#chesapeake open

[sunskate]

USFS ice dance camp at the Chesapeake Open this week - i wonder if this is for young teams because the lineup for the competition itself is mostly less experienced and younger teams

[figure-skating-watch-party]

Chesapeake Open and British Columbia Summer Skate - Crumbs

I’ve accepted my fate. When I’m not watching live, the videos simply keep disappearing... I wanted to see whole jr. and sr. ice dance and there are *seven* individual dances that survived on YT  T_T But it’s the beginning of the season so I’ll certainly see them some time later, it’s not that bad. 

In juniors it seems we’ll see these national mini comps between the Browns and Wolfkostin/Chen very often. I have to admit I have a soft spot for Wolfkostin/Chen simply because I saw Katarina with her previous partner in person at JGP and have been keeping an eye on them and then on Katarina/Jeffrey... 

But here I saw Oona Brown/Gage Brown and their RD to How ya like me now is probably the first RD I reaaaally like this season. It fits them so well, they are in synch, it’s modern and energetic. Their FD to Exogenesis is also very good. They are doing a difficult lift, have a very fitting character step sequence. I’ll be following them more closely now. 

I saw FD of Wolfkostin/Chen to Rain in your black eyes. They are soooo smooth. It’s intense with an amazing character step sequence. Sadly, Katarina fell, so it influenced the results a bit. 

And on the third place in juniors were Tkachenko/Killiakov. I saw their FD (to Dance of the Knights??). I’ve seen them for the first time and liked them a lot! They are pretty fast, have a nice dance combo spin and choreo slide. 

We also saw Utana Yoshida with her new partner Seiji Urano for the first time. They skate their RD to You are the boss. I  don’t have any opinion, they are skating together for a short time, their program is quite entertaining. 

In seniors I managed to find only two videos. Yulia Zhata/Berk Akalin from Turkey skating their FD to Bella Ciao. They showed good twizzles and choreo slide, maybe they’ll add more emotions thorough the season. (They finished on fourth place.)

And on second place finished Lorraine McNamara/Anton Spiridonov. I’m really happy for them and on top of that they skate their FD to the Phantom of the Opera. The best warhorse of them all, I don’t make the rules ;) So, obviously I love them and the dance is great. 

 I’d love to see the winners Cesanek/Yehorov, hopefully I’ll catch Cranberry Cup in time ;) 

British Columbia Summer Skate 

Here I was interested in two skaters, Emily Bausback and Keegan Messing. Emily is recycling her short program to The one I love. I like all the little nuances in choreography and the spins. And she has a new free program to Alla Notte. And as goes for almost all programs in Italian: I LOVE IT. 

Keegan Messing did a really good short program. He has new programs for the Olympic season. The short is Never tear us apart by Joe Cocker. I love him more and more. He’s just awesome. And his spread eagles are love.  The free program is Home and honestly, I don’t know what happend. It started ok, he did a great flying sit spin and then he adjusted his skate/pant leg and then I don’t know what skipping parts of choreography? But he still did an awesome spread eagle, hydroblade, 3A, Russian splits... I really like him because he’s wearing his heart on his sleeve and is only himself on the ice. 

[us-ice-dance]

charlotteamaxwell:  Very pleased with our short dance debut and personal best score! Thank you @charlieawhite for the amazing choreography! Excited for the free dance tomorrow 💪🏽💃🏽⛸

[missmarakate]

Top 5 at Chesapeake

1. Pogrebinsky/Benoit SD: 57.86 FD: 82.58 Overall: 140.44 2. McNamara/Carpenter SD: 56.96 FD: 79.78 Overall: 136.74 3. Parsons/Parsons SD: 59.56 FD: 72.46 Overall: 132.02 4. Lewis/Bye SD: 56.14 FD: 75.60 Overall: 131.74 5. Biechler/Dodge SD: 50.38 FD: 75.46 Overall: 125.84

[missmarakate]

Hi all the people who just competed…you obviously know what your program music is, so can you please tell us now?

ETA: Well, Pogrebinsky and Benoit have their music on their website SD: “My Sweet & Tender Beast” by Eugen Doga FD: Variations on Romeo & Juliet: “William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet” by Hooper, Arnstrong, deVries; “Romeo et Juliette: de la Haine a l’Amour” by Gerard Pregurvic

[ulti101]

Chesapeake Open thoughts - training grounds and failure

This past weekend was rough. Everyone and every team has had to deal with disappointment and heartbreak. We find ways to make it sting less if we can (blaming the conditions, admitting that the other team is simply better), but the hardest realization is that our performance as a team comes down to, realistically, what we as individuals are capable of controlling.

What this means is that we weren't good enough to overcome or compensate for all of the other detracting factors outside of our control.

The last game of Sunday - the D-line goes out at 11-12; we need the stop to bring it to universe, or we're done. The disc is worked up slowly, patiently by the opposing handler core. I'm locking down the breakside wing, who threatens an in cut. As his cut fizzles, I glance back to see the disc on the open sideline, in power-position, and it goes up. My lapse in focus puts me out of position, but I'm only a step behind, making up the ground as the disc comes to sit in front of us. I need to high-bid, I realize, but my legs won't activate. I keep pace as I watch my man catch the point in front of me. Game, 13-11.

I wasn't prepared to make the play when I needed to.

I can blame fatigue, or say that the throw was placed too well for me to intercept, but, same token, I could have compensated in a myriad of other ways to be prepared for that instance.

Condition harder to play through the last game of Sunday

Tighten my mental focus to never get caught out of position

Start working on high-bids, break the mental barrier

Sharpen my play all-around so that we never find ourselves fighting for breaks at the end of the round.

If we fail, it means we aren't prepared for the challenges that we're facing. The only place we can make those improvements is during our training.

It is hard to come to terms with accountability; no one likes admitting faults, but for me, it's what I need in order to move forward.

We've got a month until sectionals.