September 14, 2002

Hello Everyone.

Well, now that summer is over, I am getting ready to go compete. I have been assigned to the Junior Grand Prix events in Montreal, Canada and also in Chemnitz, Germany.

If I place well at these competitions I will be sent to the Junior Grand Prix Final which is to be held in the Netherlands. Taking one event at a time, we hope to end up in the Netherlands in December.

I recently had to put new blades on my skates which was kind of scary. I brought my blades to be sharpened and the skate person said that he wasn't able to sharpen my blade anymore because it had all been sharpened off. So that meant 5 weeks before my first event I had to put new blades on my boots.

It was hard to adjust to the new feeling and position of the blades, but now that it is done with my jumps and spins feel excellent!

I have been trying in everyway possible to be in the absolute best shape I can be for this upcoming season. I have been going up to Ice Castle which is a training facility 6000 feet higher than the facility I train at daily. Doing your program in such altitude makes you get tired so much quicker, and has been helping me a lot on stamina.

Other than all the hard training, I haven't been up to that much. I was fortunate to have two of my friends come out for my 19th birthday which was in July, and we had a great time. They spent a week here, and we did all kinds of fun things!

I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family within the next few months. My parents are going to come to Canada and watch me compete, and I think I may make a stop home for Thanksgiving. It will be a nice break in the middle of all my hard work and competitions.

That's about it for now. I will be sure to update the site as more good things happen. :)

With love,

Nick