With injury healed, summer skating is in full swing

June 30, 2008

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer!

The title of my last journal entry included "Liberty questionable...". Well, since the injury, I have totally recovered and am back skating and jumping normally. My doctors said that I healed amazingly well and exceptionally fast. Liberty is a definite and I have been training really well and feel like I am in great shape. I am just so happy that I can actually skate and jump again. I was beyond bored for three weeks on the ice. It was awful!

Currently, I am in Colorado Springs for a hard week of training with many of the best skaters in the country. I always enjoy getting out of my rink and skating elsewhere especially with such an awesome group of people. I will go home on Saturday, train back at home for one week and then leave for Liberty on July 15th.

This summer is flying by!

The week following Liberty, I will training in Boston at Skating Club of Boston with a few of the other skaters from Arizona. Other than that, nothing exciting is happening... In Arizona during summer, there is only so much you can do. I have been swimming, laying out, and playing pool basketball frequently!

Later in the season, I will likely be competing at Golden West in LA around Labor Day. Hopefully, I will receive a Senior B event and maybe a Grand Prix event later in the series. Time will tell!

Thank you so much for reading and supporting me! It means the world to me.

See some of you at Liberty!

Douglas

Programs complete but injury makes Liberty questionable

May 19, 2008

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since I have written and a lot has happened since then. The last time I wrote, I had not yet gotten my new programs and now I have them!

I went to Toronto and had my free skate choreographed by Shin Amano. I am skating to The Red Violin soundtrack and I love the program so much. The first day I was there, we choreographed one footwork sequence and it took THREE hours! Some days I was on the ice for 4-5 hours. I was exhausted because I never skate beyond 2.5 hours on a regular day. The program is challenging but very do-able.

Last week, I got my short program from Renee Roca at home so I didn't have to travel anywhere. I am skating to "Etude in D Sharp Minor Patetico" by Maksim. The choreography is exciting but there is just not enough time in the short program to have long sections of choreography because of footwork and spin requirements. Otherwise, the program is really nice.

I have some bad news to share... Some may have heard already but I broke my collarbone on Mother's Day last weekend. I don't know how long I will not be able to jump for but I am still on the ice skating around. I did have to learn my entire short program wearing a sling. It is not a bad break but will still take weeks to heal.

What is amazing is that I have absolutely no pain at all. I have not taken Advil in almost a week and have not had any pain! I am supposed to compete at Liberty in eight weeks but am unsure if I will be ready in time. I do believe I am healing well. I have been doing everything possible to aid the healing process! We will just have to wait and see.... What a pain!

Currently, I am in New Jersey visiting my grandparents and resting my shoulder. Hopefully with a solid week of rest, I will feel great when I go home next week. Thank you all for reading and supporting my skating. Hope everyone is doing great! Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and I hope to see everyone and be skating at Liberty!

Douglas

After Hawaiian vacation, it is back to business

March 28, 2008

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for reading my journal and supporting my skating! I hope all is well! It has been about a month since I have written a journal and during that time, I took an amazing vacation to Hawaii!

To start off, Hawaii was wonderful! The weather was perfect and we only saw about 30 minutes of rain throughout the entire week which is unusual for the island of Kauai. We kept busy with many activities including zip-lining, kayaking, and hiking through this crazy forest where I was eaten alive by mosquitoes! Unfortunately, the island of Kauai does not have parasailing so of course I was disappointed. When we weren't out doing crazy things, we spent the rest of time laying out, listening to waves to crash up on the shore, and watching the pristine sunsets. (I will post photos later.)

There was only one issue I encountered. On the trip home, I had scheduled a seven hour layover in Honolulu because I wanted to leave Kauai when Bianca and her family were leaving for simplicity reasons. So, when I landed in Honolulu, I left the airport and went to the mall at Ala Moana Center in Waikiki to kill some time. Meanwhile, I checked my flight status on my phone and saw that my flight had been delayed for three hours. Time passed and the delay ended up to be about four and half hours. I was supposed to depart Honolulu at 10:55 PM but didn't depart until 3:15 AM. OMG! I wanted to shoot myself! Finally, I arrived home completely exhausted. To conclude, it took me around eighteen hours to go only six. OUCH!

Since then, normal training has resumed and I will be headed to the Granite Club in Toronto on the 21st of April to get my new free skate choreographed. The short program will be done sometime during the beginning of May. Currently, I have just been pushing along, working on new spins, and actually choreographing some footwork sequences for my coach's other students. I am discovering my creative side!

Other than that, skating and life are pretty low-key right now. The weather here in Arizona is fantastic. 85 degrees everyday and sunny! Its pool weather! This weekend, I am going skiing with my dad in Lake Tahoe which I am really looking forward to.

I think that's all for now! I will update after I get my new program in about a month! Talk to you all soon!

Thanks again for your support!

Douglas

Nationals is over but Liberty is five months away

February 19, 2008

Hi everyone!

It has been a few weeks since Nationals and I feel like it is time to  write a new blog.  I have started skating again and actually started  only a few days after I returned from Saint Paul. Whenever I feel  disappointed about a competition, I always feel like I need to go  skate and not take time off.  It has been like this since I began  skating so it's nothing unusual.

This last week, I began teaching private lessons which was very  exciting for me.  During that week, my coach, Doug Ladret was in Korea  at Four Continents so I actually was sort of his substitute for the  week. I really enjoyed doing it too! It was a nice change from my  usual Basic Skills classes.

In a few weeks, I am going to Hawaii (the island of Kauai to be exact)  for the first time! I am going with my good friend and fellow FSO  skater Bianca Butler and her family. I leave on March 9th and will  stay for five days. I am exceedingly excited to go parasailing and zip-lining! I'm not so sure about snorkeling though... I don't know if I 
can handle fish coming within two feet of me! Oy... That's the least  of my worries... I am so excited and cannot wait to go! Also, I will  get my full week off the ice so that will be good for me.

Two weeks after, I will go skiing in Lake Tahoe with my dad for a few  days. I love skiing so that will be another fun trip!

On the skating side, I think I have decided about free skate music and  still am undecided about the short program. I better decide quick. Is  it just me or does it feel like time goes faster and faster each year?  Liberty is only 5 months away... It will be here before we all know  it! Ah!

Anyways, that pretty much covers it for right now... Thank you so much  to all who read my blog and support me!  I will write again soon!

Douglas

Short program highlight of nationals week

January 29, 2008

Hello all, 

I have just returned from my first senior Nationals and my season has come to an end. First of all, I would like to thank the organizing committee in Saint Paul and Hal Marron (the chief referee) for putting together and running the event so smoothly. Everything was great!

Nationals, for me, definitely had its ups and downs. My practices were fantastic all week long and my short program was the highlight of the whole week. I was so calm and it really was fun to skate in the same warm-up group as Evan and Johnny. I think all of the energy from the audience was a positive for me. 

On the other hand, my free skate is not one I really want to remember. I was a completely different person than I was in the short program.  I was a lot more nervous and was no where near as calm. I felt like I was tripping through the entire program and never really found my balance. I missed both triple axels and ended up in 16th place overall. Of course, I was very disappointed but I am constantly learning from all of these experiences.  Skating is definitely character building. 

Moving on....

Now, I will likely take the week off and resume skating next week. Soon, I will begin brainstorming about music for next season and probably start choreographing the new programs in April and May. Just as usual, next season will begin in mid-July in Philadelphia at Liberty Open. Then, maybe Detroit or Golden West in LA. Hopefully, I will have racked up enough ISU points last season to be selected for a Grand Prix event or two. NHK Trophy would be nice! But right now, it's all about relaxing. I will do some traveling, go skiing and head out to New Jersey a few times.  

Thank you to everyone who reads my journals and supports my skating.  I could not have made it this far in skating without you. Thanks again... I'll write again soon!

Douglas

Junior Grand Prix Final caps off whirlwind fall

January 5, 2008

Wahoo! My official Web site is now open!

Many thanks to all who support my skating. Your support means the world to me!

Wow! This fall has been an absolute whirlwind for me as it was my busiest and most demanding set of competitions ever. I started off in Estonia and my first Junior Grand Prix event of the season. My short was not what I had planned and on top of that, I got a bad call on one of my jumps. So, I moved on, had a day of practice and rest and Saturday was the free skate. The practice was early in the morning because the event started at 9:30am which I think is rather unusual. Anyway, at about 12:30, it was my time to skate. I went, I skated, and made a few minor errors but overall it was very good. I went into first with one whole warm-up group left to skate. I watched and waited and at the end of the event, I sat in fourth place! England, here I come!

Four weeks later, I departed for Sheffield, U.K. Surprisingly, I don't think we saw rain the entire time! I think that's probably unusual for England. By the time the short program rolled around, I was coming down with a cold. I spoke with our team doctor and he loaded me up on Airborne and cough drops. I skated the short cleanly but not feeling 100%.

Two days later was the free skate. By then, my cold had become worse and was sort of taking over my body. I was very nervous and nauseous. I went on for warm up and felt awful. I then went on to compete feeling awful. I had so many doubts, but I was so well trained, I swear, I was out of my body while I was skating. I was very strange. I made it through my program almost clean until the last element. I stepped out of DOUBLE AXEL and then left off the double toe double toe after it. At that point, I was dead and happy to have made it through so well. I sat and watched the rest of the event and finished in second place by about 2.5 points. Lesson learned: don't leave off double toes. Later, I had the award ceremony and then had a birthday celebration because my birthday was the following day. I had a fantastic time in England.

So, because I got second in England, I was then forced to go to Sectionals and became the first alternate for the final. When I arrived at sectionals, I heard rumors that one of the Russians in the JGP Final had broken his ankle. I found out all that I could before the short program because I could have been byed to Nationals if USFS had received official word. It never came through. I skated my short program perhaps the best ever and recorded a major personal best and sat in first place!

The next day was the long. In one word I would describe it as disaster. I fell three times and stepped out a few times as well. It was not one of my finer moments. I didn't want to see the result page because I thought I would not make it. I did and thank god! The final was in two weeks, I had better get to work.

On December 3rd, I left for Gdansk. I arrived the next day to dreary, cloudy, and cold weather. On top of that, the sun went down at like 3:30. I practiced unofficially that day because we didn't know if ice was available the next day. I skated extremely well and felt really good considering I had just traveled for about 20 hours. The short program was on Friday and I skated first because of the new starting order rule. I skated clean and so did everyone else that followed. Eight clean programs! I sat in seventh at the end of the event.

The next day, I skated second because they go in reverse order of standings. I started out with triple axel triple toe! Woohoo! I finished the program almost clean again except for triple lutz. I doubled it. Once again, I was very pleased with how I skated and I recorded a new personal best. I finished the event in fourth and got to skate in the exhibition the next day. I came home, took a week off, went to California to visit my friend Bianca, came home and started training for Nationals.

Here we are today. Chugging along toward St. Paul. Training was hard over the holidays because the ice schedules were wacky. Its all good now and things are back to normal. Three weeks to go! My goal for nationals is to skate two clean programs because I definitely not favored to win or anything. I would also like to be selected for the Junior World team. That's all for now! Thanks for reading and thanks again for your support!

Happy New Year!

Douglas