Hello from Helsinki! - Saturday
4/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Synchronized Skating
April 13, 2011
Coming off of a great short program performance on Friday evening, scoring 56.64 total points, our team was fired up to complete the season with one last skate. Saturday started off relatively early with our long program official practice. We were very focused on the preciseness of our footwork and our presentation so that the judges would see a glimpse of what to expect from us later in the evening. It was a very solid practice that gave us confidence that we would skate a strong performance in the competition.
When we arrived back at our hotel we were pleasantly surprised to find Figure Skating Olympic Champion Scott Hamilton in the lobby. He was extremely friendly, and what started with some of us just chatting with him turned into him giving our entire team a pep talk for competing. Needless to say, we all left with wide eyes and huge smiles on our faces after being told by an Olympian how good he thought we were. Any doubts had certainly left our minds.
The rest of the day consisted of last-minute video critiquing and getting ready. Just prior to heading back to the rink, the team huddled up in one of the rooms to watch our pump-up video that teammate Kelly Critchfield prepares for us every competition. It consists of clips from our skating throughout the entire season mixed with inspirational music and quotes showing us how far we have come and how hard we have worked to be able to be competing at the World Championships this year.
We left for the arena as inspired as ever to represent our country for the last time as a team. At the rink, the buzz of competition could be felt everywhere. Many countries had already competed and we were to start off the second half of the competition. We warmed up as usual, ending in tradition by singing along with 'Remember the Name.'
We went to our locker room and laced up our skates before a final cheer of the fight song as we walked over to the main ice. Before entering the ice, we stood just behind the boards to take in the atmosphere we were about to skate in. It was a full house and the largest crowd any of us had ever skated in front of. When we stepped out on the ice in preparation to skate, the entire audience started chanting "USA-USA-USA." There was no better feeling as we began our last skate as a team.
With only one minor glitch, we had a strong performance and stepped off the ice to cheers surrounding us. Waiting for our marks, we all looked around cherishing the moment. It was bittersweet one for me and the other six seniors who had just had our final competitive skate of our lives. We ended up in 10th place with 106.10 pts in the long program, 162.74 pts overall. It was an honor to end the season representing our university and country at such an elite event and we could not have asked for a better team to do it with.
Miami University's synchronized skating team was one of two teams representing the United States at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. The competition was April 8-9, and different members of the team wrote about the team's trip in Finland. Today's blog about the final day of compeition is by Marisa Hutchinson, a senior psychology major with a minor in child studies from Ann Arbor, Mich.
Players Mentioned
