I survived (says a parent)

[hepcat]

My daughter had her first competition yesterday - Skate San Francisco, in the ISI portion, Delta level. She did great - she did her spiral better than I'd seen her do it in practice. I am so relieved that it's over, though.

I was a swimmer growing up, not a skater. I did compete at this age (7 years old) but swimming was a bunch of waiting until it was your event, then you pretty much just dove in and swam as fast as you could. As I was waiting in the stands all I could think about yesterday was how hard skating is in comparison. You have to do all the waiting but then when you go out on the ice you have to think about everything, tune out everyone around you, and focus, knowing every eye is on you.

But you know, she found the attention exciting instead of unnerving. She just went out there and skated with a big smile on her face. You really can't ask for more than that as a parent! Check out the look on her face:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/hepscat/spiralsmaller.jpg

[jazzpants]

Yeah, that's one of the 'lit ones I almost ran into during my runthru on Monday. :oops:

Congrats to your DD on her Silver medal. Sounds like she had a ball yesterday! :mrgreen:

[hepcat]

Yes, she gets the lecture about people playing their program music from both me and her coach but she's not good at looking out for skaters. It drives me nuts!

I have to hand it to your rink/your club, you ran a very smooth event and all the kids I saw were having a great time. There was one moment during one of the ISI pairs skate that a judge's table collapsed. I have no idea how that happened, but they hadn't started skating yet so the music guy just stopped it and the girls skated over and picked up the stuff that had fallen off the table on to the ice. :lol:

[dbny]

She just went out there and skated with a big smile on her face. You really can't ask for more than that as a parent!

Wow, is she ever cute! I just got home from the second day of coaching, helping to run, & judging a small competition. Today we had lots of little ones skating, and they were overwhelmingly cute and adorable on the ice. It's amazing the amount of personality that comes out when one has center stage.

[jskater49]

She looks like she is having a ball and that's what it should be about!

j

[Tennisany1]

What a fabulous photo. She really looks like she is having a great time!

I know it can be really difficult for little ones to stay out of the solo. When my dd first started on freeskate ice her coach actually stopped during lessons and had dd point to the person doing the solo. It really helped her to be both aware, and also to be tracking the right person. It may seem easy to adults, but often little ones are just watching the wrong skater! Even now, if I see she has had a couple of sessions where she is not paying enough attention, I have her stop what she is doing everytime the music starts, and find the person doing the solo. Once she has identified the right skater, she can go on with her practice. It usually takes only one session to bring her awareness back.

[Mrs Redboots]

That's a great photo! Well done your daughter, and I hope it's just the first of many equally enjoyable competitions.