 Skate
Today has teamed up with Barry Mittan to provide you an insight into
the personalities of the people in this wonderful sport and to give
you a more personal connection when you watch them on television or
see them at an event. Mr. Mittan is the author or editor of several
books and hundreds of figure skating articles. All of Barry's stories
are reviewed by the skaters, and their coaches or others if requested,
before publication to ensure the greatest accuracy.
All current
articles and many previous articles may be read in their entirety by
following the links below. Mr. Mittan retains all copyrights for these
articles and they may not be reproduced without permission. Please visit
www.jbmittan.com for more details.
Archived Articles
2008
January - March 2008
2007
2006
2005
2004 |
| Rough International Start No Problem for Former Hockey Player |
| Published on November 22, 2009 |  
|
Cambria Little
Article & Photos by J. Barry Mittan
 Cambria Little, the 2009 Canadian junior ladies silver medalist, had a rough start to her first junior international season. Little, who placed fourth in novice ladies at Canadians in 2008, placed 26th at her first international competition, the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Dresden, Germany in October.
"I wish I had skated better but it was a really good experience to compete out of the country," Little said. "I need to think of the events as just another competition and not as a huge deal. It helped me to see what I need to improve."
"My goal is to make it to Nationals and finish in the top ten or 15," Little said. "This will be my first year in seniors. I'm also trying to improve on my scores from last season."
Little began skating when she was two. "My mom was a coach and she started me in the sport," Little said. "I started CanSkate when I was two and then private lessons when I was six."
"I liked team sports," she continued. "I played baseball, soccer and hockey. I played on both a girl's team and a boy's team in hockey. I was a forward on the girl's team and played defense on the boy's team. I played almost every day until I was 11 or 12 and then we moved to a town where there wasn't a team I could play on."
"I was probably better at skating," she continued. "I had my double Axel when I was 13 and my first triple at 14. It was a triple toe loop. Then I lost it and started landing a triple Salchow. Now I can do the triple toe and Salchow consistently and the triple flip and Lutz sometimes, but I'm not doing triple loop."
"I worked on a triple toe-triple toe combination in the summer, but I put it off to try and make my other jumps more consistent," Little explained. "I'm also trying to get more speed going into my interpretation and work on my and interpretation. I'm not very flexible so I have to work a lot on my spins."
Little is using a triple toe-double toe combination, double flip and double Axel in her short program. In the long, she attempts a double Axel-double Axel and triple toe-triple toe sequence, triple Salchow-double toe-double toe combination, triple Salchow, double Axel and double flip.
She has considered skating pairs, but said. "My coach told me to try and see how far I could get in singles before trying pairs. I'm testing my gold dances sporadically, but I'm not a dancer. My coach told me that I was freeskating my dance tests."
Karen Adams has coached Little since she was six and choreographs her programs. "Jason Mongrain is my secondary coach on more technical stuff," Little added. The 16-year-old trains in Kelowna, British Columbia for two hours a day on the ice and another hour off the ice, six days a week.
For the short program, Little is skating to music from the "Dracula" soundtrack by Philip Glass, the same music she used last season. "My coach picked it after Westerns last year," Little explained. "it's a lot different than my old programs."
For her long program, little is skating to "Xotica" by Rene Dupere. "The coaches gave me three choices of music and told me to pick the one I liked best," she said. "It's really different and unique music. Not many people skate to it. I like to skate to upbeat music, but with serious music I don't have to smile so much."
"I'm not musically inclined," Little said. "I don't play any instruments. I like to listen to all kinds of music, but country's my favorite."
For fun, Little likes to hang out with friends, go to the mall and shop. She also enjoys reading and playing golf.
Little is a junior at Stanley Humphries Secondary School, where she is an honor student. I like social studies and history and plan to study at university in history or something along those lines," she said.
Cambria also volunteer her time to help with the Learn to Skate program in Kelowna.
|
|
|
|
