PARACLETE HIGH GRAD FINDS PLEASURE ON ICE.Byline: Kathy Orton Daily News Staff Writer Precision ice skating ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. Skating as a Sport Skating, besides being an important form of winter recreation and the essential skill in the game of ice hockey (see hockey, ice) has developed is right up there with team handball team handball n. A game played between two teams of seven players each, the object being to throw the ball into a hockeylike goal at either end of the rectangular court. The ball is moved by dribbling and passing with the hands. in the popularity ranks. Few people have even heard of the sport, let alone watched a competition. Just try and name the precision ice skating team that won the World Challenge Cup earlier this month (Team Surprise from Sweden). But its lack of recognition in no way diminishes the enthusiasm of precision ice skating participants. Precision ice skating teams can be found at several rinks in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , including the Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. Ice Arena where the L.A. Express trains. Recently, the L.A. Express traveled to Chicago to compete in the adult open national competition and finished ninth out of 12 teams. For a first-time competitor like 21-year-old Melissa Feeley, a Paraclete High School Paraclete High School is a Catholic High School in Lancaster, CA operated independently of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 186 seniors graduated in the 2006-2007 school year. and Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. graduate, the experience was thrilling. ``It's so amazing,'' Feeley said. ``It's a lot of fun on the ice.'' Feeley had never seen or heard of precision ice skating until two years ago - in fact, she'd hardly ever been on the ice. After obtaining her associate of arts Associate of arts and Associate of science are two-year undergraduate degrees offered by many community colleges or junior colleges in the United States. Such degrees transfer to four-year institutions which offer full bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees. degree at Antelope Valley College, she transferred to Loyola Marymount University Marymount University is a coeducational, four-year Catholic university whose main campus is located in Arlington, Virginia. History Marymount was founded in 1950 by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM) as Marymount College, a two-year women's school. , where she is a theater arts major. While Feeley was still living in Palmdale, she drove down to Culver City to take a couple of ice skating lessons with a friend. But the distance was too great to continue so she dropped the sport for a time. Then after she transferred to LMU LMU Ludwig Maximilians Universität (München) LMU Loyola Marymount University LMU Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) LMU Lincoln Memorial University LMU Location Measurement Unit , Feeley decided to take up ice skating again at the Culver City Ice Arena. Last summer, she spotted a notice on the board for the L.A. Express. ``I never heard of it,'' Feeley said. But after one practice, she was hooked. ``Someone once said it's like the Rockettes on ice,'' Feeley said. ``It's like synchronized swimming.'' Precision ice skating teams are composed of 12 to 24 skaters, mostly female. The L.A. Express has 18 skaters on its team, ranging from 21 to 52 years old. The skaters are linked together throughout the routine, which lasts approximately three minutes. During the routine, the skaters form a variety of lines, circles and shapes. No jumps or spins are allowed. The team is judged on its footwork, speed in executing moves and presentation. ``It's really interesting to watch, especially from above,'' Feeley said. In order to reach the national finals in Chicago, the L.A. Express first had to qualify at the Pacific Coast regionals in Berkley. They skated a routine to the soundtrack of the movie ``Beetlejuice.'' ``We were all so nervous,'' Feeley said. ``We had never competed before. . . . There's a lot of pressure. What if we fall? You don't want to let anyone down.'' After taking second at Berkeley, the team flew to Chicago for the finals the last weekend in March. Feeley said she felt much less pressure competing in the finals than at the regionals. ``We just went to have fun,'' Feeley said. ``We never thought we would be able to do it, especially to go to nationals.'' Still, Feeley and the rest of the team were disappointed with their ninth-place finish and are looking forward to next year's competition. The regionals will be held in Seattle with the finals in Syracuse, N.Y. According to Feeley, the team plans to skate a routine to music from the opera ``Carmen Carmen throws over lover for another. [Fr. Lit.: Carmen; Fr. Opera: Bizet, Carmen, Westerman, 189–190] See : Faithlessness Carmen the cards repeatedly spell her death. [Fr. .'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Melissa Feeley enjoys practicing the Rockettes-likeroutines of precision skating with the L.A. Express at the Culver City Ice Arena. Gus Ruelas/Daily News |
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