New Kulik/Gordeeva skating center

[Kasey]

Ilia Kulik and Ekaterina Gordeeva have opened a skating center in southern California...interesting. Hope it will be successful for them, and the skaters who will choose to train there.

[Rochelle]

I wonder if their ice surface size is a typo:

http://www.kuliksskating.com/our-facility.html

1. High quality ice surface (80ft. by 130ft.)

Huh? NHL standard size is 85 ft. by 200 ft, and Olympic size is of 30 × 60 meter (just under 100 ft. by 200 ft).

Not sure I'd want a competitive skater training (programs in particular) on a such a shorter surface on a regular basis, when there are ample full size ice surfaces in the area.

Though this is tempting:

We guarantee above 52F air temperature on the ice

...since I have encountered some of the absolute coldest rinks on a regular basis in California. (Which has always surprised me, given the energy costs... though perhaps in some buildings the colder temperatures help keep costs down -- not sure at all how that works for an ice rink versus the electric costs associated with cooling a normal home/building).

[misskarne]

Open the website and the first thing I see is "Adult Skaters" and a little spiel about how skating is for everyone.

I love Ilia so much!

Swish-looking building. It seems well-organised.

Hmm, non-local skaters, ey? I wonder how much to go to California...

Gym-use fee included for members, and I'm surprised how reasonable Ilia and Katia's private-lesson rates are. Olympic champions could feasibly charge a LOT more than that.

(OT: My god is Liza really 11 now?!)

Very good website with tons of info - you can even book sessions online. This is no two-bit operation - there has been a LOT of thought and planning gone into this (although I can remember Willowway mentioning this as early as a year ago and mentioning that it had been well-planned then).

Well done Ilia and Katia!

[aemeraldrainc]

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?t=77521

[Lanie]

Ohh, if I only still lived in Orange County!!!

[2sk8]

Am so excited for them, hoping it is a huge success! And, it certainly looks a LOT nicer than the other rink in Lake Forest, consisting of a sheet of ice in a cold, unfinished warehouse - big difference with the temperatures they are referencing.

[lulu]

Thanks for the info. I remember a few years ago when Ilia was talking about opening up a skating rink, glad to see their rink up and running. It looks like a lot of time, effort and thought went into the rink and I hope it's a success.

[tut88]

So
Good luck guys !!!

Hope it will be a success !!
It looks beautiful !!

[Ziggy]

Hopefully the surface size is a typo.

Given the arena is dedicated to figure skating, you'd want it to be Olympic sized.

[Sylvia]

No, the ice surface size is not a typo.

I posted a new article on Michael Christian Martinez of the Philippines, who lists Kulik as one of his coaches in his ISU bio - he finished 4th (very close to bronze) in the Lake Placid JGP last week and landed 3A in both his SP and FS: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...3&postcount=16

[jjane45]

How to do full program run thru if it's only 2/3 of standard hockey rink size? Very sad as it looks like a great facility otherwise and I'd loveto check it out if I'm in town...

[Ziggy]

How to do full program run thru if it's only 2/3 of standard hockey rink size? Very sad as it looks like a great facility otherwise and I'd loveto check it out if I'm in town...

Yeah, as a competitive athlete you really want to work on a fully size surface.

[Willowway]

Kulik's Krew is so proud of Ilia, and Katia and Liza!!

This dream has been in works for a while and Ilia has paid attention to every detail and made every decision himself after careful study and consideration. I an confident that all of his work will be well worth it and that his coaching, and Katia's, will be exciting and inspiring to so many competitive and non-competitive skaters over the years to come.

Excited about Kulik's Skating!!!

[sap5]

Kulik's Krew is so proud of Ilia, and Katia and Liza!!

But not Daria?

[Sylvia]

Daria stopped skating/competing quite a while ago. Liza is competing at the Juvenile level this season.

Here's the Team USA bio of Amanda Gelb, the 2012 U.S. Novice Ladies bronze medalist, whose testimonial is on the Kulik's Skating web site: http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/de...=101511&mode=I

[sap5]

Daria stopped skating/competing quite a while ago.

I know, but Willoway's post referred to the creation of the rink, not skating.

[Willowway]

Needless to say, Kulik's Krew is very proud of Daria as she goes farther down the road as a college student.

In this context I was of course referring to Kulik's Skating and if you look at the welcoming video on the home page you'll see Ilia, Katia and Liza - that formed my frame of reference for Kulik's Skating discussion.

[Sylvia]

Cute video - fun to hear Liza's very American accent!

[victoriajh]

Omg I have a dream to have Katia make up a a program for me, at 30$ for 15 min that is roughly what I paid for my last one!!!and I will be insan Diego next march....... I wonder if she would do a *ahem* lowered level adult skater a program?????
Not they I could do any of the moves!!! Sooooo cool!!!

[LilJen]

YAY that they mention ADULT skating! Bread and butter for coaches!

There is a vid compiling Ilia's jumps. Almost looks like he could have done a quad axel. Perfect air position.