January has arrived and our competitive season is now in full
swing! This weekend marked our first event of 2013, the World Junior Team
Selection competition in Fraser, Michigan. We flew in Wednesday evening and I
must say it was quite warm for all the times I have visited Michigan
in the winter: a surprising high of 50 degrees! It was hard to believe it was
January. On Thursday our team was able to relax a little in the morning before
our practice at the University of Michigan. At the rink we got our feet
back under us after traveling Wednesday and had a great practice. I definitely
felt confident and excited to compete after we skated. Afterward we headed to
Olive Garden for a team dinner to celebrate our teammate’s Sweet 16. We all
enjoyed the unlimited salad and breadsticks and back at the hotel we had
birthday cookies. To finish the day, we did a little team bonding by watching
some funny youtube videos with our coaches and team moms. Everyone got in a lot
of good laughs before heading to bed.
Friday night we competed our short. Before skating, we loosened
up by singing our ritual songs, “Defying Gravity” and “The Call”, dancing to
“Sexy and I Know It”, and my personal favorite, singing “God Bless the USA” to
get in the spirit. Our short program performance felt amazing. I always feel so
elegant in our lavender dresses and our inspiring music reminds me why I love
to skate. We skated clean and earned our highest score. The kiss and cry was
exhilarating as we jumped, hugged and screamed after hearing the scores. We
were incredibly proud of our performance and pumped for the free skate.
Saturday we got up very early for a quick unofficial practice.
Because the rink was so cold we decided to wear pants under our dresses. For
official practice that morning, we decided we liked the new look and made a
fashion statement by wearing the pants with dresses. Official practice went
well and we got to relax at the hotel before competing. That night we were
excited and ready to compete; we enjoyed singing songs and doing the YMCA
before stepping on the ice. Although we did not have our ideal long program
skate and had a few technical mistakes, it is always fun to perform our West
Side Story program. After anxiously awaiting results in the locker room, we
were overjoyed when we were told to put our skates on to greet our fellow
Junior World Team members on the ice. Congratulations to the Lexettes on their
great performances! After posing for pictures, we were given our worlds
jackets, which was an awesome surprise. We are honored to be representing the
USA in Finland with the Lexettes in March. As of now we are working hard and
getting excited for the French Cup which is just 2 weeks away!
Well that’s all to report for now, until next time!
Dana
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