2009 Adult Midwestern Sectionals recap…

All of the Championship events were such a highlight for me this year at 2009 Adult Midwestern Sectional Championships. The talent at Mids this year was really something. I can’t wait to watch the Pacific & Eastern sectional videos on icenetwork.com to compare. I enjoyed nearly all the skates in that event, so the list is too long to list here.

(Non-qualifying results can be found here for the D.B. N. American Invitational events.)

My favorite 6 moments from the competition:

• *June’s Nutcracker interpretive was just awesome–she just stayed in character the entire time her skates were on the ice.

• *Bryan Smith’s bronze men freeskate. I met him out on the outdoor Millenium Park ice rink in downtown Chicago some Saturday in December, and we chatted for a bit then. I had read his Men’s Health article since then about taking up the sport, and knowing his back story made it extra fun to watch his skate since it was his first competition ever.

• *Noelle’s Fourteen Step dance, where she continued her third pattern after they cut off the music (shades of Rodina & Zaitsev). The announcement said 3 patterns, so naturally she set out to do 3 patterns and I believe she stayed on time without the music. She won the event, afterall. I was the second out, and I clarified with Peg that we were in fact doing 2 patterns. Who knew?

• *Stacy B.’s Championship Gold freeskate. I recall last year the skated a very, very, very rough program… so to see her come back and place second without any double-jump attempts was so refreshing. And gave me hope for when I move up to Gold.
• *Watching Erica H.’s performances… she’s such an elegant skater.

• *Elizabeth running up after she found out she run, yelling “I got the bowl! I got the bowl!” I didn’t get it, since I didn’t realize the Championship sectionals winners got bowls. She already has a plate from Silver I ladies nationals in 2007… guess she needs some silverware or glasses now.

As for me, I did all right. I somehow made it (rather easily) through my Silver I ladies FS for a solid all first ordinals win. My presentation looked better on the DVD than it felt, which is encouraging. But I only began making it through my program (twice, at that) the week before the competition… and I’m still struggling to come close to finishing this 2:10 program. Overall, I can’t complain really: I didn’t skate for 6 months, and a year prior also didn’t skate for 6 months. I need to get my rear in gear for this program, since I’d like to test my Adult Gold Free Skate test this summer and that’s a 2:40 program.

Interpretive was sloppy and I earned second, though I feel I should have been third.

Solo dance was a very strong pool of adult dances. I pulled a surprising win in the Silver Tango solo dance, considering I’ve managed about 18 patterns total since 2001, and my timing was severely rushed three days prior before someone pointed it out to me. I also pulled third place out of seven in the fourteen step (rushing my swings, ug). Adult Nationals will be super interesting with 17-20+ competitors in each level.

Overall, it was a total blast as Adult Sectionals & Nationals tend to be. Nice job to Wyandotte FSC for a well organized LOC and cheerful volunteers. (The event was held in conjunction with their annual D.B. North American Invitational)

I wish a lot more adult skaters were motivated to attend — once skaters realize how fun, supportive, and inspiring the USFS Adult Sectionals and Nationals are, they tend to turn into frequent competitors at these events. It’s just getting them to attend that’s the difficult part, and understandably so.

Seven weeks until the 2009 U.S. Adult Figure Skating National Championships!

~ by rochelleonice on March 5, 2009.