During my spring break the week before our competition, I explored England and France with family. It was my first time in Europe, and I instantly fell in love with London. The landmarks in France are so intricate and beautiful, I can't imagine the history that goes behind all the architecture and design of the buildings and monuments.
After one week of traveling, the team met up at the Ibis hotel to start practices and prep for competition that week. We had packed schedules with 1-3 practices a day, and we rented a comfortable bus to help us transport back and forth from the hotel to the rink. I remember being super tired most of the time during competition week, but I also remember how surreal it felt to be in a foreign country with 20 of my brothers and sisters, competing with teams from around the world. We had 1-hour long unofficial practices to polish our two routines, and 10-minute official practices to do one run-through of our routines. I always feel that we are productive during these practices, because I can see the determination in everyone's eyes. Practices back home can be productive, but are usually (and expected to be) a lot more lax. We had solid practices all throughout the week, and we got a free afternoon on the Friday before the competition weekend.
I spent the afternoon going to the supermarket across from our hotel, and bought a box of grapes for 3 euros (I have to include this because I love grapes). My teammates and I sat in our hotel rooms talking about everything, laughing about the silliest things. Even though nothing extravagant happened that afternoon, I really did enjoy being able to talk to my teammates about things besides skating. Most of my teammates don't live in the same area back in California, and we don't get to spend much time outside of the rink.
We shared a dressing room with two other French teams that weren't in our division, and we sang along to their playlist and gave awkward greetings. We were much more comfortable with each other's company after three days of being in there, and it's funny how I noticed differences between their culture and ours, even with skating. There was a skater outside smoking a cigarette, and the girls and boys changed in front of each other quite openly. One of the coaches vaped in a tent, and I also noticed they had a better supply of food than we did. I don't think it's particularly good or bad, I find it interesting how we can have the same music taste half way across the globe, but still have many cultural differences as well.
On Saturday, our first program competed against eight other teams in the Junior division. We cheered on for the two other USA teams, and I really loved hearing them cheer for us when we went on. It's interesting how the dynamic changes a lot at an international competition. During Nationals, all the teams are from USA so you see each team as a competitor. When we are all on foreign ice representing the same nation, the unity of the teams is really evident and for a moment we forget that we are still competing against each other, too. We were the fourth team to skate, and we skated right after Spacecoast Hurricanes, also a USA team. We did well, and we were only 0.75 points behind 1st place. I couldn't stop smiling and glancing up at the bright lights above us shining down over the packed bleachers with different-colored flags. At the end of the first day, the French teams had pushed us down to 6th place, 1.55 points away from 3rd place.
I could sense that the team was slightly stressed and unsure of what to feel about where we were in the standings, but we knew we weren't that far away from the other teams. When the second day of competition rolled around, we were all excited to skate our program from the previous Nationals, the "Crystal Planet" (Link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7azmgnBPTzo). We've felt the power and impact of the program before, and I hoped we could replicate that. Before we stepped on ice, I felt a sense of calmness and excitement. It finally sunk in that I was actually on international ice, being a part of such an amazing team, realizing how meaningful this sport really is to me. The next couple of minutes was a blur, but I know I put everything out there the best I could, and was smiling to myself through all of it. I am so proud of the entire team, coaches and parents included. Our final placement was 6th, and although it would've been nice to have stepped on the podium, the placement really didn't mean much to me at that point.
A couple teammates and I escaped to a park right next to the rink while it was sprinkling outside, and breathed the fresh, misty air. I could feel the air fill my lungs and relax my entire body. We were having so much fun taking pictures, running around like idiots, and laughing our heads off we almost forgot about the awards ceremony.
All teams stepped on the ice for one last time for the awards ceremony, and it was like a big, social gathering with all the teams from Russia, France, USA, Mexico and a few other countries. We made human tunnels for the team that was being introduced to skate through, we talked to other teams and took pictures with them, and many phones were out capturing the last couple of hours of Nation's Cup 2015. We got back to the hotel pretty late, and after our team celebration, my friends and I pulled an all-nighter eating instant noodles and talking about the team's future and our team dynamic. I think we can all agree we thought it was pretty cool we had the opportunity to be together in that momen t in time, because things like this don't come by very often..
I could sense that the team was slightly stressed and unsure of what to feel about where we were in the standings, but we knew we weren't that far away from the other teams. When the second day of competition rolled around, we were all excited to skate our program from the previous Nationals, the "Crystal Planet" (Link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7azmgnBPTzo). We've felt the power and impact of the program before, and I hoped we could replicate that. Before we stepped on ice, I felt a sense of calmness and excitement. It finally sunk in that I was actually on international ice, being a part of such an amazing team, realizing how meaningful this sport really is to me. The next couple of minutes was a blur, but I know I put everything out there the best I could, and was smiling to myself through all of it. I am so proud of the entire team, coaches and parents included. Our final placement was 6th, and although it would've been nice to have stepped on the podium, the placement really didn't mean much to me at that point.
A couple teammates and I escaped to a park right next to the rink while it was sprinkling outside, and breathed the fresh, misty air. I could feel the air fill my lungs and relax my entire body. We were having so much fun taking pictures, running around like idiots, and laughing our heads off we almost forgot about the awards ceremony.
All teams stepped on the ice for one last time for the awards ceremony, and it was like a big, social gathering with all the teams from Russia, France, USA, Mexico and a few other countries. We made human tunnels for the team that was being introduced to skate through, we talked to other teams and took pictures with them, and many phones were out capturing the last couple of hours of Nation's Cup 2015. We got back to the hotel pretty late, and after our team celebration, my friends and I pulled an all-nighter eating instant noodles and talking about the team's future and our team dynamic. I think we can all agree we thought it was pretty cool we had the opportunity to be together in that momen t in time, because things like this don't come by very often..
During the 10-hour flight back home, I was reflecting upon this experience while I was sleeping (trust me, I was). Usually there is one big competition per year (Nationals), but this year we have the privilege to attend two. We will fly back out in June, and fight for another spot at Nation's Cup two years from now. It feels like the season is over for us, but it really isn't yet, thankfully. I am sad that this will my last year on the team with this set of people, who have now become more than just teammates, more than just family. They are benign tumors; they have become a part of who I am and there are no words to describe how much I will miss seeing them every week.
One week back from the competition, and besides having a couple new friends on Instagram and keeping in touch with a skater from one of the French teams, not much has changed. Routine practices are back, and we are all recuperating so we can come back even stronger for Nationals.
Shan
