realized what a treat they were about to witness. It was really cool to see young Kendal Pumphrey lining up with two Olympic gold medalists. (Oh, and I'll give you one guess who won for the Ladies!)
They also did a relay demo. It was men against ladies - it got pretty competitive, and I started to worry that they were getting too fast for that narrow rink!
Last up was the 'comic relief':
The ST skaters were challenged to a 500M race by a trio of other skaters. As the announcer introduced the challengers, he said something like, "they THINK they're ST skaters, buuuuuut..." They included a hockey player, a figure skater and a Care Bear (yup, a Care Bear). In reality, the hockey player was
Haj Sano (SCSSA Masters skater), the figure skater was
Bianca Butler (an accomplished figure skater, and Kyle U's sweetheart), and the Care Bear was none other than
Jade Wheeler (one of our now-retired BB skaters).
In a 500M race, there are generally only 4 skaters on the line, and
J.R. Celski was selected to represent the ST team in this challenge race. The foursome lined up, and the starting gun went off...
The 3 challengers
blasted off the line (
), and J.R. was left standing in their ice chips. (Actually, he was still putting on his gloves). When the others got about a half-lap ahead, J.R. finally got his 'act' together and left the starting line, still trying to put on his second glove.
If you've ever been to a major league baseball game, where they have a bunch of cartoon characters racing around the bases on the jumbotron, and you're supposed to guess which one will win - it was kind'a like that!
Figure skater Bianca pirouette'd around the rink, as hockey player Haj and Care Bear Jade body-checked each other into oblivion and J.R.
struggled (haha) to catch up. J.R. crossed the line FIRST, despite his late start - Haj and Jade were STILL fighting in the homestretch, but Care Bear got the worst of it, spiraling across the finish line on her back after yet another cross-check from Haj. Sadly, though, J.R. was DQ'd for starting the race without all of his equipment (his gloves), and Haj and Jade were DQ'd for all of their shenanigans, so the official winner was - Bianca!!!
I don't know much about figure skating, but there were some amazing young up-and-coming talents out there who 'wow'd' us, and who I suspect we'll see a lot of in the near future. After the speedskating demo, the more seasoned figure skaters performed, including Daisuke Murakami, and a lighthearted performance by Olympian Jeremy Abbott (see YouTube video following photos from the event).
It was so much fun... our skaters seemed to be having a blast! They were wonderful ambassadors for the sport, and I'm sure there were some new fans made! Here are some photos - a few from Lily, a few from Kendal's mom, Annette, and a few of my own.
Here are the ones I took:
L to R: Chris McLaughlin / Sun Linlin / J.R. Celski / Kyle Uyehara
Here are a couple I got of Kendal with Meng Wang and Sun Linlin:
The start of the 'challenge' race:
Taking their closing bows:
These next ones are from Lily:
Getting a wave from Meng Wang
Jeremy Abbot asked his mom to take a pic of him with J.R.
I think this was at the end, before the final bows.
The final bunch is from Annette:
At the end, they did a group photo - this is only a portion of the photo, but it shows all of our skaters better than the big one!
This one wins the blue ribbon!
I cropped out a fella's head here, so there wasn't much left, but I really liked this pic of Chris & Kyle!
And lastly, here's the YouTube video of Jeremy Abbott's 'Rhythm of Love' performance - this is from a different event, but it's exactly the same routine/music:
), and J.R. was left standing in their ice chips. (Actually, he was still putting on his gloves). When the others got about a half-lap ahead, J.R. finally got his 'act' together and left the starting line, still trying to put on his second glove. 
