I honestly don't know where to even begin.. I'm just feel kind of numb right now. When I landed last night, it finally hit me that my two and half year journey with the Junior team of San Francisco Ice Theatre had just officially ended.
I like being a part of a team sport, and I love the sport of figure skating even more. I didn't have any of those things in the beginning of my Sophomore year. Having the opportunity to join SFIT before Nationals of 2013 was probably the best thing that happened to me during my time in high school.
There isn't really way for me to describe what it feels like to be on a team like SFIT, and I don't think I'll be forgetting that feeling any time soon. Every practice, every fall, every victory, and every tear has become a part of who we are, and what we accomplish as a team. The encouragement and passion on the team helps us stay together even when the game (chess game?) gets rough and frustration seeps through.
Sitting in the arena in Hobart, Ohio, after our CE skate, I remember our coach running up telling us we got 4th. And one day after that, the start of a 3-year streak began when we ended up winning overall that year. I wasn't there in the beginning of the season when the hard work was put into the creation and practice of the routines, but after being on the team the last couple of months leading up to Nationals, I knew I'd want to stay on the team as long as I could. And I did. Through two more wins and an experience I would never take back at Nations Cup 2015 (My post on my experience: http://mainlyshan.blogspot.com/2015/05/i-missed-six-full-days-of-school-to-be.html). I am so lucky to have been a part of all of this before the first win, and witness the growth of the team with the high standard we now set for ourselves and for the sport of Theatre on Ice skating three seasons later.
SFIT also has a Novice team now that I've gotten to know better this year, and I'm so glad the family is growing and that there is nothing but support for the blue and the yellow of SFIT. I am so proud of their hard work and accomplishments the last two years. Running over in our skate guards to watch Novice perform their freeskate right after an unofficial practice with our costumes resulted in some surprised and concerned looks, but it felt so rewarding being able to scream and cheer for them and say, "Yep, they are our teammates and we are the SFIT family." Theatre on Ice has also allowed many teams to bond, and I've met a few new friends from different teams I'll miss seeing in the future. Nations Cup bonded the three USA teams that went this year, and it was great being able to see them one more time.. Being able to cheer everyone on and trade pins with different skaters around the nation has been exciting. It's beautiful seeing so many encouraging skaters from different teams support each other.
Even though we are the San Francisco Ice Theatre, there are skaters on the Junior team come from Fremont, San Francisco, Cupertino, and Belmont. We may be known as the mostly "Asian" team, but we all come from pretty diverse backgrounds. It's interesting to see how close we can get just by seeing each other during early Saturday morning practices once a week. I'm glad we were all able to create one more memory together last weekend before the seniors of this year leave. One of the people left out of the memory from Nationals this year was Erin ..
I will miss being on the same team as Erin and skating alongside her. I'm going to miss our amazing coaches, Louis and Paige. I'm going to miss our silly but dedicated parents. I'm going to miss our less scratchy mazurkas, our Sharetea runs after SF practice, and our edge classes. I'm going to miss our good run-throughs, our rough practices, and our costume malfunctions. I'm going to miss jumping with masks and headpieces. I'm going to miss the Asian food for dinner, and the grapes. I'm going to miss off-ice with crazy teammates and the video reviews. I'm going to miss flooding a hotel with our loud voices and taking selfies. I'm going to miss our blue shirts. I'm going to miss the visualizations in the locker room before we skate. And I'm going to miss being a part the 24-member skater squad.
Life is supposed to move on, because with everything, there always comes an end. I can't avoid it, I'm supposed to accept it, but it's difficult. I don't feel like I'm going to be in Illinois three days before Skate San Francisco. I still imagine myself coming back to the auditions two months from now and anticipating a new season with new programs with the same people. Even though change is inevitable, I'm not sure I'm ready to accept this change after what SFIT has done for me and how much it has helped shape my life. Not to mention I love the people on the team a little bit too much.
I didn't want to end the season with a fall, but there are things that we can't control or predict or alter. I was able to skate with my family one last time and there's nothing I can say other than, "thank you." Thanks for the new bonds, new connections, new friends. Thanks for being so welcoming and for including me into the family. After 3 consecutive gold medals, amd 4 special awards, and a bid to Nations Cup in the last three years... Damn. The people that had the vision, the people that brought a team together, and the people that executed what needed to be done. That's SFIT for ya.
We'll have to see what the future brings us, yeah?
Shan
Showing posts with label ice skating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice skating. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
International Ice
I missed six full days of school to be in Paris, France for a week and a half to compete with my Junior San Francisco Ice Theatre team at our first international competition, Nation's Cup (Ballet on Ice). It was the most fulfilling experience in my life so far.
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.
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.
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
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