January 10, 2010
Hello everyone! It’s been a very long and exciting month or so since my last update. I have a lot to share with you all, but I’m going to try to not write a novel in the process. First of all, I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and an excellent New Year. Here is to a brilliant 2010!!!
The Final was AMAZING!!!!! I was so proud of how I skated and feel like I’ve grown so much because of the experience. Here is a link to my blog which will give some inside information from the trip: www.icenetworkincrowd.com/Grant-Hochsteins-JGP-Final-Blog/blog/304/72859.html
In my preparation for Nationals, other than doing large quantities of double run throughs, I have been doing some serious Michelle Kwan video watching. Last night I watched her Carmina Burana program six times in a row. Do I even need to mention either of her brilliant 1998 Nationals performances? Or how about her World’s free skates from 2000 and 2001 where she showed such attack? Finally, the greatest and most emotional MK video of all time… 2002 Olympics, Fields of Gold exhibition. By watching these videos of my idol, I hope to continue to gain a greater knowledge of my own skating. I love the emotion she gives when she skates, something I have been working immensely on. In my Romeo and Juliet program I’ve been working on getting into not only the character of Romeo, but the story itself. I know that by skating as Romeo in Verona, rather than Grant in Spokane, it will make my skate much more effective and powerful. Not only that, but my jumps, spins, and footwork will be much stronger because I won’t be focusing solely on them. I hope this all makes sense and that I’m not just rambling on for no reason. In short, Michelle Kwan is my inspiration.
My skating has been going quite well in the past two weeks. My jumps have been getting much stronger and consistent, my spins have gotten faster, and my footwork has gotten smoother. I’ve been working really, really hard and I hope all of this work will be visible at Nationals. In four short days I will be making the trip with Lindsay, Maria (my ballet coach), and my mom. I’m stoked that my mom and Maria are getting to make the trip, since neither of them have seen me compete in 6 months. It’s always great to have them with me for extra support and strength.
I can’t wait to get to Nationals! I have a really good feeling about this trip and I know my hard work is going to pay off. It’s my first Nationals during an Olympic year which makes this one even more exciting!! I also hope that several of my new friends from this season have great success as well. It’s going to be exciting to see how this all plays out. I have my picks, do you???
See you in Spokane!!
Grant
