The competition got off to another great start on Sunday morning!
The first event of the day was Pre-Preliminary Shadow Dance, and Alyssa and Hannah were competing. I was a little nervous about this event - Hannah had to learn the Baby Blues for the competition, and she tends to have a hard time remembering steps...especially when she is nervous! But, she did a great job, and they ended up placing 2nd!
Hannah and Alyssa waiting for their warm-up. Alyssa was able to borrow the dresses from her dance studio - she chose blue dresses because they were doing the Baby Blues :)
The next events were the CanSkate Challenge Elements - this is Skate Canada's new way of doing Individual Elements - the skaters still do four elements for the judges, the structure of the event is just a little different. And, rather than the kids getting results and placing first, second, third, etc., they each get a certificate and are awarded a gold, silver or bronze...so, every skater in the event could get a silver on their certificate. It's a little weird, we're all still getting used to it!
One of my new skaters Cheyenne competed in Stage 3, this was her first competition, and she did awesome! The best part - she had the biggest smile on her face the whole time...and, when she finished, she asked if she could do more! :) She got a GOLD certificate!
Cheyenne getting her skates on, and already smiling!
Ella competed in Stage 5 - she took a big fall and hurt her knee during practice, she was really upset and cried for a few minutes, I thought she was going to quit, but she managed to finish. Unfortunately, she ended up with a bronze certificate...which, isn't bad, but she didn't think it was good enough.
Sisters! Hannah and Ella.
Ella and Leigha also did a Shadow Pairs number - the skated to the theme song from 'The Muppets' and they were so cute! Apparently the judges didn't give points for being cute though, because they ended up fourth out of six. Again, that isn't bad...in fact, it's really good considering they were a lot younger than the rest of their flight...but, they were disappointed because they didn't get a medal.
Later in the afternoon, things got a little chaotic and somehow Alyssa ended up missing her warm-up for the Solo Spiral event. I felt really bad, but, I was thankful that it was just a spiral event, not a pairs or dance event. Alyssa ended up coming in FIRST, so I guess missing warm-up wasn't a big deal at all!
And, the last event of the day was another big one -Pre-Preliminary Team Spins.
Adrianna, Alyssa, Hannah and Keegan - waiting to take the ice. (I don't know why Keegan's coat "glows" like that? And, I couldn't figure out how to edit it?)
The week before the competition, we couldn't decide who was going to do what spin...the Thursday before, I assigned everyone a spin, but wasn't sure I made the right decision. Keegan was giving me major attitude because I decided he would do the back spin, and he kept saying he couldn't do it. Well, they called Team Tweed and he went out and did the best back spin I've ever seen him do....EVER! He was the first of the group, and I think the girls realized they had to step up after Keegan's great spin, and they all did a great job. It had a been a really long day by this time, and I planned on coaching the event and then leaving...but, when they did so well I decided it would be worth staying for results. And, I'm glad I did because they ended up FIRST...it was an exciting GOLD medal, that's for sure.
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