Our club invited members to take part in an all day clinic with Brad Kleffman and Brandon Frazier. Brad is a local coach and good friends with Brandon so I guess that's how this clinic came to be. As soon as I saw Branon Frazier's name I signed myself right up. There was no way in hell I would miss getting to work with an Olympian and World Champion! It was an all day clinic that involved Sports Psychology, Off Ice Jumps, On Ice Jumps, On Ice Spins, Power Hour, and Stretching. This will be a long post. We covered a lot.
Sports Psychology - We began the day with a discussion about having a growth mindset and what makes a good winner/loser. It was nice to hear Brandon talk about his experiences with winning and losing and how to grow from that. He was also Nathen Chen's roommate at the Beijing Olympics so it was fun hearing about how Nathan handled the pressures and expectations of competing as well.
Off Ice Jumps - We jumped right into the hard work. We went through some off ice warm up exercises and jump drills. It was good cardio for sure.
On Ice Warm-ups - My typical warm up....but on steroids. Yikes. This was intense.
On Ice Jumps - This was about an hour of jumping on ice with some time to practice after while Brandon and Brad were doing privates. All single jumps and combos. I think this is the most I've ever jumped in one session. I'm glad my skates are broken in.
Lunch with an Olympian! - Out of the 33 participants, only four were adults so Brandon chose to sit at the "Grown-up" table during lunch. This was such an amazing experience being able to just casually ask him questions about his experience at the Olympics and Worlds, how he gets funding, what it's like working with Alexa and how that partnership came about, and his plans for life after skating. He's just a regular guy and was really easy to talk to. Really cool.
On Ice Spins - Ok, really bad idea to do an hour long spin clinic right after lunch but I didn't barf on the ice (although I had my moments). We worked on everything! Scratch, Camel, and Sit. Then combos. Then change foot spins. I tried a flying camel for the first time too (it was not pretty, lol). They gave us lots of spin drills to try during our practices so I have plenty to work on. Brandon came around and worked with us individually and in groups.
Power Hour - This is what killed me, I think. This was an hour of nonstop movement. For the first 30 minutes, all of us were stroking along the perimeter while skaters were called upon to do a jump or jump combo. Imagine stroking for an entire 30 minutes nonstop and just as your legs are starting to cramp you are randomly being called on to go out in the middle to perform whatever jump they command you to do. I can't remember what was asked of me but I was called on 3 times and one of them was a Flip-Loop combo. Sloppy, but I got it done. I was right proper exhausted after this session. One little girl asked me halfway through "When is this over?" It was refreshing that the little kids were just as tired as I was.
Stretching - Lots of off ice stretching at the ballet barre, stretching on the floor with a partner, and splits. As if I wasn't sore enough.
Autographs and my Moment to Shine - I didn't have anything for him to sign but my good friend and Unicorn Sister, Cheryl, had asked Brandon to put me up in a lift (Thank you Cheryl!). I've never done a pairs lift before so I left it up to him to decide which one to do. He told me how to get into a press lift and up I went! As he's holding me up, he asked if he could press me all the way so I was like Hells Yeah, let's do this! He pressed me all the way up and I lasted a second before I bailed (Alas, I only have a picture of the first part of the lift). This was by far the COOLEST thing that has ever happened to me. I've been lifted by an Olympian!!!!! AHGHGHGHGHG!!!
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