Competition Recap
As I mentioned last week, I mustered the strength to compete 3 events at a skating competition over the weekend. I competed in Freestyle, Dramatic Entertainment and a duet.
The practice ice I signed up for seemed to go well, and I wasn’t in too much pain to skate, so I went for it in all 3 events. Here is how I fared in each one.
Freestyle
- I hit my first spin, and it felt awesome. This was probably the best spin I’ve done in a long time. However, I’m not sure how the technical controller called it because I received a Level 1 spin (as opposed to a level 3) and at least one judge gave me a negative GOE! I had an illusion entry, cannonball position and “back” sit position. All positions were held for at least 3 revolutions, so I have no idea what happened.
- Both lutzes got edge calls. I blame it on the injured back.
- I fell out of my flying camel spin and was *thisclose* to touching the ground with my hand. Somehow, I managed to avoid the ice but still received a ‘dash of doom’ for this element. At least I didn’t get the 0.5 deduction for touching the ice/falling.
- As a result of my failed flying camel, my PCS scores were very low.
- The technical controller gave me an under-rotation on my 3-jump combination (lutz, toe loop, loop). I felt like the combo was strong, and I have never gotten this bad element score before.
- Total score was 20.20, which is very low for me. I placed 11th out of 13.
Dramatic Entertainment
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- This was the debut of my new program
- I got a sudden rush of energy for this program and really tried to ham it up. I made eye contact with the judges and smiled a lot.
- I got dizzy throughout and was disoriented after my last spin. I was supposed to do a knee slide a the end but skipped that because I didn’t know which way I was facing.
- I tied for 3rd out of 5.
- Here is a video!
Duet
- Once again, we faced some tough competition and knew that we’d be battling for 2nd and 3rd place. First place was in the bag for a strong team that always shows up well (we were totally OK with that).
- My duet partner and I were totally off and not in synch; however, we really acted out our parts and hammed it up.
- We got 2nd (out of 3) and even received a first place ordinal – a total shock!
All in all, I am very happy that I decided to skate. I had a great time reconnecting with skating friends and meeting new ones. I am also happy that I medaled in 2 out of my 3 events. I’m still baffled about my Freestyle score but will continue to move on and make adjustments as needed.
As for my back, a quick 45-minute session to the acupuncturist seemed to do the trick. I’m finally back to normal. (If you’re curious, I did get the needles in my back and also got cupping done)
