2020 PCAS Showcase Light Program Video

Here's the video of my "Jenny (867-5309)" showcase light program from Friday - my last time performing this program:

2020 PCAS Showcase Dramatic Program Video

Here's the video of my "Days of Beauty" showcase dramatic program from Friday:

2020 PCAS Showcase Light Program

I skated my "Jenny" showcase light program at the 2020 Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals today.  This was my last time skating this program as I've had it for 2 years now. 

There were 3 skaters signed up for our group, but one withdrew so it was just myself and April C. -- I had skated with her in this event at MidWinter just 3 weeks ago.

We went out for our 4:00 warmup right after the 6:15ish ice cut, so once again it was kinda slick.  I was determined to fix my salchow issue from the dramatic, so after some brief review of the other elements in the program, I worked on the salchow.  I tried a couple that didn't work (same issue), and then was able to do a mediocre one and a better one, so I felt relieved.

I skated second (last) for this event.   When I went out I felt pretty good, although I sort of muffed the hair flip as I was getting in position so it was not as effective as it has been.  Dang!  I started off and things were going pretty well.  Amazingly enough I could hear the audience clapping along to the music!  I don't remember that happening before.

Alas, once again my salchow departed me and I did my weird thing.  So frustrating!  But at least I didn't fall this time.  I finished the program and got off the ice.

I finished 2nd of 2, so I left PCAS with two silver medals. 

2020 PCAS Showcase Dramatic Program

I skated my "Days of Beauty" showcase dramatic program at the 2020 Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals today.  Here's how it went.

There were only 3 skaters in my group, and I was the first to skate, and our event was the first event of the competition!  The opening moments of my program were featured on the USFS Adult Skating Committee Instagram, that was pretty cool.

So the 3 of us went out for warmup along with the 2 ladies doing compulsories.  Of course the ice had just been cut and it was quite slick, not my favorite -- but it was also pretty soft, so that helped a bit. I basically ran through most of my program (in chunks, and not in order -- I don't like to give it away too much).  I went to do the salchow... and once more I was biffing it.  I tried, I believe, 3, and they were all horrible.  At that point I decided not to try anymore as I didn't think it was the best use of my time, which was short anyway since I was skating first.

I came off the ice with about 30s left and Melissa was kind enough to take my jacket, make sure I had my prop, and say coachy things to me  ( :-) ).  Finally they called my name and out I went.

The program started off okay and I had reasonably good flow.  I headed into the salchow and had some unreasonable terror arise in me... and I did try it, and sure enough it just didn't happen.  AGH.  So frustrating.  Anyway I went on and did the rest as best I could and it actually wasn't bad.  I got a really good spin (if I'm remembering correctly) so that's something.

Finished up, took my bows, etc. and got off.  I got to watch my competitors skate and they were fun to watch.  Good stuff.

I wound up placing 2nd of 3, which I think is the best I've done with this program so I'm pretty happy with that. 

I have the video but I won't have time to post it until Monday.

PCAS 2020 Practice Ice

I arrive in San Francisco late Thursday night, and had to be up early for 7:45 a.m. practice ice.  Yerba Buena skating rink was a 10 minute walk from the hotel (yay!) so I had no problem being on time.

I got to the rink and got on the practice session, which was blissfully not very crowded at all (I think there were 10 of us).  I ran through the chunks of both programs and most things were fine.  It turns out that for this venue the judges were just to the left of the red line, so I could go with my original configurations of my programs just fine.

I spent some quality time on the salchow.  The first few were the same issue I've been having, but then I figured out my issue -- I'm not bringing my hands/arms in!  So I was trying to jump and my arms were just kind of flailing around.  Once I figured that out, I did a large number of salchows (6 or 8) that were all good.  YAY!  So I left the practice ice feeling pretty happy and relieved.

2020 MidWinter Warmup Showcase Dramatic Program

I skated my "Days of Beauty" showcase dramatic program at the MidWinter Warmup competition.  This was only my second outing for this program.

After skating my light program earlier, I had more than 4 hours so I took time to grab some food, relax and of course watch lots of great skating.

Finally it was time to get ready.  There were 6 people in my group (I was the only man).  I skated 5th.  The warmup was fine.  After my fall in my light program I was determined to do a good salchow, so I did a couple of them in the warmup.  The first was just okay, the second was pretty nice.

After warmup I had a lot of time to wait, but it went by fairly quickly.  Finally I went out to skate -- it went pretty well!  No falls, but my salchow STILL did not come off. Argh.  Very frustrating.  Other than that it was okay.

I wound up getting 6th of 6 for this skate.  No medal for me!  Oh well.

Here's the video:

2020 MidWinter Warmup Showcase Light Program

I skated my 'Jenny (867-5309)' showcase light entertainment program at the Adult MidWinter Warmup Open Championship at the East West Ice Palace in lovely Artesia, CA, hosted by the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club.  This is a great adult-only competition and besides being well-run it's one of the most supportive and awesome environments in which to skate.

There were 4 competitors in my event (event #3) -- myself and 3 women.  I skated 3rd.  The warmup went okay -- I ran through all of my elements and felt reasonably good.

When it was my turn I skated out and took my position.  Things were going fine and I felt like I was doing well, until I got to the salchow.  I went in and something weird happened, and I fell in the middle of the salchow (you can check it out in the video!).  I'm not sure why.  I rarely fall anyway and this was, I think, only my 3rd fall in competition in 12 years of competing.  Anyway, I got back up and finished the program and it wasn't so bad.  I was kind of annoyed though!

I finished 3rd of 4 and got a medal for my efforts!

Here's the video!

MidWinter Practice Ice

I and our whole crew had signed up for the 7:40 a.m. practice ice for the competition.  For once we restrained ourselves and only got to the rink 25 minutes before our session.

I had an okay practice.  I went through pretty much both programs and practiced almost everything, paying special attention to the elements that are in different locations for this competition.  The 20 minutes really flew by.  When I got off the ice I elected to keep my boots on (I was wearing my light program costume minus wig) since my skate was only 45 minutes later.

Ice Acclimation

We arrived in Artesia about 2:15 p.m., and I skated on the public there for about half an hour to get my legs under me.

 That ice was horrible! I don't often skate publics anymore anyway, but this was really bad.  A little crowded, but really it was just the ice that was so bad. Still, I'd not skated in my freestyle boots since Tuesday so it was somewhat worthwhile I guess.

2019 Autumn Antics Showcase Light Skateoff

I was nominated to skate my "Jenny" program in the Autumn Antics Earnhardt-Hughes skateoff.  I was really pleased to be nominated (as Melissa pointed out, I was the only adult nominated).

I was running music through the end of the previous (Palos) skateoff, as I was skating 12th of 25 in the E-H skateoff.  So after the Palos skateoff I went and got my skates on and got ready (I stayed in my light program costume since I was nominated).

I went out to warmup -- the ice was pretty bad by this point. Yuck.  I was a bit tired by this point (I'd been at the rink for 11.5 hours at this point) but okay.

Finally it was my turn. I skated out and off I went! In general it went pretty well, except I once more biffed the salchow.  Urph! I felt like there's a 'salchow nazi' (like Seinfeld's 'soup nazi' -- 'no salchow for you!').  Frustrating.  It's all in my head, and it's worse on this program since I'm going faster.  I just need to practice this a lot more, going into it with a more realistic speed I guess.  Grr.

 Anyway other than that it went fine.  After I skated I hung out with everyone else since there's a 'victory lap' for the skaters so you have to stay in costume.  I got to watch some really great skating! It was fun.

All in all a very very long, but great day.  Yay!

2019 Autumn Antics Showcase Light Program

I skated my "Jenny" light entertainment program at this year's Autumn Antics.

I had a full day of setup and running music, as well as skating my "Days of Beauty" program earlier.  Also by this point, the cold in the rink was starting to get to me (it was really cold!).  I finished my music shift and then changed into my costume and got ready.  I got on the practice ice and once again had plenty of time to warm up.  I warmed up salchow, spins, and waltz jump and ran some program chunks.  I made an executive decision :-) that I was not going to do the bunny hop.  I just was not feeling up to it.

Finally it was time.. they called me out and out I went!  As at PCAS in March I made sure to flip my hair when I got to my position and sure enough I heard a chuckle from one of the judges... good!

Music started and off I went. Everything went really well! I even landed the salchow, which made me really happy.  I was really pleased with how this went.

I placed 2nd of 2.  However, I did get nominated for the Earnhardt-Hughes skateoff, so that really made my day!  I did not get a video of this skate, however.

2019 Autumn Antics Showcase Dramatic Program

I debuted my new "Days of Beauty" program at this year's Autumn Antics.

Coach Tammy was putting me on for this program.  I cut my timing a little close on getting on the practice ice as I had been running music (arrived at the rink at 6:30 a.m.).  Tammy asked me where my prop was... oops!  I had to run back to the locker room to get it :-).  I warmed up salchow and most parts of the footwork. It was only 11 a.m. and the practice ice was already pretty rough.. yuck.  As usual I had plenty of time to warmup.

I skated 3rd of 4.  I had turned my prop on beforehand, so when they called me out I skated out, placed my prop with the judges, and took my position...

In general it went okay.  I'm still having issues with the cross and hold (I just don't want to hold that crossed position!) but the opening footwork stuff went well.  Waltz jump was fine, and FXOs and back hockey glide were okay.  The spin was not so great but not a total failure.  I biffed the salchow though.  Grr.

The rest of it was fine, and I was skating faster than I had in practice so I had a little more time at the end, which was nice.

I placed 4th of 4.  I was happy with this as it's a new program.  I have the video and I'll post it soon.

2019 Sherwood Invitational Video

This finally arrived! 

3:13 FO8
6:04 FI8 (complete with the pant-stirrup debacle)
9:18 BO8 (this went horribly wrong)

I'm not sure I blogged about the pant stirrup issue, but you can see the end of it here.  As I was warming up my FI8, for some reason the stirrup on my R pant leg came loose and the velcro end stuck itself to my (vestigial) toepick on my L foot.  I noticed this when I felt like I couldn't move my leg and looked down. Fortunately I was able to skate over to the side and fix it before I skated.

Anyway, here it is. Not too pleased, esp. w/the BO8 where I apparently got really confused and put my foot down and did numerous other wrong stuff.  Oh well.

 

2019 Sherwood Invitational

I competed 3 figures at the 2019 Sherwood Invitational, the same 3 figures I did last year (FO8, FI8, and BO8).  Here's the story.

The figures portion of the competition was all early Sunday morning.  We had a total of 8 skaters and 19 starts, with 6 judges split into 2 panels.

Figures practice ice was at 5:40 a.m. (eeep), just 20 minutes.  I actually got to the rink quite early (5:05) as I was taking a Lyft to the rink and was concerned about being late.  Kelli met me there around 5:25 and I got my skates on and got ready.

Practice ice went pretty well.  We spent about 8 minutes on the FO8, about 4 minutes on the FI8, and another 8 minutes or so on the BO8.  The FO8 was more or less okay. I was a bit nervous but got over it.  The FI8 was looking pretty good so we just did the one and moved on to the BO8  BO8 was mostly okay but I was not doing a good job on return to center and Kelli worked with me to get me to implement the things I'd worked on with Danette the last few weeks -- looking into the circle (esp. on LBO) and holding the free foot in front longer, moving free foot back from the knee and not the hip.  I had been worried the last couple of weeks about my flow as I was having trouble getting around the circles on the FO8 in particular, but as I'd hoped, Sherwood's fast, hard ice meant I had great flow and no problems with getting around the circle.  Whew!

After practice ice we had an hour to kill so I ate a banana, then helped with the freestyle practice ice and did some prep work for music for the rest of the day.  Around 6:45 or so I put my skates back on and got myself ready.

I was 5th (last) to skate FO8, then there was a break, then 2nd of 2 to skate the FI8 and BO8.

Around 7:15 or so they called me out for warmup.  Kelli was helping her other student who was skating before me.  As I pushed for my first RFO, I felt an excruciating pain in my R foot.  I tried to disregard it and keep practicing but after a couple of minutes it became clear I had to fix this, so I stepped off the ice,  pulled my boot off and rearranged my sock and the tongue of my boot.  Argh! I'd never had such an experience with these boots, generally they are very comfy.  Got back on the ice and had just a little time to finish warming up the FO8.

Finally they called me over to skate, and I skated to patch 5, picked a spot (I was able to align my short axis with a hockey dot that was a few feet away), marked my center, took a deep breath and pushed off. 

This FO8 was not my best -- in particular I think I was a bit wobbly on the first LFO -- but it was okay.

After that we had about a 15 minute break, then started the second half of the competition.  I came out for warmup on my FI8 and it was pretty good.  My nerves were somewhat all over the place, though.  They called me out to patch 7 and I found an okay spot, marked my center, took several deep breaths and pushed off.

The first RFI was okay; the LFI.. I'm not sure what happened but I found myself on a flat and wound up having a really nasty skid, right in front of the judges (of course).  I managed to recover and get around that circle okay.  The remaining circles were fine.

After that I had to go start warming up my BO8.  The warmup seemed okay although I was having a bit of trouble finding my center.  Finally they called me over to skate, I think it was patch 8 or so.

I've had a hard time figuring out (pardon the pun) what happened here (I'll have to wait for the video).  I think the first RBO was okay, but the LBO didn't come back to center and so the 2nd RBO was a bit wonky and then got out of control so much that I wound up doing a large oval around to the side where the LBO should have been and sort of came back to center in such a fashion that I'd basically switched sides.  From there I did an LBO that was sort of better, and another RBO that was relatively okay; but then I was coming back to center and I think because of the direction I was going, I forgot that I was on my R foot and so I ended the figure there without doing the last LBO.  At this point I was so disgusted with myself that I kind of didn't care, I wanted to just apologize to the judges for wasting their time (I did not actually do this) and run away!

Anyway, I hung around so we could take our usual group photo.  The results were posted, and I got last in each event (5th in FO8, 2nd in FI8 and 2nd in BO8).  I'm not surprised or discouraged, I just have a lot of work to do and in particular I need to find a way to get my nerves under better control.  You'd think after competing these several years it would be better, but figures competition are IMHO worse than testing!  Ugh.  Still, I'm happy I did it and very grateful to coach Kelli for putting me on and dealing with me in these situations (not to mention getting her butt out of bed at crack of dawn on a Sunday!).

2019 PCAS Showcase Dramatic Program

I skated my "Years" program at the 2019 Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals.  This was my last time for this program (I've had it for 3 years).  I really like this program and I'll miss it.

I was skating with 4 other pre-Bronze skaters (all female).  We came out for the warmup and one thing was quite evident -- the freshly-zammed ice was much, much faster (and seemed harder?!) than during the practice ice earlier in the day.  Eep! I felt like I was flying!

Other than that warmup was fine.  I was skating last of the 5 of us, so I had plenty of time to catch my breath and try to relax.

Finally it was time to go!  I got out to my place and off I went...  in general it went quite well, and I did indeed do the dreaded bunny hop, so yay me!  On the negative side, something went weirdly wrong with my toe loop and it just didn't happen and I almost fell.  I managed to save it and the crowd was applauding and supportive!  That was nice.

In the end I got 4th out of 5, which I was pretty happy about.

Here's the video:

PCAS Practice Ice

My skating buddies Melissa and Jose and I arrived in Oakland bright and early Friday morning.  After arriving at the hotel, we checked our gear with the bellhop and grabbed some breakfast, then made our way to the rink to prep for our practice ice at 12:35 p.m.

My practice ice went pretty well.  I warmed up all the elements in my showcase programs (I didn't worry about the waltz-toe in the free skate).  The ice was hard but a bit rough (hadn't been surfaced) so it was okay to me.

After practice ice we went back to the hotel and waited until we could check in.  Then I took a nap and went back to the rink for my first event.

2019 MidWinter Warmup Free Skate Video

For those that couldn't attend, here's the video! Very happy with this skate!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Free Skate Program

I skated my "Exorcist" free skate program at the MidWinter Warmup today.  It went really well! The only other APB free skate was a woman, so we were combined (at mutual request).

I had some time to relax in the middle of the day, then got into my costume and boots around 3:30.  My event was supposed to start at 4:20 but it wound up being more like 4:15.  For some reason I was agonizing over having to do another bunny hop until, shortly before the warmup, I remembered there's no bunny hop in the free skate.  DUH!

They called us out for warmup, and I was feeling a bit cold and not as warmed up (naturally) as this morning.  I warmed up all my jumps and spins.  I fell doing my waltz jump (hasn't happened in a while) but no worries.  My salchow was not cooperating but later on I managed an okay one.  I spent too much time on it though.  Finally we were out of time and I got off.

I skated 2nd (of 2) so I had just a moment or 3 to catch my breath, drink some water, and get my jacket off before I was called out to skate. 

It went really well!  I had good speed, I did all my elements.  I finished a smidge late and I don't know why, but it was okay.  I was really happy with it.

In the end, a miracle occurred -- my first-ever win in a free skate.  I had 3 1st place ordinals and 2 2nds, so not exactly resounding; but, a win is a win!  I was pretty stoked!  My friend Lora said that my initial toe loop was the best she'd seen me do.  Yay!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Showcase Dramatic Program

I skated my "Years" showcase dramatic program at the 2019 MidWinter Warmup today.  It went reasonably well.

The event started at 10:15. They called us out for warmup and I had a decent warmup -- I had just skated my light program 2 hours earlier and practice ice before that so I was feeling pretty good.  I warmed up my bunny hop, toe loop, waltz jump and spins.  Then I ran through some chunks of the program, and then it was time to get off the ice.

I skated 3rd (of 3) so I had a little time to relax, then they called me out, and I took my position and off I went.

Things started off well, but then when I came out of the first spin I got momentarily confused as to what came next!  Not long, but enough to put me a little off.  So instead of backward stroking to the end I kind of meandered a bit and then headed back into my groove toward the boards on the judges side. In some ways this was kind of okay because I had wanted to move the "beauty pass" further along so it would be closer to the judges (if the judges were on the left hockey boxes as I'd originally choregraphed for, this move would be right in front of them).  As it was I came out of it okay but forgot one move (arms) just before the little side toe hop.  The rest of it was pretty much okay.  Going into the bunny hop->lunge I had this moment where my brain was convinced I was totally going to biff the bunny hop and splat on the ice, but I made myself do it anyway... and it was fine.  Toe loop was more or less okay, and I finished from there just a couple of seconds late (it would have been more but my last spin was horribly short).

I went and bowed and got off the ice, relieved and grateful.  I wound up getting 3rd of 3.  My placements were a bit weird though as I had 2 1st place ordinals, 1 2nd place, and 2 3rd place.  Oh well, showcase is a crap shoot!

I felt reasonably good about this skate, but a bit annoyed at my brain fart after the first spin.  On the positive side I was proud of myself for making myself do the bunny hop.  I also had a very, very nice compliment after from a skater who said she found it inspiring.  That was really heartwarming and appreciated!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Showcase Light Program

I skated my "Jenny" showcase light program at the 2019 MidWinter Warmup today.  It went pretty well!

The event started at 8:10.  I had two competitors, both female.  The called us out for our warmup and I felt pretty good (I'd just had practice ice 30 minutes prior).  I warmed up my elements and ran some key parts of the program -- spins and salchow.  Salchows were not cooperating and I spent too much time on them before I finally got a good one.

I came off and then waited since I was starting second in the order.  Finally my time to skate came and I skated out and off I went!

In general it went pretty well. I had re-oriented the program to accommodate the judges being on the right side hockey boxes instead of the left, but that was fine. Unfortunately I forgot a chunk of my choreography -- at the beginning, after the chaine' turns I was supposed to come out of them backward and then skate backwards with the "rope-pulling" gesture.  Instead I came out forward and then was confused for too long... so I skipped that whole part and just went ahead to the waltz jump instead.

Shortly after that (this program always feels like it goes by really quickly!) I have the section where I'm supposed to do a bunny hop->lunge and I don't know whether I chickened out, or I got confused because that's one place where I wanted to move the direction of the program to the right so as to be closer to the judges.  Anyway, the result was that I didn't do the bunny hop, just the lunge :-(.

The rest of it was pretty okay, and the salchow actually more or less came off okay, so I was really happy with that.  Finished on time and all was good, I skated off.

I wound up getting 2nd, with a pretty split decision from the 3 judges - ordinals of 1, 2, and 3.