Skating Fridays

Competition Recap

Well, I survived last week’s competition – but just barely. My goal going into the competition was to learn information. But I’d be lying to you if a teeny part of me still wanted to skate clean and do well. Regardless, I got through the program and survived to tell you about it.

Going into the competition, I was able to control my nerves. I listened to music beforehand (the first time I tried this technique), and I liked how it calmed me down. I had a fantastic warmup and hit everything – axel, axel/loop, all my spins, and my other jump combos. One of the coaches told me afterwards how strong I looked.

As I skated to my starting position, I talked to my mom. I asked her to watch over me and give me strength. I entered my opening spin and had an unusual bobble. As a result, I didn’t hold my sit variation for 8 revolutions as I had hoped and got a Level 2 spin called (I was hoping for a Level 3).

My choreo sequence went swimmingly, and my flip-toe combination was great. The next element was my change foot combination spin, and it was right on point. The exit was a bit strange because my legs got tied up. When I landed my axel, I fell. It was weird because I don’t remember falling on it before. Once I got up, I FORGOT MY PROGRAM. In fact, the words going through my head were, “Oh my gosh! What am I supposed to do here? Which way do I go? Oh! This sounds familiar! I think I have a jump combination now. GO!” I recall saying out loud, “I forgot my program!”

I was so discombobulated that I didn’t remember if I had already done a flip-toe jump combination. The combo was supposed to be a flip-toe-loop. Unfortunately, I left off the loop and missed out on points. Then I forgot my transition and somehow found myself going into my double salchow attempt.

Of course, I popped the attempt. Afterwards, I went towards the other end of the rink and tried my axel-loop combo. Meh. I went into the final spin and didn’t hold the variation long enough so it only got called a base level.

All in all, it was a disappointing skate. However, if I true back to my original goals, I did learn a lot. Here’s what I learned.

Strengths

• I was able to save my opening sit spin and still received a solid Level 2 for it
• The combination spin, which is new this season, was my strongest element of the program and earned me the most points
• Breathing was not an issue! Take that, bronchitis!
• I was able to persist and finish the program, despite a memory blip and being emotional about my mom
• I can make up transitions on the fly. Not very well, but it got me through the end.
• The first half of my program was strong

Opportunities

• Falls are a possibility, and I need to burn my program into memory so my mind doesn’t blip again
• Hold the spins longer so I get the variations counted
• Spin exits are crucial. PRACTICE THEM.
• The second half of the program needs more work

Out of the 2 skaters, I placed 1st. Rather than wallow in sadness over this horrendous skate, I’m looking on the bright side. Despite all the multitude of errors, I still had one of my strongest technical scores to date. And my performance score wasn’t that bad, considering that I looked like an idiot while I was trying to figure out where I was going. If I can score this well under all of the circumstances, this could be a good season for me.

Oh, and here is a fun tossie that a fellow adult skater gave us!

Onward!

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