Day Three:
Today was a BIG day! Both my son and my daughter woke up at 5:00 AM and practiced from 5:45 until 6:30 AM. Then, they went on to the competition which was at a different ice rink.
Joel competed at 8:00 AM and won Limited Pre-Preliminary Boys.
We arrived at the rink an hour before Joel competed. He took some time to run through his program off the ice. As he waited for his chance to compete, he spent some time with his coach. His coach helped keep him calm, but also gave him last minute off ice instruction. About ten minutes before he was scheduled to take the ice for a warm-up, he put on his skates. Finally, it was time for the warm-up.
Warm-ups are very short (usually about five to six minutes long) and give figure skaters a chance to "feel" the ice and do all of their jumps and spins and main program components before the actual performance. Joel's warm-up went smoothly.
Once the skaters were asked to clear the ice, two other skaters performed before Joel's name was called. Joel and his coach did some last minute off-ice jumping and review of positions as they waited for Joel's turn to perform. Both coach and skater were just a bit nervous during the wait. Finally, Joel's name was announced; his coach stood at the rink's entrance and gave him a last minute "go for it." Once Joel completed his one and a half minute program to music and took a bow, there was clapping from the audience.
In this event, skaters could do any single jump with the exception of an axel. He performed a one and one-half minute program to music from Star Wars. His program included single revolution jumps such as a flip jump and loop jump, jump combinations, footwork, three different spins, and a lutz jump. One of the highlights of my son's program was a very fast and long backward spiral. He was awarded first place marks by all five judges!
My daughter competed about an hour later in Pre-Preliminary girls and came in third. Her program included axels, but she did not land any of them. She did the rest of the program very well. Her program included many jump combinations, spirals, footwork, and spins. She skated to music from the Broadway musical CATS.
Rebekah's singles coach was there coaching and giving her last minute instruction.
The children were presented medals in a short awards ceremony and got to stand on the podium.
The children returned to the rink that evening and took silver in Preliminary Pairs. They skated a one and one-half minute program to the music from Superman. Their program included sit spins done in sequence, side-by-side single revolution jumps, small lifts, a pair camel spin, a pivot spiral, footwork, spirals, and other interesting pair moves.
Day Four:
My youngest daughter and her partner competed in Artistic Duets. They skated to "Beauty and the Beast" and did a beautiful job.
In an artistic event, the costume, presentation, and creativity are judged. Annabelle was dressed as "Belle" and looked adorable. Her partner was the handsome prince who had once been "The Beast." The children both received fourth place medals.
It is important that figure skaters participate in artistic events since the experience helps with the performance aspect of figure skating. Figure skaters must get chances to skate for fun and artistic programs are great fun.
Annabelle returned to the rink later for an official practice for her singles event.
Since the older children were done with singles and pairs, they concentrated on ice dance on Friday. They did a practice in the early afernoon at another ice arena and then returned to competition rink for official dance practice ice at 6:10 PM. The kids did great on the ice dance practice. They had a chance to practice with other ice dance competitors and were given a chance to practice all their competition dances to music.
I'm their main ice dance coach. I taught them from the rail during that official practice session. At competitions, figure skating coaches instruct their students off the ice from the rail and do not put skates on or take to the ice. The practice sessions at competitions are different from regular practice sessions sometimes since judges and officials observe and coaches do not give instruction on skates.
Day Five:
Joel and Rebekah practiced in the morning on their four competition ice dances. It was their final practice and they worked out endings for each dance.
They rested during the day to prepare for an active evening of competing.
It was a very exciting evening too! The children competed in four different compulsory dances (Dutch Waltz, Rhythm Blues, Canasta Tango, and Cha-Cha) and won three gold medals and one silver. It was fun for the children to wear all their medals.
Day Six:
Today was their little sister's day! Annabelle competed in Beginner 5 Freeskate and won a bronze medal. The Beginner levels are levels made especially for skaters who have not taken official U.S. Figure Skating tests. Annabelle's program included a toe loop, waltz jumps, three-turns, a ballet jump, bunny hops, a scratch spin and a sit spin. She skated to music from The Nutcracker.
During the course of the day, the ice arena's building was filled to capacity. It seemd that more than a hundred young skaters competed on Sunday. Little girls were dressed in very elaborate costumes and their hair was put up or curled. Many wore make-up.
