Sunday, February 20, 2011

Erin's first competition in 17 years

Yesterday was finally competition day! I was actually relieved that it had finally arrived. I did about half of my usual practice time in the morning; enough to get my feet underneath me but not so much that I would be worn out. My event wasn't until the evening but we got to the rink plenty early to watch some of the other events. I wish I could have watched more of them. Anyway everything went pretty much as I expected and according to plan. I'm glad that I did the simulation last month and also the test day in December helped me get an idea of what to expect in terms of nervousness.

I was definitely nervous and felt really shaky in my warmup. This is about what I expected as well. Mostly I tried to remember to have fun and show everyone how much I love skating. When I skated my routine it actually went pretty well. The shakiness caused me some wobbles in a few places, like in my sit-spin entry and in a footwork section. It threw off my jumps a little bit but nothing major. Watching the recording, I could actually only see the effect in a couple of places. I was most worried about two elements: my flip and my camel spin, and both of them were ok. Not the best I've ever done (nerves) but certainly adequate. At the end of the routine I was so relieved!!! And also a bit disappointed that it was all over so fast. What a paradox.

Of course this competition for me was about the experience and challenge rather than winning or anything like that. With only two other competitors in my event, and such a casual feeling, I wasn't too worked up about the results. The other two girls were doing elements that I can't do, like Lutzes and back camels, so I was surprised to hear that I won!! We stood on a little podium and got medals and everything. I'll post some photos when I can figure out how!


What I learned from going to competition:
  • Enter every event you can qualify for. I could have entered interpretive and solo dance events in addition to freeskate, I saw a lot of people do this. Makes it a bit more worthwhile especially if you are traveling.
  • It's not how good you are, it's who you know. Bring your friends if you want to hear applause!
  • Bring your coach.
  • Don't rush the packing process. I thought I was clever in remembering to bring a needle and thread in case my homemade dress needed repairs. When I noticed that my applique was starting to come off, I reached for the sewing supplies I had brought and saw that I had remembered everything except a needle. I also remembered my headphones but not my iPod. Duh!
  • Bring an extra pair of hard guards. After your skate, dry off your blades and put on the dry guards if you're not taking your skates off right away.
  • Print out the schedule, bring it with you, and pick up a program. Not only is a program handy, it would have been a good souvenir, but I didn't get one for some reason.
  • Remember to pick up your music afterwards! I left both of my cd's there. My coach won't be happy about this because she uses high-quality cd's.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks Mer! I'm actually quite thrilled about it. Not sure if my enthusiasm came across in the post :P

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  2. Wow, that is so COOL! Way to go!

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  3. Thanks! It is pretty cool :) Did I mention that there were only 2 other competitors in this category? They both did a great job too.

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