August 2, 2018

August 3, 2018

Our morning started with breakfast at the hotel and a little gym time. We were lucky enough to have practice in the afternoon today after a late arrival yesterday evening, so we walked a bit and stocked up on some essentials at the local 7-Eleven.

The architecture has been quite foreign to the majority of what we’ve come to expect from competition locales, which are normally dominated by European influence. The vibrant colors and sprawling concrete structures have a repetition that, though greatly varying, has a simple harmony to it. The rink is situated on the fifth floor of a shopping mall, which creates a relaxed, and very warm atmosphere.

Our practice went well. It was special to see so many skaters at the rink from so many different countries. What a beautiful opportunity to share what is for many a first international competition. I admittedly can’t quickly pinpoint Kuwait on a map, but I could pinpoint the smile on the faces of the skaters from Kuwait today with their new friends, making new memories together. It’s those moments that remind us why we love what we do, and the chance it provides to connect with people from all over the world.

See you after the Rhythm Dance.

Team KoKo

August 4, 2018

The day began, as is typical for us dancers, with an early wake up and hair and makeup preparations. After the practice, it was business as usual, which usually means a mini meal, an attempt at a nap, and a redo of the hair and makeup.

The ice has been fairly fluctuating in texture since we’ve arrived, so adjustments were to be made between the morning practice and the competition to be sure we approached things correctly.

We were pretty happy with our first outing of the season, particularly to have prepared earlier for an August debut with a big change of rules and relocating our training home to Montreal in the spring. I hope this is the beginning of a fantastic season. We had a wonderful time out there, and finished 3rd with a new season’s best score.

We finished off the night with a quiet dinner at the hotel, spicier than expected but delicious nonetheless.

Until the Free Dance.
Team KoKo

August 5, 2018

Well, after a lovely competition experience we placed 2nd in the Free Dance, 1st in the technical score, and overall finished in 3rd place. It’s our first Challenger Series medal together, and to have it be at the inaugural first-ever Asian Challenger Series was a special and humbling experience for us both. We are so honored to have shared this together with the other couples and our teammates.

After the event we went to Wat Arun near the city center to get a closeup look at a local Buddhist Temple. There are many in the city, so we chose Wat Aran based on it’s particular art style that almost bears resemblance to the works of Gaudí. Patchwork pottery covers the Wat from head to toe, and you can climb a steep set of stairs to see a different perspective and the river cityscape nearby.

We’ve had a beautiful experience kicking off our season, and the Challenger Series here in Thailand.

Until next time, we say a heartfelt thank you and a good luck to all the skaters in the upcoming year!
Team KoKo

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Hello from Bulgaria!

We arrived yesterday afternoon and took a shuttle to the hotel, got our rooms and accreditation. After unpacking a bit, Logan, Massy, and I were all super hungry so we grabbed a bite in the lobby and then went for a walk to get our bodies moving a bit and explore the city.

At first, there didn’t seem to be many beautiful buildings, but then when we got closer to the city center we saw many old, beautiful churches. Sofia is an interesting city because there are a variety of old buildings and newer buildings all dispersed throughout. Some cities have the “old town” and “new town”, where development took place, but that isn’t the case in Sofia. Some buildings are not old in style of architecture but very rundown, some are very modern and beautiful, and some are gorgeous, old, buildings that can’t be found in many western cities. We returned from our little expedition with much more appreciation for the city than when we began.

We then had our team meeting where the team leaders hand out any information we need and, of course, the festive merch to wear when we cheer for each other. I love our team and I am so happy to be here with people that I know so well and have traveled with (mostly) over the past few years. It’s really special to be able to visit new places with friends that you have grown and matured with over the years, as athletes and as people.

After the team meeting, a bunch of us went up to have some dinner and we ate with a few of the Canadian and Spanish skaters of various disciplines. After that, we all went our separate ways and crashed into bed.

~ Chloe

Monday, March 5, 2018

I woke up this morning feeling very excited and awake. Upon realizing that it was only 3:30, I tried to calm down and eventually I fell back asleep. When I finally woke up later closer to my alarm time, I dragged myself out of bed, put on some makeup, and went to do my hair. The voltage is different here than in the US, so the curling iron wouldn’t work, but I managed to somewhat (emphasis on somewhat) get my hair in a decent style for practice. After finishing getting ready, I went down and had a quick breakfast before leaving for our first practice at the main arena. Practice went really well! We did our free dance this morning, so we will do short dance later tonight on the practice rink.

After practice we had lunch with some of the other Americans and some Canadian skaters as well. After that, I caught up with a close friend that I hadn’t seen in ages, took a nap, and here I am! It’s only 6pm and we have practice around 9, so I’m finishing this blog here because when I get back from practice I know I will pass out for the night.

Ok, I hope you enjoyed these first two entries!

I’m excited to share some random details with you throughout the week.

~ Chloe

Sunday, March 11, 2018

This past week in Bulgaria has been an incredible experience that is going to be hard to summarize and conclude.

Beginning with the achievements of our awesome team, it was a very successful trip! The pairs TJ and Sarah and Audrey and Misha had a strong finish and were able to secure three spots for next year! Our ladies, Ting and Emmy, both put out beautiful programs, and our men skated super strong short programs with Alex winning the small medal, and despite Alex’s awful injury in the long, Camden and Tomoki both put out solid and exciting long programs. The dance event also concluded amazingly as Christina and Anthony moved up to take home silver, Caroline and Gordon skated two strong programs, and Logan and myself had two of the best programs of our career together. It feels so awesome to be finishing the season on such a positive note and be able to look forward to next year with new goals and momentum.

So, the last time I updated you was Saturday morning. Since then, we attended ladies long program which was an unbelievable event. Afterwards, we attended the closing banquet and danced for HOURS with all of the competitors from all different countries. It was truly a perfect way to cap off a beautiful week, and everyone was just full of joy and I guess a sort of relief and freedom as the season had concluded (for most). The next day was spent mainly in bed for me because we stayed up so late dancing and hanging out afterwards, but later in the day my roommate Emmy and I went to the arena to watch the gala. It was really fun and entertaining, as pretty much the entire week was looking back on it whenever I was with Emmy. I am so grateful to have roomed with her this week and to be flying back to the states with a new friend that I feel like I’ve known for ages.

After the gala, everyone went back to the hotel to finish packing before having a team dinner at a traditional Bulgarian restaurant, and then just hanging out all night until we took our various busses to the airport. Something super wonderful about being on the junior international circuit for several years is the friendships that form throughout, and I was able to spend a lot of time with close friends that I rarely get to see this week which was so special. As much as I love that, it makes leaving and going back to normal life much harder.

So, I guess this is where I leave you! I am full of love from the week and also gratitude: to US figure skating for the opportunity, our coaches for preparing us physically, mentally, and so much more that I can’t even begin to describe. I am SO grateful to our team leaders, doctors, and other mentors that have led us through this week and helped with everything from mental support to technical issues and tissues needed rinkside. This trip would literally have been impossible without you! Of course, i am endlessly grateful for my parents and for Logan… and many more people but this has begun to sound like an Oscars acceptance speech.

Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you’ve enjoyed my brief recaps of the events of my week at Junior Worlds!

~ Chloe

September 19, 2017

Our trip to Belarus started with a red-eye flight from Detroit. For first time, Vadym and I arrived at the airport with time to spare, so we were able to have a quick dinner before boarding. Being somewhat of a meticulous planner, I had mapped out in my mind what our schedule for the week would be. I knew that I needed to sleep during the evening flight out so that I would not arrive in Minsk exhausted. I brought my favorite pillow and my comfy sweatshirt to sleep in.

For weeks, I had been successfully practicing the meditation and relaxation techniques that our dance teacher Veronique had showed us, but no matter what I tried, I could not slow down my thoughts on this flight. I was simply too excited!  It would be our first international competition as a team and my first trip to Europe! It would be the first time Vadym got to see his family since coming to Michigan to train. I closed my eyes, but my mind raced as the growing list of exciting first experiences pushed away any possibility of sleep. Vadym was able to doze a bit but after about 5 hours in our seats, we were both restless. Luckily ,we found the perfect solution by watching some quality TV: The Real Housewives (Potomac)!  Neither of us had watched the series before (honest!). We found it entertaining as we could actually watch (no earphones needed) and had fun guessing and substituting our own dialogue for the show 🙂 It worked for us, as we arrived  in Amsterdam in good spirits despite little sleep.

Our connection was delayed 3 hours, so by the time we arrived in Minsk, got through passport control without major hassle (yay!), and picked up our luggage, we were feeling kind of grumpy. Luckily, we were traveling with our coach Igor, who along with being a fantastic teacher and motivator, is a captivating storyteller as well. His travel tales kept us entertained for the duration of the bus ride to the hotel!

~ Avonley

September 20, 2017

Today was our first full day in Minsk. The morning was chilly and rainy, so Vadym’s dad drove us and our team leader to the Minsk Sports Arena. We had our first practice at 9am, in the practice rink which is one of two ice surfaces inside a giant speed skating track. After our practice, we explored the ins and outs of the sports complex, which seemed to be an endless series of subterranean corridors connecting the main competition arena to the practice arena. As I made my way around the same corridor for the third time, I consoled myself that I had met my PE quota of 10,000 steps for the day!

We spent a few minutes relaxing in the skaters’ lounge before heading to the draw.  It was the first time all of the dance teams were together in the same room. Seeing everyone there in their federation jackets was really an awesome moment for me. More than anything, it really impressed upon me that we were at an international event and that we were privileged enough not only to skate, but to represent Team USA.  I was feeling really positive and maybe that was the trick because we got lucky ? in the draw!

After our second practice session, we headed back to the hotel. It was late afternoon and finally a good opportunity (with the time difference) to chat with my friends and family from home. I was able to do some schoolwork before dinner time.  We all got together quickly for some Team USA pictures before getting ready for bed. It’s been a packed day for us and as excited as I am for tomorrow’s short dance, I know I won’t be needing to do many of Veronique’s relaxation techniques before I fall asleep ?!.

~ Avonley

September 21, 2017

I woke up this morning very excited. While I wasn’t particularly hungry, I quickly ate a cereal bar while my mom helped me with my hair. Despite the countless hours watching makeup tutorials on YouTube, I haven’t mastered the task of doing my competition hair and makeup. So, of course, I was running late again as I struggled to find the right combination of mousse and hairspray to keep my very thick hair in place.  As I reapplied the correct mix of foundation and powder, I was feeling a little envious of Vadym who doesn’t need any makeup to look as great as he does.  When I finally made it down to the lobby, I found Vadym sprawled on the furniture taking his usual catnap. One thing I’ve learned about Vadym is he can nap anywhere and anytime!

We had a good practice session and rushed back to the hotel famished, just in time for the breakfast buffet.  The food included pastry, toast, cheese similar to what we would find at home with some Belarusian selections. I was really interested in the salted sardines, savory soup, and Belarusian omelet (looked more like quiche) but decided to wait until after competition to try these 🙂

After breakfast, we returned to our room as we had about an hour to relax before our SD event.  I got a chance to retouch my makeup and it was time to go back.  We arrived at the rink just in time to watch our training mates Christina and Anthony perform. They were phenomenal and seeing them really gave us an energy boost! We quickly ran through our warm up and as we got on the ice, our coach reminded us to just enjoy the moment.  While we waited for our names to be announced, I could see our teammates and families cheering, waving American flags and that made me feel really proud and happy.

Our program flew by and before I knew it, we were in the Kiss and Cry. While waiting for our scores, I was really happy that we skated clean (and that my hair stayed in place).  Although we did not get all our levels at this competition, it is something we can work on we we return home.

After a quick lunch at the rink with Christina and Anthony, we all joined our other teammates on the stands for the ladies event. We got to watch Tessa (Hong) skate a beautiful short program and it was just fun just to hang out with everyone!

~ Avonley

September 22, 2017

Today was the first day since arriving in Minsk where I woke up from a full night’s sleep.  After our morning practice, we stayed at the rink to cheer on our teammates who were competing in the pairs short program. Vadym picked a good row where our flag could be seen by our teammates and we were joined by Nicholas. It was the first time we got to see our pairs teams (Audrey/Misha and Eli/Jonah) and I was really impressed with their lifts and throws!

After the pairs event, we went back to the hotel for lunch. Vadym and I were a little tired of our daily sandwiches so we decided try traditional Belarusian cuisine. My dish was a grilled chicken with cheese and potatoes and it was delicious. Unfortunately Vadym’s selection did not turn out as well, so he ordered another portion of what I was having. We left the restaurant satisfied and went back to our rooms to rest before our event.

I was able to get ready more quickly today and we arrived at the rink without feeling like we needed to rush through our stretching and exercises. Before they announced our names, I quickly located my mom and Vadym’s family in the stands and my nerves settle. There were more people in the arena this evening than there were on Thursday morning for our short dance, so I was feeling pretty comfortable with the energy from the crowd. Perhaps I was feeling too comfortable because out of the blue, I felt my blades slipped from under me during our step sequence. Fortunately, Vadym helped me up quickly and we continued through the rest of our elements. The adrenaline from the fall must have been what carried me through because I had nearly forgotten about the fall until our bow when Vadym whispered that it was ok.

To say that the disappointment of that free dance was the worst I’ve ever felt does not fully describe my misery that evening. I wish I could somehow redo that moment. I felt deeply embarrassed and ashamed that I had let down my partner, coaches and our families and that is how I went to bed that night.

~ Avonley

September 23, 2017

When I went to bed last night (actually early this morning), I thought I would feel better upon waking, but I still wanted to hide from the world and couldn’t find my way out of the hurt. Fortunately, Vadym’s family had planned a trip into the city for us and I had to get myself out of bed. By the time we all got together at the hotel lobby, I wasn’t feeling as devastated. And for sure, all the hugs from both our families helped. Although Vadym’s dad does not speak English, I looked at him this morning and remembered the huge support banner he had made and brought from Ukraine. And, I heard more clearly the words of love and support that both of our moms had spoken, but that I couldn’t hear last night. We had both given this competition our best effort, came in 5th overall, and finished our first JGP satisfied with that.

We all spent the afternoon together and got to go watch a Belarusian car battle. My little brother Alex would love this show as he does  similar things with his Hot Wheels! We had a quick afternoon snack and I was able to squeeze in time for more homework. In a little while, we will head out to the skating exhibition followed by the skaters’ party which caps off our stay in Minsk.

Thank you for reading this blog!

~ Avonley

September 12, 2017

Ciao from Bergamo, Italy and the 2017 Lombardia Trophy, which is in the opening week of the ISU Challenger Series.  This is Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit and we are thrilled to be blogging once again for ice-dance.com!  As you may recall from our previous blogs, since we write as a team and don’t want to confuse our readers, we refer to ourselves as “we,” “Ellie” or “Alex.”  We also work from a theme for the week to tie our blogs together and hopefully provide some local flavor for the readers. 

When we were researching Bergamo several weeks ago, we struggled to find a thread that we could weave throughout our blog.  On the surface, Bergamo is a picture-perfect European city — it features both an upper Medieval and a lower modern city, and was recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site — but this didn’t resonate with us as a theme.  More research revealed that the city lent its name to the bergamask (a folk dance) referred to in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.  But seeing as the bergamask is a rather comedic dance, we didn’t feel a connection with that either. 

But when we realized that one of Bergamo’s largest corporations (Brembo – a leader in high performance automotive brake systems and in the automotive racing sector) is the same Brembo whose North American headquarters are only a few minutes from the Novi Ice Rink, a figurative checkered flag began waving.   Isn’t it interesting that our American Motor City can be connected across  4350 miles to an Italian “citta dei motori”?  And so we conceived of our motor-themed “Launching at Lombardia” title.  In an automotive sense, to launch is to bring a car through an extremely fast acceleration to its maximum speed, which is a great goal for us as we open our Challenger season.

We started our Lombardia experience with a Monday evening departure from Detroit, where we checked our suitcases and carried on our skate bags.  At our one hour layover in Paris,  the French airport security would not allow our skates through, and we were forced to exit the airport, wait in line at the counter to check our skate bags in, race through security again, and finally ride a transport out to our gate.  Adrienne, (our coach) and Ellie’s mom (Natasha) somehow managed to hold the plane from departing without us, as we sped our way through the process — neither of us speaking a word of French.  Thankfully, all the luggage and our skate bags made it through.  After a one hour shuttle ride to Bergamo from the Milan airport, we settled in to our hotel before grabbing a quick bite to eat at the pizzeria next door.  The entire Team USA group walked to the rink (about 25 minutes away) for accreditation, and then we Ubered with Adrienne and Ellie’s mom to a nice dinner in the historic upper city.  The medieval city center is filled with large white balloons, floating over a park-like open area, which is in direct contrast to the centuries-old surrounding buildings.  Following dinner, we grabbed a taxi for the ride back and experienced a crazy-fast drive similar to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, speeding through the narrow, winding roads linking the upper and lower cities.  While Alex enjoyed the thrill of the ride, Natasha white-knuckled the door handle and kept her eyes slammed shut!

We are off to sleep.  Tomorrow we begin practice and have the official draw.  Until then, Ciao from Bergamo!

~ Ellie & Alex

September 13, 2017

Ciao from Bergamo!

Wednesday was our first full day here and we were fortunate enough to take it pretty easy.  After sleeping in to reset our internal clocks from the jet lag, we enjoyed another pasta meal (yes — Alex ate carbonara for the second time in less than 24 hours), and toured the Citta Bassa (Bergamo’s lower city relative to its historic, walled hilltop center).

The lower city has commercial, as well as residential areas, with much of it being built in the 20th century.  Situated just south of the Bergamasque Alps, the city has stunning views of the mountains in the distance.  We also noticed that relative to American cities, Bergamo is swarming with Vespas and adventure bikes.  Not only were Vespas invented in Italy, but the first motorcycle ever patented was designed in Bergamo, by Giuseppe Murnigotti in 1879.  In addition to the Vespas, we saw some cool, old vehicles that we don’t see at home, and of course Alex captured them on his phone.

Our afternoon concluded with our first practice at the Bergamo Ice Lab.  The rink is bright, open and very modern.  However we are used to skating in an NHL-sized rink (85’x200′) and this is an Olympic rink (98’x197′).  In layman’s terms, it means that it’ll be an interesting challenge to fit our Rhumba pattern in, since we consistently fill the longer NHL rink end to end.  Our practice went well  — we focused on free dance for the first session here. We are wearing new FD costumes since Lake Placid, and Ellie is debuting a new hair color here too.  It is a sultry reddish hue, to complement our sultry, “Desire” free dance theme.

Following practice, we attended the official draw with the other Team USA skaters before heading home.  Tomorrow is another practice day for us, while the other disciplines start to compete.  Our SD is on Friday morning.

Thanks for reading our blog — check back tomorrow for another installment.  Ciao for now!

~ Ellie & Alex

September 14, 2017

Ciao from Bergamo! 

Thursday at Lombardia Trophy was highlighted by the short program events for the pairs, ladies and mens events, and our Team USA skaters did not disappoint.   Strong skates by Tim & Ashley, Jason, Jordan, Bradie and Amber mean that the long program events should be extremely exciting!

The ice dancers, however, spent the day at the practice arena, which required a 60 to 90 minute bus ride to travel there.  We decided to cut the travel time down by hiring a cab, and we were guaranteed a trip of only 30 minutes by the driver.  What he failed to tell us, was that the trip would cost €105!  Regardless, the drive was picturesque, if not a little rainy, and we even passed by the Brembo headquarters.  Unfortunately, we realized it too late to pull out our phones, so we will have to remember what it looked like as our costly cab sped by it.

The practice rink was one of the coldest rinks we have skated in, but it had some really interesting wooden trusses.  We skated in our SD draw groups, and had a wonderful practice.  We cannot wait to compete our short dance tomorrow!  In the past six weeks, we have replaced our opening Pitbull song with a more traditional samba sound to kick off the program and to highlight our pattern dance.  This change along with extensive coaching from Latin ballroom champion Oksana Zolotarevskaya, has served to clarify the authenticity of our movements and the flavor of the dance.  We’re excited to share what we’ve been working on, with the audience and officials!

For the return trip to our hotel, Team Novi training mates Max Nikitin and Sasha Nazarova were kind enough to share their rental car with us.  However, just like every other ride so far, this one was not without incident.  Apparently, Max’s car was a red light magnet, as we hit 20+ stoplights on the trip back.   That, combined with a kludgy gps signal from our phones and one accidental wrong turn meant that by the time we got back to the hotel, we were stressed enough to require the calming influence of……………… another serving of great carbonara!  We can justify it as carb-loading for tomorrow’s event, but truth be told, Alex is simply craving pasta and pizza from the awesome restaurants by us!

Looking forward to tomorrow — go Team USA!

Ciao!

~ Ellie & Alex

September 15, 2017

Ciao from Bergamo on Short Dance Day! Friday was an exciting day — we started with an early morning practice at the main arena. Since the competition was during the mid-morning, we just stayed at the rink following practice. We were concerned about getting stuck in morning traffic and not making it back in time to feel our best for the event.

However, we had the opportunity to visit with some journalists and fans during this time, which made the wait very enjoyable. We skated 12th out of 13 teams and had a very strong outing. Both of us wore updated costumes from the summer, and the response has been good. This was also the first competition where we used our new Samba music, and we thought it really helped to pop the Latin feel to the program.

The audience was not huge, since the event was earlier in the morning, but they were appreciative of the skaters, and we got off the ice very happy with our skate! Our scores were not what we had anticipated, given our skate, and we are pouring over the video to determine where the differences could be.

In any case, we currently sit in 3rd place with an extremely tight grouping from 2nd through 4th. It is anyone’s guess who will stand on the podium tomorrow, but we are so determined and excited to skate our Desire free dance for the audience both in Italy and online!

Our free dance story revolves around Alex putting a spell on Ellie. Watch as he encircles her first with desire and then with passion. We’ve worked a lot with Rohene Ward recently, to clarify many of the movements and to add depth and complexity to the transitions. Peppered throughout the choreography are smaller vignettes that develop the story from the initial desire through the decision to act to the passionate conclusion. It is a dynamic story that has continued to evolve from Lake Placid to Champs Camp to our private monitoring sessions in Novi, and we thoroughly enjoy what each of us can add to the story on any given day.

That’s it for now. Off to bed to prepare for tomorrow. Ciao!

~ Ellie & Alex

September 16, 2017

Ciao from Bergamo and our final blog.

My Name is Angeline Turczyn, and this year I qualified for the 2017 Ice Dance Solo Nationals in Colorado Springs. I skated in the Junior Combined event, and I blogged my experience for ice-dance.com.

September 5, 2017

Today was the first day and the travel day for my trip to Colorado Springs. I was so excited because I had qualified for Nationals and I had never been to Colorado before.

I was so ready to compete I was bouncing off the walls excited. We flew from the Syracuse airport to the Chicago O’Hare airport. When we got to the Chicago airport we had a few hours before our flight so we got a quick snack and waited. On our next flight from Chicago to Colorado Springs, we flew first class! It was my first time in first class and it was amazing. We were the first ones on the plane and the minute we sat down they asked what we wanted to drink and brought us a snack of assorted nuts. Then halfway through the flight we got dinner. It consisted of pasta salad, a small side salad, grapes and a chocolate chip cookie. Dinner was pretty tasty! We even had plugs in our armrests so we could charge our phones.

When we got off the plane in Colorado Springs the airport was dead. Nothing looked open and pretty much the only people there were the people that had just gotten off of our plane. After we had grabbed our luggage, we ordered an Uber to bring us to the Airbnb we had rented for the competition. Another reason to be really excited, we would be sharing the Airbnb with my friend Sydney, her dad, and our coach. We drove to the house and on the way the scenery was incredible! The mountains were ginormous! They make the Adirondack Mountains in New York look like small hills! When we got to the house we were the first ones there so we got first pick of the three bedrooms. Sydney wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow, but since I had practice on Wednesday my coach would be arriving from Buffalo late this evening. I would be sure to be asleep when she got there or I’d be in big trouble. So after a quick walk to a nearby store for some essentials, a snack it was off to bed. By the way, I was nervous about the altitude but so far so good. Mrs. Bianka had us doing extra cardio in the 2 weeks leading up to Nationals so maybe that paid off. I went to bed excited for what tomorrow would bring, a chance to get on the ice.

~ Angeline

September 6, 2017: Welcome to 6,230 Feet

Today is Wednesday and there are many things to be excited about, but today is my first day of skating in Colorado springs! I have a practice in the morning and then my friend Sydney should arrive at the house some time around noon.

I had practice ice this morning and the rink was so nice! The Broadmoor World Arena is HUGE and the ice is a really large sheet as well. It kind of reminds me of another rink that I really love to skate in, the 1980 Rink in Lake Placid.

Once you get those skates on and they call your practice group, it’s go time. Only one little thing I wasn’t quite expecting, why is it harder to breathe? Oh yeah, I’m at altitude. You can train all you want for the altitude, but nothing prepares you for altitude like altitude. So remember to breathe deeply, just like the signs in the rink say! It was hard to breathe for the first 10 minutes of the session and especially hard once I ran my short dance program. After my practice my dad, coach, and I went to the Kings Chef diner for breakfast. It was on the Food Network’s (did I mention I’m a foodie and addicted to Food Network) must try list, and boy were they right. The food was delicious! The portions were giant! I had French toast, bacon and hash browns and everything was so good! My dad had a breakfast burrito that was the size of my head.

Now with one practice and breakfast out of the way there was only one thing left for the afternoon that really mattered… Sydney. My friend had arrived from Buffalo which was super exciting! We don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. I live 3 hours away from Buffalo so I only see her at the rink and competitions. After they got settled into the Airbnb, we all went to the rink because I had another practice that night. I’m really liking the ice and the arena. It felt great to get on the ice and skate today. It’d been a couple days since I was last on the ice, and I was starting to miss it. Mrs. Bianka said I looked good and strong and both of my practices went great. I was so ready to compete! It was time for dinner and then bed. Tomorrow is a big day.

~ Angeline

September 7, 2017 

Today marks my first day of competition in Colorado! I’m so excited! Today, I skate my short dance.   Unfortunately, it’s later in the afternoon. I’m ready to go and I want to skate as soon as I can. So, instead of sitting around getting anxious for competition we decided to get out of the house for a little bit.

Our dad’s wanted to do something that wouldn’t require any exertion on our part so we planned to drive up Pike’s Peak. It was incredible! The road up the mountain was pretty scary at some points because if you turned too slow or swerved you would have fallen off a cliff! My friend Sydney was so scared. She gripped the armrests of the car so hard her knuckles turned white. Once we got up to the top of the mountain it was so cold. It was 37 degrees up on top while at the bottom it was at least 40 degrees warmer. Wearing shorts was a bad decision on my part. I froze! The air was so thin, walking from the car to the observation deck made you extremely out of breath. When we were standing on the top all of the sudden Sydney hair started standing straight up in the air! People thought it was hysterical and random strangers started taking pictures of her hair. Not 5 minutes after that happened everybody was called inside the gift shop because they were expecting a huge thunder and snow storm! It was over quickly and the drive down the mountain was a lot less scary than the drive up. It was a great way to kill the afternoon.

When we got back to the house I had to get ready for my short dance. Since my Mom stayed in NY this trip Sydney helped me with my hair and makeup. We did a great job on it! When we got to the rink I was ready, nothing beats that feeling. I’ve skated countless hours preparing for this moment and now all that work will pay off, hopefully.

This is what I had been waiting for all day. I had been picked to skate first, which is not at all my favorite position to draw. I prefer closer to last or somewhere in the second group. Luckily, Mrs. Bianka is there with encouraging words and she helps to take my mind off of the start order. My program was one of the strongest programs I had ever skated. I had a little bobble in one of my twizzles, but managed to save it and keep going. When I got off the ice, I was a little out of breath, but not too bad. Mrs. Bianka was there with a hug and told me she thought I skated extremely well, as good or better as she had ever seen me skate my short program. After hearing that, I was very excited. Once everyone had skated, the long wait for results began. I don’t hang out by the results and wait. I let my Dad text me when they’re posted. He doesn’t tell me my place, I like to be surprised when I see it. He texted, and boy was I surprised… I was in 7th place out of nine skaters in my flight. It definitely wasn’t what I had expected or what I had wanted. I was disappointed, but Junior level is a tough group with lots of great skaters. I felt better knowing that I had gone out and skated to the best of my abilities. Besides, I wasn’t too far out of 5th place, the place I need to be to make it to final round and I still had my free dance tomorrow. If I go out and skate an amazing and clean free dance, I still have a chance to make it to final round. Time to get home and get some rest, tomorrow is a big day!

~ Angeline

September 8, 2017

Today is the second day of competition. Once again, I’m excited and anxious to skate today. Today is the free dance and I love to skate my free dance.

Since I compete early in the afternoon, we decided it would be smart to stay home so I could get ready for competition. My friend Sydney also competes in her pre-silver pattern dances today. It should be crazy for our coach since we are competing at basically the same time in two different rinks. Once again Syd did my hair and she did a great job. I’m thinking I should hire her to always do my hair.

When we got to the rink, I wanted to get on that ice and skate. I was going to leave it all on the ice and hope for the best. I knew that’s what I needed to do, and I was ready to do exactly that. This time I was skating first in the second flight, I like that start order much better. In fact, this is one of my favorite positions to skate in. This time, however, it wasn’t so great because the competition is running about 12 minutes behind in the World Arena and the pattern dances are right on time in the Olympic Rink so that meant Sydney and I would be on two different sheets of ice at basically the same exact time. After I skated my free dance, which was again, one of the best I have ever skated, my coach bolted from the World Arena to the Olympic Rink and only made it for Sydney’s ending pose. My free dance had felt amazing. I had nailed my twizzles, had clean turns, and deep edges, but I almost fell out of my ending pose (that altitude really sneaks up on you).

Once again I waited for the text from my Dad. All the while I was feeling that with this program and how I skated that I had a good chance to move up the standings and into the final round. Turns out I was wrong. I placed 6th in the free dance and ended up 7th overall. I was very disappointed, I try to keep my emotions in check at the rink, but this time was hard. I didn’t know what to say. I knew I had to be proud of myself for getting to nationals and how I skated. Everyone kept telling me how proud they were of me and how wonderful I skated. At that moment though, it’s hard to talk about it. That’s a feeling I’ll never get used to, and one I never want to get used to. Sydney also skated amazing and didn’t qualify for final rounds. On a happier note my friend Natasha qualified in her pattern dance so that was good. We were so happy for her!

After the results were put up and our competition over, we went to dinner. Dinner was amazing by far the highlight of the day. We went to a barbeque place called Rudy’s and it was phenomenal! There’s nothing like a great barbeque place to cheer you up. You ordered everything by the pound. You could order a ½ pound of pulled pork, which was amazing or a ¼ pound of brisket. The ribs there were so good. They were so moist and tender they were falling off the bone. If you make it to Rudy’s, you have to get the cream corn. I was skeptical but it was delish. So even though the day didn’t go as planned we still had such a great time. Barbeque and a great friend make even the most disappointing of days better.

~ Angeline

September 9, 2017

Today is our last day in Colorado! I can’t believe it. Time has gone so fast and I don’t think I want to go home. I’ve had so much fun and it is so beautiful here. Sydney and I were both hoping to be skating in the final rounds today, but that was not to be. Since we love to watch skating almost as much as we love to skate, naturally we wanted to spend the day at the rink watching the final rounds. Our dads did not have the same idea. They wanted to do something “fun” we tried to explain that watching the final rounds was going to be a lot of fun but they weren’t having it. They wanted to visit the Garden of the Gods. Syd and I gave in, as long as we’d be back to the rink in time to see Natasha skate her final round.

I’m glad we went, Garden of the Gods was one of the most amazing and beautiful things I’ve ever seen. If you’ve never been, it’s a must see next time you are in Colorado Springs. We hiked an easy trail to one of the most popular attractions, The Siamese Twins. When you got to the rocks you could climb the rocks and look through the window the two rock formations created. The view was stunning and you could see Pike’s Peak from the “window.” Everything looked so green and clear. The sky was so blue and the clouds were so fluffy. It created such a picturesque scene, it was breathtaking. It was a nice way to finish the trip, but the rink was still on my mind.

After we left the Garden of the Gods, we had lunch and stopped at the house, and of course we went to the rink. We went to watch my friend Natasha who made it to final rounds, and then later that night we would have the competitor’s party to go to. After Natasha had competed, we decided to go to dinner. There was a Carrabbas close to the rink so we decided that we would go there. It was a 35 minute wait and since we didn’t want to be late to the party we thought we would try somewhere else. We tried Outback, Buffalo Wild Wings and finally settled at a Mexican place. In the time it took us to find a place to eat, we could have been halfway done with our meal at Carrabbas! Sometimes, I don’t understand adults they can make things so difficult!

After we finished eating Sydney, Natasha and I headed to the party. Little did we know they were running an hour behind! The party was supposed to start at 7:50 and didn’t start until 9 o’clock! The dads weren’t thrilled with that. We had early morning flights and a lot of packing and clean up still to do, so they told us we could skate for 30 minutes, but we weaseled 45 minutes out of them. Even though we only stayed for a little bit, it was a ton of fun! It was great to just skate with friends and have fun with nothing on the line – not practicing, just skating. Having fun and goofing off on the ice without getting yelled at by a coach is one of the best things in the world. It was the perfect way to end this amazing trip to Colorado. Hopefully, I’ll be back at Nationals next year for another adventure.

~ Angeline