S.T.A.R.S.
S.T.A.R.S. STANDOUT
James Dayton earns top performer honor
James Dayton was congratu- lated for his ac- complishments by past S.T.A.R.S. winners Jason Brown and Ashley Cain.
Dayton excels not only on the ice but at the piano. by MELISSA VRINER
He may only be 10 years old, but James Dayton
of the Vaca Valley FSC in California is already building quite an athletic foundation to support his budding skat- ing career. With a S.T.A.R.S. (Standardized Testing of Athleti-
cism to Recognize Skaters) score of 1,329, Dayton ranked the highest among the more than 100 male athletes who participated in the 2014 combine season. He performed in a manner that proved his overall athleticism in the areas of strength, power, agility, speed, balance and coordination. Dayton participated at his first combine in 2012 as
an 8-year-old pre-preliminary skater. With three seasons of combines under his belt, he not only has an under- standing of what these assessments mean, but can now also apply his results to his on- and off-ice training. After his participation at the San Jose combine in 2013,
Dayton wanted to improve his speed, flexibility and strength. He did just that. With the detailed results, he was able to track his personal improvement from year to year. With the increase in athleticism in those areas, he also applied that to training more difficult on-ice skills. He especially noticed the increase of strength and flexibility on the ice. Dayton trains five days a week at Vacaville Ice
Sports. He starts his training day with off-ice exercises that incorporate power and flexibility. He also considers which muscle groups he is working on particular days to avoid overtraining. With an average of two hours of ice time, he works closely with his coaching team on and off ice. “I like working with James because he comes to the
rink every day willing to give 100-percent effort,” coach Diana Miro said. “You can tell how much he really loves skating, and he is always striving to be better.” “I enjoy James’ hard work both on and off the ice,”
coach Janet Li added. “He is a good listener and asks questions. James is a star pupil.” His off-ice training consists of workouts at the Va-
caville Gymnastics Center. He especially enjoys core ex- ercises, such as sit-ups and those that incorporate weight lifting. He also enjoys flexibility exercises such as splits. When he’s not training, Dayton likes to relax and
spend time with his friends by bowling and swimming. He plays the piano, and while fluent in English and Rus- sian, he is also learning French and Chinese. Melissa Vriner is the coordinator of the S.T.A.R.S. pro-
gram at U.S. Figure Skating. Dayton demonstrates his flexibility at the local gymnastics facility.
12 MAY 2015
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