Competition Recap (Part 1)
This past weekend I competed in my home rink’s annual competition. I knew that I would be a single entry when I registered, but I skated mostly to get myself out there (I haven’t competed since April 2022) and to get feedback from the judges.
I volunteered to be an ice monitor on Saturday evening and got to cheer on many friends. I was happy to see so many people skate so well, and I was genuinely thrilled for them. For some weird reason, I started getting intense butterflies on Saturday and had a difficult time sleeping and eating. My stomach kept doing gurgling like it was doing backflips in the pool.
Sunday morning was the day of the competition. I got to the rink early because two of my students were competing an hour before me. I wanted to make sure I got there in time to get them ready and put them on the ice. Both of them skated superbly! One placed first out of 2 skaters, and the second (who was skating up one level) placed 2nd out of 2. However, she received 2 first place ordinals and would have placed 1st if one more judge liked her program above the other skater’s. I’m extremely proud of her and her accomplishments, especially after skating up!
Then it was my turn. I isolated myself and did some deep breathing while listening to music. I was nervous, but I had great practices all week and leading up to the competition. I was first to skate after my warmup, so I took it easy. I did easy waltz jumps, a few gigantic flip jumps and got my camel spins to go fast.
Once the music started, however, my legs did not cooperate. I was sluggish and felt like I was skating on mud. My legs wouldn’t move, and I could not rotate anything to save my life. You’ll see from my protocol above that this was NOT a good skate. In fact, it was the lowest score I’d received in many, many years. However, in looking at the protocol from the other masters skaters after me, they were underscored as well. The Masters seniors ladies should have earned 40+ points (at least), but they were in the mid 30s.
Next week, I want to address the final spin in my program and why it got dashed. I was extremely confused and disheartened with that element because I executed it fairly well, given the circumstances. This topic deserves its own post so stay tuned until next week.
All in all, this was not my best skate, but I need to give myself a break because I’ve been out of the game for almost a year and a half.