September/October 2007

 

 

October 7, 2007:

Regionals was such a fun experience and I want to say a special thank you to those who helped me make this trip.  I was so happy to be back on the competition ice.  I loved every minute!  My goal at regionals this year was to do just that, get back on competition ice.  Plus, I wanted to get re-acquainted with the SW Pacific region.  I had not competed in a year and before that it had been a year, so I was really happy for this opportunity.  This is a new start and I am so excited by what the upcoming year is holding for me.  I  will  be competing a lot now since we are finally situated.  It has  taken so long to get here and we are still hurting financially but at least I am finally back to being consistent with my training.  I felt so good on the ice.  I was  so happy!  As I said before, I did not put my double axel or triple in my program because we were just going to play it safe with my first time under the new system and because I had not competed in so long.  I feel  really good about my performance in that I did not land on my bottom. Ha!  There were a couple things my coach and I have to go over to improve the program but for the most part we were very happy.  One question is about my final spin.  I did not get any points and it was my combo spin.  We are wondering why.  I have a spin coach and  we'll have to talk with her about it.  They also gave me a level 1 on my layback spin and my spin coach told me it was a level 2 and maybe even level 3.  In my mind I know I went over the required 8 revolutions before moving but we will check it out on the video when we get it.  I also had both lutz jumps downgraded from doubles to  singles but that  is ok.  I have been  relearning that jump  because I turn my shoulders too much.  We will look at it on video too.  I knew I kind of messed up one but still thought it should be counted as a double.  That's ok, though.  We will look at it and  we  know what to work on.  That was huge because I had that jump with a combo.  All in all, I was so happy.  If anyone sees the video on icenetwork you will see  I was smiling the entire time.  I really loved being there on that comp ice again.

There  was  some amazing skating at regionals and it was so fun to watch.  I was  also so happy to see my friend Saki again.  I have missed her.  I also saw Janet Li and she did an amazing  job with her program and landed a huge double axel.  She placed 2nd overall at the intermediate level and  is going to JNs. Way to go Janet!  I was very happy to see my friend Alex Lee again and her family!  I also saw William Knop again.  He has been injured so it was tough for him to skate but all the  novice guys are going to sectionals so hopefully he will  be healed and ready to go by then.  I saw my good friend  Jessica from San Diego and many other friends.  Shayna skated great and I was very proud of her.  Katlynn did really good for her first year at novice and  placed 5th overall.  Isn't that amazing?  Good job Katlynn!

A really cool thing happened while I was  there.  When I was on practice ice my coach was sitting at the boards where the coaches sit and next to her was Frank Carroll, also Tammy Gambil and Karen Kwan.  It was so cool!  My coach sitting by the greats!  Karen Kwan is so beautiful! 

The night after I had competed my coach and her daughter plus me and my mom went down to the Seaport Village in downtown San Diego and  ate at a restaurant that  was on the water.  It was so gorgeous there!  Of course we desert rats were freezing!  Ha!  We did not eat ice cream and walk along the beach.  HA!  It was fun with Tammy again.  I'm glad she is my coach.  We  have huge goals this coming year and we are BOTH excited!  I can hardly wait to get back on the ice tomorrow!  YEA!

Love ya all!

Sarah

October 3, 2007:

Ok, so tomorrow is the day we leave for regionals.  I am so amazingly excited!  I have not competed in a year and it feels so good!  Of course I would pick a tough comp like regionals to start back up.  Ha!   I am in Intermediate Group D.  My group is the biggest group.  There are 19 skaters in my group.  Group A has 15 skaters and the other two groups have 17.  Doesn't it seem strange I have 19 in my group?  You would think they could even that out a little.  Only the top 4 make it to finals.  Plus, guess what?  I have two girls in my group that went to Junior Nationals last year!  Every other group has either one or none.  I really don't care though.  My goal is to skate a clean program and introduce myself to competitions in this region again.  This is a stepping stone to my larger goals.  I got started late this year.  When I got back from training with Aleksandr I had a lot to do over the summer to even think about getting ready for regionals.  I had to take my moves and freeskate test and get two new programs plus work on relearning some things that had bad habits.  I'm still working on that part of it.  I am not doing my double axel or triples at regionals because my goal is to skate clean.  I don't want to worry about whether my double axel and triples are clean and get docked in a huge way if they aren't.  I am learning to up my GOE.  We just hired a spin coach so I have not had a lot of time to work on my spins.  My layback has gotten good but I'm still having to work on change of edge spins.  After regionals I will be skating at a competition in Las Vegas called  Desert Ice on November 3 and 4th.  It will be a competition with the 6.0 system so I am going to do my double axel and triples there.  I also wanted to be injury free for regionals.  When I work on my double axel too much my knee starts hurting.  It has to do with landing cheated some and it puts a tork on my knee.  I hate the belt so I always work on it without it.  Two regionals ago my knee was injured and I had to get a cortizone shot before.  I really did not want to go through that again.  Not right now anyway. 

Guess what I'm doing after I am done skating?  Ha!  I'm going to the beach and eating ice cream!  YEA!  I have worked so hard not only with my on-ice training but with my off ice training.  This weekend I want to take a short break before returning to the training schedule, if even for a day.  Ha!

Love ya all,

Sarah

P.S.  I just want to say Good Luck to all of my friends competing in regionals!  Just go for it and smile!

September 19, 2007:

I got my skates back from Kelly and the blades are now perfectly straight and so much better.  I can't believe how much faster I can skate now.  I had to get used to it a little but it's fine now.  I had a lesson on spins and choreography today and really had a good lesson.  We changed some things with my program to enhance it and I love it!  This afternoon I will work on those changes.  I am doing my freeskate over and over and today -I think I'm going to do it 4 times.  That is my goal.  I also do my short program back to back. 

Ok, gotta get back to schoolwork.

Sarah

September 17, 2007:

Only two weeks until regionals!  WOW!  I'm so excited!  My practices were going good and then I went to Pros Edge Sports to have my blades sharpened and Kelly told me my blades were bent.  He said they needed to be re-mounted because whoever mounted them bent the blades.  Ok, so I took my skates and showed my coach and she checked it out and sure enough, they are bent towards the back of the blades.  I'm not going to say who mounted them originally but I had to leave my skates with Kelly over the weekend.  It's costing $45 to redo these things!  They weren't ready today so we are picking them up in the morning.  It really upset me because I couldn't skate today.  But, tomorrow I'll be back on the ice.  I wonder if it will affect my skating because I must be used to skating on bent blades, ha!  My spin coach told me it won't affect my spins because I spin on the forward part of the blades and she actually said it will help my edge work.  YEA!  I sure hope so!  Anyway, Kelly at Pros Edge Sports is the best blade sharpener anywhere ever!  He is a little more expensive but he is the best!  We have to drive 30 miles one way to get to his shop because he is on the other end of Phoenix.  But, he is worth the drive. 

I'll write more again after I get my skates back.  Keep us in your prayers because financially we have no idea how we are going to make this regional trip work.

Love,

Sarah

September 12, 2007:

Only 2 1/2 weeks until regionals and it seems like I have so much to do.  I'm almost overwhelmed.  My school is crazy this year with all the work I have to do.  It's so hard with trying to train for regionals and doing all the schoolwork and working.  I'm tired all the time.  I have been skating twice a day to get ready.  During the morning sessions I am really trying to work on my spins and choreography and then in the afternoons I'm doing run throughs after run throughs with my short and long programs.  I love my programs and I'm trying to get my skills up to keep increasing the difficulty in my programs.  Tammy is making my short program dress and I can hardly wait to see it because we have designed it to go with my music, "Dark Angel" by Edvin Marton.  I'm also doing cardio everyday at the YMCA and doing tae boxing three times a week.  I'm really excited for regionals because it has been so long since I have competed.  We can't really afford it but we are going to go for it anyway. 

Josh had his show (Josh World Tour Returns) on the 8th.   He was so funny!  He had a lot of new jokes and I loved them.  His show was at Entertainment Alley and there were a lot of people there.  It really was a fun night. 

Ok, I gotta run cuz I have to get back to the rink to help with the Learn to Skate classes tonight.  I'll be updating on my regionals journey.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Sarah