Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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I8 SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE figure by every judge in order to pass. But as one progresses from test to test the pass mark increases with the degree of difficulty. Thus by the time you reach gold test level a 3.2 would be a failure score. The lowest that a score of any judge can be at that level is a rather steep 4.6 marks. Although it sounds gruesome many skaters try three or four times for one particular test. This is probably the most difficult part of figure skating, but when successful, much is gained. The best time to start figure skating, just like skiing, is when you are young. I started at age 3. It is extremely important to take lessons from a professional skater, for if you do not, I guarantee you will learn absolutely nothing. Many skaters turn Professional after their seccnd or third test - this may be where those long hours of practicing figures come in handy, as all teachers usually charge 52.00 to 52.50 per fifteen minutes. Many champions will charge up to 55.00 per fifteen minutes. Perhaps this price may seem high, but in no other sport can one learn so much so quickly from some expert instructor, even after short practice manoeuvres become simple. I suppose the next expense in figure skating, is the actual skate itself. When a child is growing rapidly, it is pointless to invest in very expensive figure skates. However, by the age of sixteen or so, when the foot is fully grown, the best thing to do is to purchase first class figure skating boots and blades. A pair of excellent, hand forged blades run at about 555. Remember, unlike hockey skates, less than one inch of a figure skater's blade touches the ice. It requires tremendous skill to make the blades exact. Most first class boots are made-to- measure' and such companies as Stanzione in New York or Oberhamer in St. Paul will charge over 5100 for excellent boots. It is not uncommon to hear of someone paying S200 for skiis, so figure skates are not that expensive. Many skaters will own two pairs of figure skates. One for figures and one for free skating. Free skating skates have an extra large pick that enables one to accom- plish high, well-rotated jumps. It is never too late to start this tremendous sport. It certainly has given me much enjoyment, so much so, that I intend to spend this summer in Banff, prac- tising there at the Figure Skating School. De Wolf Shaw, Form VII. Coin Collecting I was beginning to wonder what hobby I should take up when one day my mother brought home to me, a red coin book from France. My first coins were from Bermuda which my mother and father gave me. Many coins have odd shapes such as round, square, oval and some coins have holes in them. Coins that come from different countries are worth more or less than others. The coins I have are made of tin, copper ard silver. These coins come from places such as France, Ireland, Spain, Mexico, U.S.A. and England. I am sure you have seen men who own coin shops. These people are called Numismatists. When you bring your coins to the coin shop, the man examines them and tells you how much they are worth. If you trade them he will give you your money. Here are a few facts about coin collecting but I hope I have im- proved your knowledge about it. Dean Bremner, IB.

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1965-1966 I7 Mr. J. K. Hugessen kindly consented to judge the competition, and after hearing all the speeches, complimented the speakers on the fine quality of their material and planning. He offered some well received suggestions and an- nounced the winner, although he emphasized that the marks were very close. He also said he could only tell us who he thought were the three best. Jody Allison was declared the winner followed closely by Robert Tennant in second place and Bruce Barker in third. T.W.S. Hobbies Figure Skating One of the most interesting and impressive winter sports is figure skating. Although relatively few people undertake the sport especially as skiing domin- ates most winter activities in Canada, here in Montreal, there are four or five very active figure skating clubs in operation during the winter months. In the summer too, skating is practised in many areas. Summer figure skating schools are very popular and they give the young skaters a chance to become more advanced in the summer. There are two main divisions in figure skating: figures and free skating. Free skating is probably the most well known facet of the sport. This free skating is made up of complicated manoeuvres and high jumps. Normally champions can accomplish jumps such as the double axle or even the triple lutz which require the skater to take off on one foot, make two and one-half and three revolutions in the air respectively and then land on one foot backwards. All free skating is done to music which adds to both the beauty and the difficulty in figure skating. In competition a skater must show that he can both jump well and he must also have a change in speed in his music. The slow and graceful part of a skater's programme, which is always five minutes long, may be just as difficult as the high jumps and fast spins. Thus skaters who enter competition are judged on figures which count for 6090 of the total and also their free skating performance which is worth only AOQQ. The scoring by judges in figure competition is extremely complicated, it is based on the least amount of ordinals or penalty points that a skater can get. ln free skating competitions there are usually five judges who will give a mark out of 6. A six is extremely rare and a performance of such high marks would be rated as perfection. Five or more is very good, 4.0 or more is good, 3.0 or more is fair, 2.0 plus is poor and l.O or more is disgraceful. However, before you go into National or International competition, you must have passed the Canadian Figure Skating Association CC.F.S.A.J figure tests. All figures in figure skating are based on the figure eight. In all there are over sixty different figures some of which are nearly impossible to execute well. All these sixty or so figures make up a series of nine tests that a figure skater may take. The Preliminary test is the first test that a figure skater will attempt. The test itself is relatively simple, and in marked accordingly. However, the next eight tests are all a struggle and these tests are marked in a more difficult manner. Five or six judges will be standing around a skater as he executes his various figures. The tests are labelled as follows: the first test is called the bronze test and a bronze medal is awarded upon passing. The next three tests are simply the se- cond, third and fourth tests. A silver and gold medal are awarded when the skater has passed the fifth and eighth tests. When a judge marks, again his score is out of 6.0. In the first test the pass mark is 3.2, a skater must be passed in each

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1965-1966 19 My Hobbies I have a few hobbies. One is wood-working, two collecting stamps and three making plastic models. Collecting stamps is my favourite hobby. I have almost 10,000 stamps from each of the three different countries that I collect. Another good hobby that I have is collecting Dinky and Gorgi toys. I have c beautiful shelf covered with wood to keep them on. Just four hobbies aren't much. I also do metal work with my mecano set. Whoever doesn't have at least one hobby must be bored stiff. Robert Miller, A2 My Hobby is collecting stamps, making airplanes and boats and camping, and also playing soldiers. My favourite hobby is collecting soldiers. I have lots of old-fashioned soldiers and when I play against my brother I greatly outnumber his soldiers. Another of my favourite hobbies is going camping. Nearly every year we go to Maine camping. We ride rented bicycles and we swim, fish, sail and go for walks along the countryside around us. Fishing is fun. Last summer we caught clogfish, which are baby sharks and we cut the females open and we found baby eggs and some of them had little baby fish already. We put the baby fish in the water and they swam away. One year we went to Maine and my brother and sister and I made a raft. Father got on it and when he was in not very deep wa- ter he fell off. When he came up again he still had the cigarette in his mouth. So my favourite hobbies are going camping and playing soldiers. Ian McKenzie, Form A2 My hobby is collecting stamps and I have 200 stamps. I have stamps from China and Canada and lots of other places. I did lots of them during the summer holidays. My dad is a collector also. He has lots of stamps also. My favourite stamps are from China because they have nice colors. My grandmother's aunt gave me about I5 stamps from Scotland. Taylor Gray, A2 There are many types of hobbies. My hobby is collecting old and new stamps. Another of my hobbies is collecting fancy rocks and old pieces of metal and little pieces of old wood. In my stamp collection I have a stamp that looked like a triangle. I have a 1932 stamp that is worth at least 51.00. Some of the writing was so small that I had to take my magnifying glass to look at it. When my father came home he gave me some stamps and I put the stamps in an enve- Iope that has the name of the country from which the stamp come from. Allan Schouela My hobby is the study of rocks. When I go to the country I take a walk and look for rocks on the road. Sometimes I am playing on the way home from the lake and I see some nicely shaped rocks. Once when I was climbing the cliff mountain behind our house, I saw a stairway design on the rock in the cliff. I have a piece of sand stone at home. Jimmy Stein, A2