Today, Sunday, December 13, 2009, is a day of packing.  You see, I've been packing to prepare to go to the 2010 US Junior National Figure Skating Championships. This is the third year in a row that my children, Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris, have qualified for the competition.

I feel like an "experienced Junior Nationals mom" now! It should be exciting and fun since my brother, Billy's son, Charlie Schneider, also qualified and my parents are coming! We will enjoy being together.  This is a real "Schneider Family Skating Affair!"

On November 20, 2009, while we were in Wichita at the 2010 Midwestern Figure Skating Championships, the Broadmoor Skating Club skaters were notified that a fellow training mate and club member died tragically in a skiing accident at 11:45 AM in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Just last weekend, Haley's mother, Pat, had written on Facebook that her family had hit the slopes. In her post, she described the joy the family had experienced on top of a mountain in Colorado. On Monday, I told Pat that I saw her post and wished I could take my family skiing soon. She and I chatted about skiing and Pat had told me that the family had purchased season passes for Breckenridge. I replied that our family\\\'s ski trips would have to be put on hold until after Junior Nationals.

Haley Gans was only fourteen years old. She was a beautiful person that was loved by everyone she touched.

The first time I met Haley was on the ice during the summer of 2006 or 2007. I was teaching Annabelle or Rebekah or Joel on a freestyle. We happened to say hello to Haley at the the music machine. Haley commented how great a skater Annabelle was!

Later on, I learned that Haley was deaf, but lived the life of a hearing person since she had cochlear implants surgically implanted in her ears. A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.

Like my own children, Haley had always been homeschooled, and I also discovered that her mother Pat and I had similar homeschooling styles. We both knew what unschooling was and used that style of homeschooling some of the time.

Just last summer, for her 14th birthday, Haley had a huge birthday party at Water World in Denver. I was so impressed with the party. Haley invited many of the Broadmoor skaters that were close to her age. She seemed to be overjoyed that so many kids wanted to celebrate her birthday with her. Rebekah had a wonderful time. Pat mentioned that she hoped Rebekah and Haley would get to spend more time together since the two girls were so much alike.

This year in particular, I had the joy of seeing Haley skate every day with Larry Ibarra. She and Larry skated at the same time as Rebekah and Joel on the 9:00 AM Dance/Pairs Session at the Colorado Springs World Arena. Larry was teaching Haley everything about pair skating. Each day Haley got better and better. She jumped in the clockwise direction, but Larry did amazing things with her! They would do throws in Haley\\\'s jumping direction, but death spirals in Larry's. The lifts they did were incredible.

Larry recently had gone to Florida with Haley and her family for a pair try-out. Haley so much wanted to find a pair partner and compete.

Just before we left for Midwesterns, Rebekah wore a new waltz dress to the rink. Haley loved Rebekah's dress and told Rebekah how pretty she looked in it. Also, she and Pat wished us well. That was only a few days ago...

My entire family loved Haley. Everyone loved her. My family's thoughts are for Pat and John Gans and Haley's siblings, Rebekah and Jake.

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From the Denver Post 11-20-09

Girl Dies After Ski Accident At Breckenridge

A 14-year-old Colorado girl has died after an accident on an intermediate trail at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Haley Rose Gans, from Colorado Springs, was skiing on the Spruce Trail, a blue intermediate trail, when she apparently skied into a tree. The resort said ski patrol was summoned to the trail at 11:48 a.m. Friday. Gans was taken to Breckenridge Ski Resort, where she was pronounced dead. Witnesses said the teen was skiing very fast and into a tree. The cause and manner of death are pending investigation, but are related to blunt force trauma of the chest. Gans was wearing a helmet.

Are you a figure skater?  If you are, do you know that your life is on display?  People watch you.  No matter what your age is or what your skating level is, keep in mind that you are someone's role model ON and OFF the ice.

This also means that what you do on the internet is also on display.  If you take part in FigureSkating360, keep in mind that what you do there is public.  Also, be up front about who you are.  Do not pretend to be someone else on the internet or on FigureSkating360. 

One of the coaches at my rink does everything "team style."  It's common to see her skaters cheering and banging the boards when someone lands a difficult jump or completes a difficult spin.  When her group goes to competition, there is a cheering section that includes that coach's skaters and families. 

Recently, other coaches at my rink have copied that coach.  As Sectionals is getting close, there is a lot of clapping and cheering and banging of the boards going on at the rink.

I think that is GREAT!

Unfortunately, not everyone at the rink is part of the groups that are doing the cheering.  The members of the club are excited for everyone, but still, some kids are not getting equal attention.  I've heard that someone complained to the management that certain kids are getting too much attention.

What are  your thoughts?  Should we cheer for other skaters?

I usually boast about one of my own three kids, but today I'm going to boast about my brother, Billy's daughter Phoebe Schneider!

Yesterday, 8-15-09, Phoebe became the US National Showcase Champion! (Unfortunatelly, my family is on vacation in California and my parents are in Illinois, so we didn't get to be at the event.)

The way my sister-in-law, Amy, described it is as follows:

Phoebe won the qualifying round. She advanced to the finals and won that too.

That qualified her for the Parade of Champions which was like an ice show with spotlights. All the winners performed.

Everyone waited in anticipation to find out who would win the entire competition. (This reminds me of a Miss America Pageant.)

The podium was set up at center ice. No one knew who the winners were. 4th place was announced. Then 3rd. Then 2nd. Then the announcement came:

"The National Showcase Junior Parade of Champion's Champion is Phoebe Schneider!"

Phoebe skated out to receive her award and "Mr. Debonair" Richard Dwyer interviewed her in front of a the audience! The President of US Figure Skating presented the awards! Phoebe is a US National Champion!

The entire Schneider family is SO EXCITED and HAPPY for Phoebe! We also know that Billy and Amy and Charlie must be so very proud.

I feel so stupid. Last Sunday morning I got up early to do some professional writing. I opened my email and then I opened Facebook. After doing the "fun stuff," I planned to get to work.

A sweet person I know who is in my Facebook account (who I thought was a figure skater) popped up in the chat window. She said she had a financial emergency. She'd been mugged while on vacation in London and needed to borrow money to get back to the U.S.

I told her I had no extra funds, but would do everything I could do to help. I began writing announcements and blog posts announcing her emergency. I even called a person I knew who lived in London who I thought could help her.

It took about 3 hours!

Then I wrote the email address she gave me as contact info (she said her cell phone was stolen and to contact her via email) to let her know of what I'd done to help.

She wrote me in response to that email and told me it WAS A SCAM! She didn't need any money! Someone had broken into her Facebook and email accounts and had contacted all her friends!

I wasted 3 good hours on a Sunday!

I feel very violated. I was talking to a total stranger in a Facebook chat window who was pretending to be someone I knew!

No more live chats for me!

I've been contacted by the producer of a television reality show.  He wants to highlight and follow young figure skaters, ages 7 and 8 (maybe 9 or 10 if they are really cute) who are at the Pre-Preliminary and Preliminary levels.  If you are interested, contact Michael Goldstein at michaelg@authentictv.com.  Happy Skating!

On Friday, 6-5-09, the Colorado Springs World Arena held a Patch session. It may have been the first Patch Session held at the rink in about ten years.  All 20 patches were sold. There was room for me to buy a patch for myself though. I used our family's scribe (now a collector's item!) and scribed circles for me and my own 3 kids. I had fun laying out figures! I wish there had been more time, since I did have time for change double threes, but would have loved to have got to rockers, counters, and change brackets!

• What Was a Patch Practice Session Like When Ice Skaters Practiced Figures?
• What Is a Patch?
• What Is a Scribe?
• I Loved "Doing Patch"

Last night, my family went to an ice skating party in honor of 2-time Olympic Pair Skating Champion and 6-time World Pair Skating Champion, Aleksandr Zaitsev.  We had so much fun.  It also made me realize that figure skaters forget to have fun at the ice rink.  I recommend that every once in awhile, that serious figure skaters go to a public ice skating session and play!

During the past couple of weeks, it has been announced that some of the major names in figure skating have made coaching changes.

• Elite American Figure Skaters Are "Changing Pros"