My Second Competition

A recap of my second competition:

I didn't belong in the pre-bronze category. I had much more difficult elements in my program than the other two skaters in my category. I was 99% certain I'd take first before I even took the ice. I didn't exactly belong in bronze either, but I don't think I would have come in last.

I skated okay. I opened well, with my waltz-toe, and then the spirals were nice and steady. I took a deep steadying breath prepping for my camel spin, but I kind of lost it once I stepped into it. I think I completed two revs in the camel, but I wasn't even able to pull it into a one-foot spin to finish up. I was a little early starting the footwork before the loop. Out of the loop, I stumbled a little on the side toe hop and I'm not sure why. The flip-loop-toe seemed decent, though I muscled through the toe loop, but then, I always muscle through the toe loop because I don't really have enough flow coming out of the loop. The salchow was big and solid, but my legs were a little bent. Then I wound up for my final element, the sit spin. I just did not want to end up on my butt. I fought for it, but I never got my legs close enough together, and was tilting badly towards the inside. I ended up putting my free foot down, pushing up into a short one foot spin, and then ending with time to spare, so I struck a few extra poses on my way to my regular final pose.

Coach looked a bit resigned when I got off the ice. Later, I saw him and said, "I botched both my spins!" He just gave me this sideways glare that said, "We both know you can do better than that."

I placed first. I received all first place ordinals from the judges.

My take-aways from the competition are that it's definitely time for me to move up to bronze and that I am really going to work to get my spins more consistent. And despite how I felt I skated, I had a really, really good time! There will hopefully be many more competitions in my future.