Phoenix News(UPDATED 17/07/2010)

British Championships 2010

The following skaters have been selected to represent the club at this years British Championships:-

Miles Corbin - Tots Solo Dance
Jodene Corbin - Espoir Solo Dance
Monica Dekker - Espoir Solo Dance
Rhiannon Fitch - Espoir Solo Dance
Caitlin McNichol - Espoir Solo Dance
Lucy Ozard - Youth Solo Dance

Congratulations to you all and keep up the hard work!!

TOTS & ESPOIR BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010

Five young members of the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating Club have recently returned with two British titles amongst them. The young contingency from Guernsey travelled to Peterborough to compete in the 2010 British Artistic Roller Skating Championships for their respective age groups.
Miles Corbin was the youngest member of the group at just having turned 7 two days before the competition, was experiencing his first British Championship at the Tots level. He was required to skate two compulsory dances and in order to achieve being crowned British Champion had to reach a standard recognised and set by the governing body. Although this year was meant to be a learning curve for Miles he skated perfectly in time and with some strong edges, which was recognised by the three judges, gave him just enough marks to be awarded the British title!!!
The remaining skaters in the Guernsey party were four young Espoir skaters and although in the past there has been some good opposition from the mainland it was going to be interesting on which Guernsey girls came out on top! In this category they were required to perform two compulsory dances with, what was a new element for them in 2010, a two minute freedance.
Caitlin McNichol certainly stamped her mark on the compulsory dances with earning the only 7’s awarded during the competition and found herself leading the field with Monica Dekker closely behind her in 2nd and Jodene Corbin again hot on both their heels in 3rd place. Rhiannon Fitch also performed exceptionally well and placed 6th and this stage of the competition.
With Rhiannon being drawn in the second group she skated first for the Guernsey team in the freedfance section and with her compilation of Michael Jacksons songs she earned sufficient marks to place her in the top ten by finishing in 9th place. With the three remaining Phoenix skaters positioned in the top group, Jodene was first to perform and gave a good account for herself in her routine “Alladin” waiting anxiously to see how her fellow team members would perform. Monica followed the performance and gained the highest marks on the interpretation side with her programme “Bugsy Malone”. Caitlin was last to perform and with her jive routine she also earned very consistent marks and once the total marks for the entire competition were calculated, Monica had pushed Caitlin into 2nd position by one judge, which reflected what an exciting competition this had been to watch, but moreover a Guernsey skater winning another British title. Jodene regrettably found herself also loosing the bronze medal position by a very narrow margin. However Darren Dyke who accompanied the skaters was extremely proud of how all the skaters had performed throughout the championships, which reflected on the high standard the Guernsey team produced and the titles that were won!

Youth British Solo Dance Championships 2010.

Lucy Ozard the sole representative at this years Youth British Championships has just returned from a successful competition with her first year at this level of competition. The 2010 Championships were staged in Maidstone, Kent and this year attracted 13 entries from around the UK, with the skaters being challenged to perform two compulsory dances and a freedance lasting 2 ½ minutes.

Saturday saw the two compulsory dances being skated and although in the European Waltz Lucy demonstrated some excellent technique she failed to impress the judges enough to place her in medal contention, however with an improved performance in the Keats Foxtrot she moved herself to within striking distance of the top places by having two of the judges placing her 3rd at that stage of the competition.

The Sunday saw the climax of the Championship with Lucy having just missed out on the top group and having to skate 1st in the second group, placing her under more pressure to challenge for the bronze medal. Despite this Lucy skated her Latin routine to the best of her ability and showed great feel for the rhythms being played. With a top mark of 7.6 for manner of performance she was able to keep two of the judges placing her in 3rd, but with the remaining three placing her in 5th , this became her final placing.

It was a great experience for Lucy to compete at this level and has highlighted areas of improvement in order for her to challenge next year for a medal.



Minor/Espoir British Championships 2009

A small team of four skaters from the Phoenix Artistic Roller skating club have just returned from competing in the British Championships held in Leicester and in doing so have retained the Minor Solo Dance Title and a bronze medal in the Espoir Category.

Monica Dekker retained her Championship title in the Minor category by demonstrating some excellent technical work and dance poise in the three compulsory dances she performed for the panel of judges.
She made an excellent start in the March by skating above the standard set of 6.5 from each judge, demonstrating a very controlled performance on such a small and slippery skating surface. Unfortunately a mishap in the Blues, although still leading the competition at this stage, fell short of the standard required to ensure the title was awarded. However with great determination and a strong performance of the Tango Monica swayed three of the five judges to place her above the required standard overall and therefore confirmed her as British Champion!!

The three Espoir skaters namely, Caitlin Mcnichol, Rhiannon Fitch and Jodene Corbin competed in their first year at this age group and having had good results last year in the Minor category this was going to be a steep learning curve for them. However Caitlin made an excellent start by winning the Denver Shuffle with both Rhiannon and Jodene midway in the field. Jodene then caused an upset to the placing when she demonstrated some very nice edge control in the swing foxtrot and actually won the dance! With everything to skate for in the Tango the Guernsey trio skated to their best and then had to wait for the final results to be announced as the marking of the event was so random as to who would win the title!! When the final results were announced, to the Guernsey Team’s joy Caitlin had managed to clinch the bronze medal position with Rhiannon placing 6th and Jodene 10th. Unfortunately the first place winner had not accumulated sufficient points to be awarded the title and trophy, which reflects the high level of competition expected from these age groups





Further Medal Success for Club Skaters

Inter-Bronze Solo Dance
Amelie White
Danielle Queru
Melanie Ayres

Bronze Solo Dance
Hannah Dyke
Kelly King
Lucy Ozard

Silver Solo Dance
Chloe Dyke
Emilia Bianco

Silver Couples Dance
Bobby Roland & Chloe Dyke

Inter-Gold Solo Dance
Nicola Roland

Gold Couples Dance
Darren Dyke & Kirsty Chick

A BIG WELL DONE TO YOU ALL!!!!

MEDAL SUCCESS FOR CLUB MEMBERS

A well done to the following skaters who on the 7th February Passed the following Dance Tests:-

Chloe Dyke & Bobby Roland - Inter-silver Couples.

Elementary & Preliminary Solo Dance:-
Amelie White
Caitlin Mcnichol
Monica Dekker
Jodene Corbin
Rhiannon Fitch

This has now allowed Caitlin, Monica, Jodene and Rhiannon to qualify for entry into the forthcoming British Championships. Great Tests all of you!!!


World Championships 2008 Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Guernsey’s World Class skating partnership of Darren Dyke & Kirsty Chick have just returned home after competing in the 53rd World Artistic Roller Skating Championships which were this year held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

This years event attracted over 20 participating countries with the biggest number of competitiors coming from the Italian camp. Darren and Kirsty were invited by the National Federation to represent Great Britain in the event and with a further two skaters declining their places, due to the high costs in travel, left them the sole representatives at the event.

To acclimatise for the event the local couple left three days before the first day of training and in doing so found their first couple of days going very well and also with the services offered by the Spanish physio therapist to loosen up their tired muscles found them in good form going into the first section of the competition, the compulsory dances. As in the European Championships, Darren & Kirsty found themselves first to skate thereby setting the standard for the other competitors to follow. With a very strong and technically good skate in the Quickstep they found themselves earning high seven’s which placed them well at this stage. The second compulsory dance the Viennese Waltz had caused major problems for them in the Europeans but again with the additional training on this dance they again were awarded similar marks and found themselves in 9th place.

The following day saw the second element skated, the original dance which this year required the couples to select a Spanish medley. With Dyke and Chick selecting the Tango and Flamenco, and with further modifications being made to the programme in its content and interpretation, they put in their best performance to date and earned a top mark of 8.5. With this and the other high scores received it placed the couple into 8th place just pushing the Americans down into 9th. This left the British couple on cloud 9 since this meant they would then be drawn into the second group for the final discipline the freedance.

With a days rest in between the Original Dance and Freedance this gave time to evaluate the position Dyke and Chick were in and having drawn last to skate in the second group placed them well. However with the pressure getting to them on the final day of competition their latin programme was not performed to the expected standard they wanted it to be and despite good marks they found themselves being pushed down to 9th place by one judge and by the narrowest of margins of 0.1. Although a little despondent by the final result the competition itself was very tight which shows the continued improvement Darren and Kirsty have made this year.

Following this result they have now been invited to compete in the World Games in 2009 where only six couples get selected and the Games bring together all those sports that have not yet made it to Olympic status.

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For all of those skaters who attended any of the British Championships this year, you would have seen professional photographers taking pictures throughout the competitions. If any one would like to view these then please go to the following website www.DEphoto.co.uk, if you have problems accessing this then please call Dave Proctor on 07775 623865 to obtain the necessary access.

Thanks
Darren



JUNIOR/SENIOR BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008



A small team of skaters from the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating Club have just returned from the 2008 Junior & Senior British Roller Skating Championships held in Haywards Heath, Kent. Senior Couple Darren Dyke and Kirsty Chick, following their four year partnership, finally reaped the benefit of all the hard training and commitment by winning the Senior Dance title.

Darren & Kirsty started their campaign with the compulsory dance section with this years dances being selected as the Quickstep and Viennese Waltz but despite some strong edge skating and floor coverage the Guernsey team were unable to convince the panel of judges and found themselves in 3rd position and very despondent with situation. However several hours later saw them return to the floor with the Original Dance being aired for the first time this year. A Spanish medley was chosen this year for all dance couples with the Tango and Flamenco being selected by the Sarnians. With a very upbeat tango and soft Flamenco being performed this was received well be the audience and although a clean performance not being delivered , Darren & Kirsty found that they had scored enough marks to place them 2nd in the section but still remaining in the bronze medal position. Following review of the marks the Guernsey couple were 1 mark off the leaders so had nothing to lose but everything to gain if an outstanding freedance could be delivered!

With a good nights sleep under their belt and feeling confidence in giving a polished performance of their freedance, which had only been changed two months prior to these championships in order to utilise their dance ability, Darren and Kirsty went into the official warm up with lots of enthusiasum and energy. Being first to skate their Latin programme eliminated any additional nerves for the couple. Having settled well into the performance the crowd showed great appreciation for the step difficulty and the tricks shown in the routine and following a lively end with the Samba, they again acknowledged a great performance from Darren & Kirsty. Waiting for the judges to decide the standard made it unbearable to review the marks but once shown it was clear that a high standard had been set for the remaining couples to follow. Watching the two remaining couples perform was quite agonising for Darren & Kirsty but following the first couples marks it became evident that the end result was going to be close. With the leaders last to skate would they do enough to secure the championships but despite a clean and polished performance from them the judges marked them below Dyke & Chick and when the total marks were finally tallied up the Guernsey couple had won the freedance section and in doing this they had closed the gap and actually secured 1st place, winning the senior title. Darren & Kirsty would not acknowledge the victory until the time that there names were called as champions!!

The Junior couple of the Phoenix club saw Bobby Roland and Emilia Bianco compete in their first championship together and although having no other couples qualified to enter the event they were looking to gain the required standard in order to be awarded the title and trophy. They made a very positive start in the compulsory section which saw them obtain the required standard and showed good floor coverage and interpretation. However in the Original Dance the couple made a slip in the Flamenco section and found it difficult to recover for the remainder of the performance, which unfortunately gave them a very low B mark for manner of performance and made it almost impossible to recover enough marks in the last section of the freedance to obtain the standard and title. Moving to the freedance section the Guernsey team really put in a top performance, certainly redeeming themselves and earned some very respectable marks in the process.

The Phoenix Club was also represented at Senior Solo level by Nicola Roland and with this being her first year at this level it was hoped that she would make a good impression and be at the top of the bottom group. However Nicola surprised all by skating some very solid compulsory dances and in doing so found herself in 8th position and in the middle of the second group, which rated her within the top half of the field. This gave Nicola the incentive to perform her 2 ½ minutes freedance with high energy and rhythm to challenge for a higher placing. Having drawn at the bottom of the group to perform this enabled her to focus on the performance with a faultless routine. This was recognised by the panel of judges and Nicola found herself being awarded her highest marks ever for a freedance which also allowed her to move up 1 place and finish 7th overall. This was an outstanding effort for Nicolas 1st year at this level.

Darren & Kirsty have since made the Senior European team and will be travelling to Spain in September to represent Great Britain



CADET/YOUTH BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008





A small team of skaters from the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating club have just returned from the Cadet & Youth Championships held in Maidstone, Kent. The Guernsey skaters have again proved their abilities in the sport by winning a British title and receiving very high scores in the process.

Chloe Dyke beat fellow team member Emilia Bianco in what can only be described as a Clash of the Titans in the Youth solo Dance event. Emilia went into the Championship as defending champion knowing that she would have to put in some outstanding performances in the competition. Both the Guernsey girls stormed ahead of the remaining competitors by scoring mid sevens in the compulsory dance section in which they performed the Keats Foxtrot and Imperial Tango. The five judges found it very difficult to split Dyke and Bianco but having totalled the scores Emilia had edged ahead of Chloe by the slightest margin. The second part to the championship is the Original Set Pattern with this years tempo being selected as the Samba. With this being a lively party dance they both showed quite different interpretations to the dance and this indeed became the telling factor and decider for the title. Chloe skated first and put in a high energy and very difficult programme capturing the very essence of the carnival dance and in doing so found herself being awarded very high marks for both Technical and Artistic Impression with her top mark being 8.6. Emilia didn’t let this deter her in her attempt to retain her title and again showed her versatility and good body rhythm which challenged the judges to decide who would be the victor. Emilia herself was awarded marks in the 8’s which again demonstrated to the audience the very high level that both these skaters are performing at. However once all the marks were totalled and the judges place marks calculated, Chloe had managed to pull back and win the title by a majority of three judges to two. Kelly King was also competing in the same championships and with her having been out of the sport for the last two years this was her first major Championship for some time and she demonstrated some good compulsory dances and her samba was also received well by three of the judges which earned her a final placing of 11th out of the 15 competitors.

Chloe had a busy weekend as five months ago she agreed to partner Nicholas Bianco and although this meant that Nick would have to compete in a higher age group the young Guernsey couple skated very well in the three compulsory dances and was placed well to be awarded the Youth Couples Championship. However disaster struck in the Freedance section whereby Nicholas fell in the very difficult step sequence which unfortunately dropped their Artistic Impression mark . The drastic consequence of this was that when the points were totalled up they found themselves short by two of the judges by 0.1 from the standard of 6.5 and subsequently were not awarded the title and trophy. Despite this it was a remarkable effort by this young couple in their first National Championships with only having had 5 months preparation.

The final skater to compete over the weekend was Lucy Ozard, another young skater who having had a break has returned back to raise her national rankings. The Cadet Solo Championship was another tightly contented competition and Lucy found the opposition quite formidable in the compulsory section and despite two judges not scoring her to the correct standard she was able to finish 7th at this stage . With the Rumba being her rhythm this year. Lucy showed some great footwork and body movement and despite a solid performance she was unable to move up the rankings and the final results showed her 8th out of the 21 competitors.

From these Championships Chloe & Emilia have now received their official invitations to the British Team to compete in the Cup of Europe being staged in Trieste, Italy in October. They will be joining fellow club skaters, Monica Dekker and Jodene Corbin who will compete at the Mini Championships.




MINI DANCE CHAMPIONSHIP 2008


Four talented youngsters from the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating Club have just returned from competing in the 2008 Mini Solo Dance Championships staged in Leicester, with all of them placing in the top five of the competition.

It was always going to be a very hard fought competition not only from the other UK skaters but within the “ Phoenix four” itself and this competition went down to the last compulsory dance to decide the final placings. This years entries totalled 18 and it was the club’s aim to get the locals into the top 10 but with the exceptional standard demonstrated by the local girls they managed to fill the top five places which was an extraordinary achievement at National level..

Monica Dekker was the eventual winner and with her putting in a very strong performance and winning the first dance the Country Polka and then maintaining a good standard in the Olympic Foxtrot and Rhythmn Blues it was just enough to edge out the defending champion from Kent by three judges to two. Jodene Corbin surpassed her own expectations by putting in some very confident performances in all the three dances which placed her in contention and finally slotted her into the Bronze medal place, an exceptional result for Jodene with this being her first British Championship.

Rhiannon Fitch started very cautiously in the Polka but settled well in the foxtrot by earning top marks to bring her back into the medals, however despite being awarded one of the top marks of the day of 7.0 for her Blues she narrowly missed out on the bronze medal. Caitlin Mcnichol although skating some very technical dances, which reflected in her receiving a top mark of 7.0 for her Olympic foxtrot, she was unable to convince the judges to place her into the medals and placed 5th overall . What was so amazing to see was the fact that all of the top five skaters had each had a first place mark allocated from the panel of judges, so this reflected how difficult the Championship itself was to judge!!

With Monica and Jodene having finished in the top 3 for this age group they have now been awarded places on the British team to skate in Italy later in the year to compete in the Cup of Europe. This demonstrates Guernsey’s continual selection to this event and the just reward to the skaters themselves in achieving this result.

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MEDAL TEST PASSED ON 8TH MARCH 2008
VENUE – SIR JOHN LOVERIDGE HALL, BEAU SEJOUR

Emilia Bianco – Elementary Dance – Partner Bobby Roland

Nicholas Bianco – Preliminary Dance – Partner Chloe Dyke

Lucy Ozard – Preliminary Solo Dance

Emilia Bianco – Preliminary Dance – Partner Bobby Roland

Danielle Queru – Preliminary Solo Dance

Melanie Ayres – Preliminary Solo Dance

Nicholas Bianco – Inter Bronze Dance – Partner Chloe Dyke

Lucy Ozard – Inter Bronze Solo Dance

Kelly King – Inter Bronze Solo Dance

Emilia Bianco – Inter Bronze Dance – Partner Bobby Roland

Nicholas Bianco – Bronze Dance – Partner Chloe Dyke

WELL DONE TO ALL THE SKATERS!!!



PHOENIX XMAS SHOW DVD'S


Please note the long awaited DVD's of the 2007 Xmas Show will be available for sale from Saturday 1st March at a cost of £10 each. Should you wish to order this please contact Julie Roland directly with the numbers required.

Thank you to Bobby in editing the event and all the time he devoted to this.

ENJOY EVERYONE!!






PHOENIX COMPETE AT 2008 SPRING SOLO COMPETITION

A team of 11 skaters from the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating club have just returned from a very successful weekend representing Guernsey in the National Spring Solo Competitions held in Maidstone, Kent.

The event is the start of the competition calendar and therefore was a great warm up for the local skaters to show their competition programmes and skills and evaluate where work needs to be done in order to progress up the National rankings.

Four non medallist skaters, namely Caitlin McNichol, Rhiannon Fitch, Monica Dekker and Jodene Corbin demonstrated their young talents with a number of medals being won against a very much older and stronger opposition. On the first day of competition the skaters were putting their abilities in the compulsory dance section and Original Set pattern dance to the test. In the compulsory section this attracted over 60 competitors and with the standard being very high this was going to prove very difficult in the qualifying rounds, however the Guernsey girls all managed to progress to the 2nd round but then found the competition too fierce with Monica being the only one to make it into the final of 6 skaters and with a polished and confident performance secured the silver medal. In the OSP Section this again provided a variety of programmes from waltz through to Samba, so proving a very difficult task for the judges to come up with the final placing of Monica 4th skating a Cha Cha, Jodene 6th skating Polka, Rhianon Fitch 7th skating waltz and Caitlin 8th skating Samba.

The second day of this level then gave the youngsters a chance to team up for the Duo and Team events with Caitlin & Rhiannon placing 7th and Jodene pairing up with Monica placing 8th. In the final team event Caitlin, Monica and Rhiannon skated into the Bronze medal position just being beaten out of the silver by majority wins.

Moving up to the Elementary and Preliminary levels Lucy Ozard, Danielle Queru Melanie Ayres and Kelly King competed against some seasoned skaters but with the qualification heats Lucy made it into the Elementary standard final and Kelly into the Preliminary final. Lucy put in a very strong performance and earned the Guernsey Club its first victory by lifting the Elementary title and Kelly placed 5th in the Preliminary final. With Lucy and Kelly teaming up together in the Duo event the Guernsey girls finished in third slot. With Lucy have placed second in the OSP performing a Rumba this enabled her to complete medal set of Gold, Silver & Bronze. Kelly also won bronze in her OSP section performing her lively Samba thereby adding more medals for the Phoenix Club.

The final level for the Phoenix skaters saw their Inter silver/Silver medallists take some notable victories over some very strong opposition. The talented three, namely Chloe Dyke, Emilia Bianco and Nicola Roland won three golds two silvers and one bronze between them. Chloe and Emelia won the Duo event beating last years champions in the process and with Nicola joining them in the Team event, they scored another victory over the defending skaters from the Maidstone club. In the individual events, Emilia won the Inter-silver OSP section by narrowly edging in front of Chloe with Nicola scoring well in the Silver and above section by placing third. The final medal came with Chloe winning the silver in the inter-silver compulsory dance section and once the final competitions of the weekend were completed the Phoenix club although being one of the smallest clubs participating, finished 3rd in the league table for the Robinsons Club shield.




Skaters Selected for British Championships 2008

The following skaters have been selected to represent the Club and Guernsey at this years National Championships and the committee would like to wish them all the very best of luck!

Mini Championships - Solo Dance - Leicester

Jodene Corbin
Monica Dekker
Rhiannon Fitch
Caitlin McNichol

Cadet/ Youth Championships - Maidstone

Cadet Solo Dance
Lucy Ozard

Youth Solo Dance
Emilia Bianco
Chloe Dyke
Kelly King

Youth Couples
Nicholas Bianco & Chloe Dyke

Junior/Senior Championships - Haywards Heath

Junior Couples
Bobby Roland & Emilia Bianco

Senior Couples
Darren Dyke & Kirsty Chick

Senior Solo Dance
Nicola Roland