sk8ergalgal
01-10-2009, 06:34 PM
I found this Tessa article I thought was really nice:
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Canadian ice dancer Tessa Virtue is happy to be back training on the ice after missing the Grand Prix season because of an unusual injury that required surgery on both legs.
The 19-year-old skater from London, Ont., missed the Grand Prix Final in Goyang City, South Korea, last month. She and her partner Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont., could very well have won it. As world silver medalists, their routines may be the most riveting of any dance team in the world right now. It's just that nobody has seen them yet.
She's been back on the ice for only about five or six weeks, and with the Canadian figure-skating championships next week, Virtue realizes she has a lot of work to do. Will they be ready?
After some difficulty in diagnosing the problem, doctors finally said she had chronic external compartment syndrome, an overuse injury that is most commonly found in young athletes who are involved in endurance sports.
She had surgery on both of her legs in September to relieve growing pressure in her tissues and underwent physiotherapy, too.
Virtue felt pain in her shins last year that used to bother her only when she did compulsory dances. The pain never affected her performance. She had a break after the world championships, but when their training intensified, so did the pain and it took on a completely different form from what she had felt before: an aching, tight feeling. The pain began to hold her back from training. And they had been training intensely, she said.
“It's more common than I thought it was,'' Virtue said of chronic external compartment syndrome. “So many factors go into it.''
Now Virtue has a plan for her comeback. “I have to be patient,'' she said. It's easy for skaters to get carried away when they train. “When I'm on the ice, I feel great,'' she said. Adrenaline takes over. She wants to go for it. Now she can't always.
On her first day back, Virtue skated for only 15 minutes, the second day, 30, the third, 45 minutes. Now she's up to 1½ hours on the ice. In a typical training day, she and Moir skate four or five hours.
“It's hard to look ahead,'' Virtue said. But she is thankful that she and Moir already have so many training miles under them. Moir had been off skating by himself while Virtue had been at home in London recuperating.
It was very difficult, she said, to miss the Grand Prix events. She and Moir withdrew from both Skate Canada in Ottawa and from the NHK Trophy in Japan, thereby eliminating them from the Grand Prix Final as well.
“It's been very tough, especially when Skate Canada rolled around,'' Virtue said. “We hoped to be there in Ottawa. I thought of not watching it, because I knew it would be tough.''
But she also wanted to watch her training mates, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who have made great strides in their work this season. Davis and White won Skate Canada.
Because of the injury, Virtue and Moir haven't yet unleashed their new, innovative free dance to Pink Floyd. Choreographer Marina Zoueva knew it was the right vehicle for the team, because for one thing, Virtue has taken as much modern dance as she has ballet since she was four or five years old in London.
The movements to Pink Floyd are modern and slick and the lifts reflect the music. It's a far cry from the usual fare in ice dancing: tangos, Puccini, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi. It is, say those who have seen it, a masterpiece.
“We wanted them to show a different type of movement,'' Zoueva said. “I love it and everybody loves it. ... I try to do unique things. They have to try something new.''
“We're always trying to push the limits, and this gets us out of our comfort zone,'' Virtue said of Pink Floyd. “And that's good for us.''
So what do you think?
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Canadian ice dancer Tessa Virtue is happy to be back training on the ice after missing the Grand Prix season because of an unusual injury that required surgery on both legs.
The 19-year-old skater from London, Ont., missed the Grand Prix Final in Goyang City, South Korea, last month. She and her partner Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont., could very well have won it. As world silver medalists, their routines may be the most riveting of any dance team in the world right now. It's just that nobody has seen them yet.
She's been back on the ice for only about five or six weeks, and with the Canadian figure-skating championships next week, Virtue realizes she has a lot of work to do. Will they be ready?
After some difficulty in diagnosing the problem, doctors finally said she had chronic external compartment syndrome, an overuse injury that is most commonly found in young athletes who are involved in endurance sports.
She had surgery on both of her legs in September to relieve growing pressure in her tissues and underwent physiotherapy, too.
Virtue felt pain in her shins last year that used to bother her only when she did compulsory dances. The pain never affected her performance. She had a break after the world championships, but when their training intensified, so did the pain and it took on a completely different form from what she had felt before: an aching, tight feeling. The pain began to hold her back from training. And they had been training intensely, she said.
“It's more common than I thought it was,'' Virtue said of chronic external compartment syndrome. “So many factors go into it.''
Now Virtue has a plan for her comeback. “I have to be patient,'' she said. It's easy for skaters to get carried away when they train. “When I'm on the ice, I feel great,'' she said. Adrenaline takes over. She wants to go for it. Now she can't always.
On her first day back, Virtue skated for only 15 minutes, the second day, 30, the third, 45 minutes. Now she's up to 1½ hours on the ice. In a typical training day, she and Moir skate four or five hours.
“It's hard to look ahead,'' Virtue said. But she is thankful that she and Moir already have so many training miles under them. Moir had been off skating by himself while Virtue had been at home in London recuperating.
It was very difficult, she said, to miss the Grand Prix events. She and Moir withdrew from both Skate Canada in Ottawa and from the NHK Trophy in Japan, thereby eliminating them from the Grand Prix Final as well.
“It's been very tough, especially when Skate Canada rolled around,'' Virtue said. “We hoped to be there in Ottawa. I thought of not watching it, because I knew it would be tough.''
But she also wanted to watch her training mates, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who have made great strides in their work this season. Davis and White won Skate Canada.
Because of the injury, Virtue and Moir haven't yet unleashed their new, innovative free dance to Pink Floyd. Choreographer Marina Zoueva knew it was the right vehicle for the team, because for one thing, Virtue has taken as much modern dance as she has ballet since she was four or five years old in London.
The movements to Pink Floyd are modern and slick and the lifts reflect the music. It's a far cry from the usual fare in ice dancing: tangos, Puccini, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi. It is, say those who have seen it, a masterpiece.
“We wanted them to show a different type of movement,'' Zoueva said. “I love it and everybody loves it. ... I try to do unique things. They have to try something new.''
“We're always trying to push the limits, and this gets us out of our comfort zone,'' Virtue said of Pink Floyd. “And that's good for us.''
So what do you think?