Competition Recap – Day 1
Last weekend, I competed in a local adult competition. I entered two events – a trio and a freestyle.
On day 1, we had the trio event. There were 4 groups entered: a pairs team, a duet, and another trio. The title of the event was “Don’t Go It Alone,” and it was described as an entertainment event. More on that later.
The three of us had a good warmup. We essentially revived our Toy Story 4 program from the holiday show and lengthened it. The rules allowed us to skate for 2 minutes and 10 seconds, so we expanded our previous 1 minute and 40 second program to include an additional 30 seconds.
Suddenly, during the warmup, my pairs skater (“Forky”) said that his shoulder was injured. He apparently fell backwards on his heel, slipped, and landed on his elbow. The force of the impact caused his shoulder to make a weird popping sound. As a result, he was unable to lift his arms.
We waited our turned to skate, and despite my partner’s shoulder injury, we were able to get through the program. In fact, it turned out pretty well. We faked our throw waltz jump but otherwise things went smoothly.
Right after the event ended, I had an unofficial practice. I took off my hat, shirt, bandana and vest and continued to skate in my jeans (it’s hard to do, but not impossible). I had a great practice and everything felt solid.
I got off the ice and we went upstairs for the results. Surprisingly, we came in last place. The pairs team that I mentioned earlier did an actual pairs program. While it was lovely, it was not entertainment. The duet was well done and probably should have placed 1st. The other trio did a nice job as well. We believed that we should have been in the top 3.
Regardless of the judges’ preferences, the three of us still had a great time. I’m just hoping that my partner’s shoulder heals in time for us to put together a pairs program for nationals!
Oh, ouch for your partner! It sounds like you guys did a really good job in spite of the injury. I’m always a little uncertain how they judge these different categories of artistic and entertainment in skating (heck, I’m not certain how they judge the regular competitive events!) But congrats to all, and I hope “Forky” feels better soon.
Author
These events are so difficult to judge! What really baffled us was how the traditional pairs team fit into an “entertainment” category. Who knows…?
I have announced at competitions with Light Entertainment groups. I have learned that the judges will TALK about those who didn’t so what the rules specified but will still rank them high if they skate well. Is it fair? No.
Hope your partner heals up soon.
Author
Hmm – interesting. The three of us thought we skated well we had lots of different turns and elements while other groups did not. Oh well. At least we had fun!
I’ve been frustrated by not understanding the judging of entertainment programs before, and probably will be again. I’m skating two entertainment programs at Sectionals, I hope I can get past that and just enjoy my skates.
Author
The judging for these events is definitely strange. My pairs partner, who played Forky in our trio, also skated in another trio last year at the same exact competition. They performed another Disney program (with lesser quality skating) and ended up in first place.