D Day: I got this Feeling...

Finally, it was D day after 2 months of intensive training. Even though it was D day, it wasnt any more relax. Lil Shauna and I made it to the rink for the 3pm ice session for last minute practice.

It was her 5th competition and the 3rd for Preliminary; she said that she is not anxious. Indeed, her mood was light as we headed for the ice time.

The rink was opened until 5pm with the center rink cornered off for advanced skaters. We had about 1.5hr. It wasnt too crowded at 1st but the crowd slowly built up with skaters doing last minute training and the public. Again, I hear Lil Shauna complaining that it was too crowded. What's new? We spent time practicing the elements and also practicing how to smile and perform. Smiling also need to learn.

We had plenty of time to get ready and had toast for dinner. The competition look was completed by 6.30pm. The colorful shiny freckles worked! Then I realised that last week's pure white ones look classier. Too bad. Haha.

Pictures, pictures time.

Close up of her shiny, shiny. So cute, right?

As the competition drew nearer, Lil Shauna got more and more anxious. She was rushing me to help her wear her skates when there was still plenty of time.

This time, we asked if the Fs were free to see her compete. They had to rush down from Clementi after class. Just nice, the schedule was delayed.

Lil Shauna's competition was right after the ice resurfacing. While waiting, we sneaked in a picture with Coach Raymond.

He obviously can pose better than her. See!

Finally it was warm up time. The skaters had 4 mins. By then, Lil Shauna was a bunch of nerves. She had forgotten mostly what I had asked her to practice and was simply following instructions from Coach Raymond. She kept skating back to the side to see what else he wanted her to do. Faint. Zzzzzzzzz...

Four minutes were up in a blink. As Lil Shauna was the 7th skater, Coach Raymond asked her not to crowd the rink side but she was too anxious. When the 5th skater was skating, she came hurriedly to ask where Coach Raymond was. She was so amused to find him munching on his dinner burger by the side. Lol.

I had been the videographer for every of her competition. This time, she requested for Daddy Lim to do so instead so that she could look at me and remember to perform. For once, I get a chance to watch her skates not through the lens. It was beautiful.

She completed her program nicely and was able to smile and perform and was extra graceful. She totally charmed me. She managed almost 8 revolutions on sit spin. However, she wasnt the only skater who put on a good show. We had watched many of her competitors practice during SISA ice but all of them were a notch up during the competition. Many of the competitors were much stronger too. Four of them were doing axle and another was doing complicated spins. Why are they competing in Preliminary ah?

The Fs left after she had skated. We stayed on to watch and support Ruby and Jasper, who were participating in the Elementary.

She had to don her glasses and was totally weird with the sparkles. She looked like she had shiny pimples. Haha.

She waited for Ruby to be done to take a picture. Poor Ruby was barely recovering from the flu bug.

We waited a long time for the results. It wasnt out when the Elementary was completed. We contemplated going home but eventually decided to stay on for the results; the results on the spot were much more detailed. Daddy Lim had to bring Zaky home 1st.

We waited and waited and waited. We even watched the advance skaters compete. They are really good! The results were still not out when the competition ended. There were still many mini skaters waiting around. We then realised that they were all waiting for the prize presentation. As there were only that few skaters competing in the basic skating competition, participation would guarantee a medal. Lil Shauna lamented about resisting joining competition when she was little. Haha.

The results were finally out. To Lil Shauna's disappointment, she came in 9th out of the 12 skaters. She thought that she had done well. I thought she had tried hard too and was all comforting. While I dont expect her to win as her competitors were so strong, it puzzled me too that her score dropped drastically from the last competition. Well, what's done cannot be undone.

Disappointment was hard last night. I had a hard time falling asleep and couldnt help thinking what else we could do. I even rewatch her video and compared it to her last competition and noted that she made similar mistakes as per the last round. Then, I went into studying the detailed score to realise that her element score was slightly better than the last round. The judges were alot more stingent on the other scores this round. Comparing to her competitors, she did fairly well for her performance but her skating skills sucks.

This morning, she was feeling so much better and I took the opportunity to post my observations. I was encouraged to see how upbeat she is and is eager to try harder.

The results were finally posted just now and we were studying her score and videos together for areas of improvement. The 4th to the 9th placing had really close score. The 4th was 14.77 and she was 14.27 at the 9th place. That 0.5 makes all the difference.

I really hope that she would work harder. Back to ice on Saturday!

Mummy Lim