A letter from Adam Rippon, a MWFoundation scholarship recipient:

Dear Michael & Lisa Weiss,

I would like to thank you so much for that support and help of your  great organization. Your generosity is  very much appreciated.
 
I trained very hard all summer and I feel ready for the difficult season  ahead of me. My main goal this year is to compete at the Junior Worlds. The  help you have given me have made many things much more obtainable.
 
Thank you again for giving skaters, like myself, help in paying  for this extremely expensive  sport.
 
Sincerely,
Adam Rippon
  
P.S.
Here is a link from a recent practice of me doing  a triple-triple-triple combination!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_PglUBXrow <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_PglUBXrow>
 
GREAT JOB, ADAM!

The Michael Weiss Foundation will be giving a $500 award at the Ice Horizons show April 22-23 in Bowling Green, OH. The award will go to a skater in need.

Big announcement coming!

The Michael Weiss Foundation will be making a big announcement in the next few weeks about a September 2005 fundraiser at Skatequest in Reston, Virginia. Special Guest Stars attending the fundraiser will be announced.

Christine wins Silver Medal at Nationals!

Christine Zukowski won the Silver Medal at the 2005 U.S. National Figure Skating Junior Championships held in Portland, Oregon in January.

Congratulations Christine!

Christine Zukowski

Christine Zukowski won the East Sectional Junior Ladies Championship held in Boxborough, Massachusetts Nov. 17-20. She finished with all first place ordinals.

Earlier Christine won the South Atlantic Junior Ladies Championship held in North Charleston, South Carolina. She was leading after the Short Program and finished first with all first place ordinals in the Long Program.

The weekend of September 18th in White Hall, Pa., Michael Weiss performed his show program to "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band along with other performances from the LeHigh Valley Skating Club.

Michael also spoke to the Skating Club about his motivation and determination and how to apply it to their own skating. His motivational speech was followed by a Q&A session where the parents and skaters participated.

The Michael Weiss Foundation was able to raise $580 through a autograph fund raising after the event. Thank you LeHigh Valley Ice Arena and Skating Club for all of your support. And a special thanks to Sandy Camarano and Judy Reinford for assisting in the coordination of the event.

Skating for the first time as a senior in a major competition, American Christopher Toland showed solid jumps and fast spins to win the bronze with 162.01 points at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany.

He jumped up from fifth after the short. In fact, other than the first position which remained the same after the short, the standings in the men's free skate showed that the new judging system makes it anyone's game. Toland was pleased with his senior international debut.

"It was the first time I've done a triple Axel-triple toe loop combination in a competition," he said. "I'm happy to skate with all these guys that I've seen before so many times."

MWFoundation presents
$500 award and Wachovia
Securities Diamond
Performance Award
at the Silicon Valley
Open in San Jose, CA.

Ten-year-old Ellie Kawamura who impressed the crowd and
the judges with her double axels and energetic skating, was presented the Wachovia Securities Diamond Performance Award at the Silicon Valley Open in San Jose, CA. on Aug. 21.

The award was given by Nicolas Castaneda of Wachovia Securities and Michael on the ice after her bronze medal performance. She was also awarded her $500 check to help defray her training expenses.

A Big "Thank you" to the skaters, coaches, parents, and other fans who were generous enough to donate to the foundation while I autographed posters and photos. We were able to raise $910 in just an hour!! It is through the support of these people that encourage, inspire, and motivate
our future.

Thank you as well, to Nicolas Castaneda for his continued support of the Michael Weiss Foundation. He provided the gorgeous trophy awarded to both Ellie and Armin -- our recipients of the Wachovia Securities Diamond Performance Awards.

The Silicon Valley Skating Club was extremely helpful with the organization of the Award. Thank you to Katie for all of her help and support! And congratulations on a successful week of competition.

Congratulations to Ellie!!

Michael and Ellie	Michael, Ellie, her coach Tammy Gamble, and Nicolas Castaneda of Wachovia Securities at the Silicon Valley Open.

Helping a little boy realize his dream

Michael received a letter from a 5-year-old boy and his family, asking for help so the promising young talent could continue training. Michael was so touched by the letter that he was able to find someone to donate money to the MWFoundation on Nathan's behalf.

The family's letter follows:

Dear Michael Weiss,
We admire you, your skating, and your foundation to help promising skaters very much. We are writing to you for a possible scholarship of $250 towards a pair of skating boots for Nathan Chen. We are embarrassed for this request, but Dad just lost his job and we lost the sole family income while in the process of shopping for a pair of WIFA boots for Nathan.

Nathan Chen and his amazing spiral.

Nathan just turned five. He is the youngest of our family of seven. He loves to skate and he started skating at 3 years old. He is currently in Pre-Preliminary. He can land all his single jumps and is now learning doubles and axel. He can occasionally land a full axel. In some 10 events that he has competed, he mostly got the gold. In the 2003 Oktoberfest Competition in Utah, he was awarded the Most Distinguished Skater of the entire competition.

Nathan’s love and will for skating seems beyond his young age. He has entered a competition at Sun Valley, Idaho, and will compete there tomorrow. Because of Dad’s recent situation, Mom has cut down Nathan’s lessons from three times a week to once a week. She even wanted to withdraw Nathan from the competition, but Nathan insists on going. Do you know what he said when Mom explained to him that if we go he’d have to sleep in the car? “Sleeping in the car is fun!” he said.

One other incident that shows Nathan’s strong will was when he got a gash on his leg from a fall during his program in a skating show early this year. He continued jumping, hopping, and spinning to finish the program while his cut was bleeding. We had to rushed him to the emergency room for three stitches afterwards. Nathan was amazing.

Mike, we thank you very much for your consideration or your suggestions for other potential sponsors.

Sincerely,
Nathan and the Family

Michael's response to the family:

Dear Mr. Chen,
It sounds like you have a very committed, promising young skater. At 5
years old, to have a spiral like that is very inspiring.

At this time, we are not planning to award scholarships until the spring of
2005. Because of limited funds, the process with the MWFoundation has been
that we accept applications at a specific time, and the applicants fill out
a questionnaire, and applicants are picked to receive the scholarships based
on a certain criteria.

But, your son seems like a special young man....so, I will see what I can
do.

Sincerely,
Michael Weiss

Armin Mahbanoozadeh with Michael	Christine Zukowski

CONGRATULATIONS to Armin Mahbanoozadeh, an intermediate level skater of Great Falls, Virginia, who took home the Wachovia Securities Diamond Performance Award along with $500. After a first place finish in the short program at Skate Liberty in Newark Delaware, the 2004 Junior National Competitor climbed to the top of the podium after 9 judges gave him straight firsts. During his Gold Medal performance in the Final Round Long Program, Armin completed a triple toe – double toe; double axel-double toe; triple salchow and triple loop.

“He is a fine example of a hard working, disciplined young man who is more than deserving of the award. I look forward to some great things from him in the future!” -- Michael Weiss

Armin is coached by Traci Coleman at Skatequest in Reston, Virginia.

CONGRATULATIONS to Christine Zukowski, current MWFoundation scholarship winner, for her first place at Skate Liberty – Free Skating Final. Hats off to Christine who rallied back after a ninth place finish in the short program. The U.S. Novice Champion landed two triple-toe/triple-toe combinations during the Liberty event; one in the initial and one in the final round.

The Michael Weiss Foundation thanks Daniel Carson and Carson Aquatics Swim Club for donating $1,000 to the Michael Weiss Foundation. Mr. Carson coaches competitive swimming for his club and has also competed as an adult in Masters competition. For more information on Carson Aquatics of College Park, MD, please email carsonaquatics@verizon.net.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Skating Club of Boston, all of the skaters and fans for Ice Chips 2004: 92nd Anniversary Celebration, "Hollywood on Ice". We were able to raise $1,010.00 for the MWFoundation. Also, a special thanks to Capezio for providing the posters. As donations continue to come in, we look forward to a promising future and the opportunity to provide more aspiring young skaters with financial assistance." --Michael Weiss

MWF wishes to thank the Vacationland Figure Skating Club of Brainerd, MN for their kind donation to the Foundation. Michael performed along with 90 local skaters at their recent annual club show and is very grateful for the generous $250.00 donation from T-Shirt sales. Thanks so much to everyone associated with the Vacationland Figure Skating Club and keep up the good work!

April 16, 2004

Reigning U.S. novice silver medalist Daisuke Murakami of Corona, CA won the free skate to vault over short program leader Jeremy Ten of Canada and win the gold medal Friday at the 2004 Triglav Trophy in Jesenice, Slovenia.

Christine Zukowski, the novice national champion of Newark, DE, won the gold medal at the 2004 Gardena Spring Trophy held March 31-April 1, 2004, in Selva di Val Gardena, Italy.

Michael meets the winners

After meeting the winners of the scholarships and their parents this weekend, I am now committed more than ever to do all that I can to make sure skaters like these get the support they need.

Daisuke Murakami of Corona, CA, the Novice National Silver Medalist, is the Gold Medal scholarship winner. Christine Zukowski of Newark, DE, the Novice National Champion, is the Silver Medal scholarship winner, and Christopher Toland of Garden Grove, CA, the Junior National Champion, is the Bronze Medal scholarship winner.

'Win the Olympics'

Daisuke Murakami, When asked what his ultimate goal in skating (50 words or less), this is how he responded.

"Win the Olympics"

What Financial support would mean to him?
"Financial support will help us a lot because of coach's fees, National's bills, ice time (freestyle), costumes and international competitions. Our family couldn't afford a new costume for Nationals so we had to borrow my friend's costume. And I had to wear my skates for 2 1/2 years even though they were too small."

Dice's scholarship win was the subject of an article on www.AsianAthlete.com:

Earlier this week, 13-year old Daisuke "Dice" Murakami was announced as the Gold Medal Winner of the Michael Weiss Foundation Skating Scholarship. 

He will receive $5,366, plus a trip to New York City to have a custom-made skating outfit designed by Tania Bass.  Dice took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to AsianAthlete.com about his trip to Washington, D.C. and visiting three-time U.S. National Champ Michael Weiss.

Other than watching Michael Weiss skate on television, Dice had never met him before, but "always wanted to meet him."  

Dice and his mother left Los Angeles last Friday to see Washington, D.C. for the very first time.  He was exhausted after the cross-country flight and went to sleep soon after he arrived at the Courtyard hotel. 

On Saturday, he woke up at 6 a.m. and went to the outdoor skating rink at Pentagon City with Christopher, Christine, and their parents. 

Michael Weiss spent some time skating with them and giving them tips. The rink was very cold and small, but there were no other skaters there. Dice says he could get across the rink in two strokes. He managed to do jumps up to a triple toe. Michael demonstrated his triple lutz jump and backflip. 

They left the chill of the outdoor rink and went to Michael's house in McLean, Virginia.  There, they met Michael's 5-year old daughter, Annie Mae (whom Dice describes as "adorable"), and Michael's mother, Margie Weiss. Margie Weiss, a former national gymnastics champion, assisted the skaters in training on a trampoline. The skaters also went to one of the Weiss family's Gold's Gym locations to do pilates and off-ice training. 

They said good-bye to Michael after eating together at a Mexican restaurant.

"I learned a lot of things from him, like how determined you have to be, and how off-ice is more important than on-ice training," Dice says. He adds that he will go to New York City with his mother and looks forward to meeting with designer Tania Bass, because he has "always liked Michael Weiss' costumes." 

On Sunday, Dice, Christopher, and their mothers went sight-seeing around D.C. They saw the Lincoln Memorial and the White House, and went through the Museum of Natural History. "I was in awe being there," Dice recalls. "I really enjoyed being in D.C."

In order to apply for the skating scholarship, the skaters had to write two essays on what their ultimate goal was and why they needed the support.  Dice wrote that his ultimate goal was to win the Olympics.

Speaking with Dice, it is amazing to learn that he has only been in the U.S. for about four years.  He and his parents came from Japan to visit in 1999, went back, then returned in 2000.His mother, a former gymnast, is a homemaker who shuttles Dice to and from all his skating sessions.His father is an assistant manager at a restaurant. 

Although all of their relatives are in Japan, Dice "wasn't really scared" when he moved to the U.S.  He had already started learning English in Japan.  The last time he went back was in 2001, when his grandfather passed away.

Dice was drawn to skating at age nine, when he saw a skating rink inside Westfield Mall. "I really wanted to skate. I did it for fun," he says. 

Dice began with group lessons in San Diego and then starting taking private lessons.  Now, he and his parents live in Corona, CA, 20 minutes from his training rink. 

Tammy Gambill, coach of national skaters Dennis Phan and Felicia Beck, has been his coach for the past two years. Phillip Mills is his choreographer. 

Dice skates three hours a day at Riverside Icetown on weekdays, and Lakewood and Paramount rinks on the weekends. He is working on his triple-lutz, triple-toe combination jump and the triple axel. He is a student at La Sierra Academy, where he has a scholarship and is able to miss the last period to skate.

In April 2004, Dice will compete at the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia. This will be his second international competition; his first was the North American Challenge last year in Edmonton. His other competitions this year include Golden West Championships, Hidden Valley Open, Interclub Competition, and Southwest Pacific Regionals, all in California. 

In addition to Michael Weiss, he wishes to thank his parents and coaches for their support

A mother talks of the financial burdens

Theresa Zukowski, Christine's mother, had this to say about her daughter's skating:

"Christine has been skating since the age of four and has had private lessons from age five. I am a single mother raising three children in this incredibly expensive world. I am employed as a registered nurse in the cardiac intensive card unit at Christiana Hospital in Newark, DE. I work the night shift, a schedule that affords me the opportunity to assist Christine in her daily schedule.

Christine's skating costs have always been a financial burden. A struggle that I am willing to endure when I watch her skate. Unfortunately, as Christine's success has increased, the cost of her skating has skyrocketed to greater than $30,000 a year, a figure that is overwhelming for a single parent."

Talent and Enthusiasm

Spending most of the day on Saturday with Daisuke, Christine, and Christopher gave me a chance to get to know them a little better. All three are full of talent and enthusiasm for skating. Although I would have liked to help all of the applicants, I think we picked a great group of kids for the scholarships.

A common misconception of skaters as novice and junior National medalists is that these skaters get sponsorship and financial help to pay for skating expenses. These skaters accumulate more expenses having to fly coaches and parents to Nationals and put them up in a hotel for a week, music editing professionally, and expensive skating costumes, to name a few. My goal is to help raise enough money for The Michael Weiss Foundation through corporate sponsors and individual donations to make this year a stepping stone to a larger fund, so I can get more financial assistance into the hands of our budding stars.

This scholarship is the first of many to come....So Congratulations again! And Good luck to all of you on your quest for Olympic Glory!

Special thanks

I want to thank Nick Castaneda of Wachovia Securities, Brooke Kindler, Lisa Weiss, Todd Fraser, John Morandi, Lenore and Bill Malin, Margie Weiss, Steve Disson and Tania Bass for all of their help with the organizing of the Scholarship Funds and commitment to make this a successful event in the future.

Michael Weiss

February 24, 2004

Wow, I had no idea the Scholarship would attract so many deserving applicants. It shows me that there is a real need for this in the skating world.