THOUGHTS - "Storytime with Ryan..."
December
31, 2000
Hello friends
far and near,
I hope you've had a fabulous Christmas filled
with love and joy. I first want to thank
everyone who sent me a card or gift this Christmas.
It really helped make my first year away from
family still a great one. So much
to tell, where to begin?
Once upon a time (roughly a month and a half ago)
a young man whom I know very well boarded an airplane
for the mystical city of romance; non other than
Paris. He did not go there to frolic around,
at least not yet. For there was a mission for
him to tackle.
Was it full of adventure? Of intensity? Of action?
Oh, yes it was!
Was there difficulty? Strife? And doubt?
Yes, the good Lord threw some of that in there
too.
So the best way for us to experience this tale,
is to jump into the mind of that young man (since
I know it's not too frail,) just follow
me, 'cause he's left a trail......
First of all, if you're hoping I'm going to rhyme
the rest of this letter, I suggest you stop reading
now and save yourself the disappointment :-)
Trophee Lalique was the first Grand Prix event
I had ever skated in. Because it is such
a prestigious event, I had been looking forward
to it most of the year. As many of
you know, I've been having trouble with tendonitits
in my right knee for a while now. The week before
I left it hurt quite a bit. Training consisted
of doing my program run-throughs and jumping as
little as possible. The rest was off ice
walk -throughs of jumps and visualization.
It was not my ideal situation for entering this
competition, but I didn't exactly have much choice.
In Paris, the athlete's hotel was right next to
the arena with rooms that were much smaller than
typical American hotel rooms. The other
strange thing about the hotel rooms in France
is that there are no curtains on the showers.
So if you're not careful, you wash the bathroom
floor along with yourself! I'm sure the
cleaning ladies loved it!
My second day there we had unofficial practices
in a small rink and not many of the competitors
were present. I was concentrating on staying
calm and I skated very well. My knee also
felt decent since I hadn't skated in a few days.
This was great encouragement and I was looking
forward to the next day. On this first day
of official practices, and every day for that
matter, there was just one 45 minute session of
practice in the main arena. I assumed I
would skate just as well as the day before and
everyone would live happily ever after.
Unfortunately, a few variables got the best of
me. Me knee was throbbing on everything
I did and I apparently was feeling intimidated
by the many watching judges and skating with the
likes of Alexei Yagudin. The icing
on the cake was when I tripped on my toe pick
during a dance section near the beginning of my
long program. Splat!!!! That
was fun. Nnnnnno.
What do you suppose the judges on my panel were
thinking at that moment?
"Wow! What poise, what grace! I'm going to
slot him up at the top." Sure....
I spent much
of the remainder of the week walking around inside
the arena praying and getting comfortable with
the environment. If I wasn't at the arena,
I was in my hotel room taking care of my knee
and going over the correct way to do my elements.
This was definitely one of the most difficult
weeks of the year for me. I guess
it was the intensity of the entire situation that
made it difficult. Fortunately, at the draw
party I made a great discovery. I was massaging
my knee while sitting down and waiting for the
rest of the event draws to take place. When I
stood up, I felt 50% better! News flash:
I've continued trying to break up the scar tissue
that has formed a small bump on my kneecap due
to the tendonitis. I found that this is
a big factor that has been preventing my healing.
Most days I can train almost full out and the
discomfort has been cut in half! (And there
was great rejoicing in the land...)
Both Friday and Saturday before my competitions,
my knee felt pretty strong and I was mentally
in the game. It may have taken me all week,
but I got there! The ABC cameras made me feel
like a big shot because they followed me around
back stage:-) I
In my short program I skated very well but lacked
the technical difficulty to finish up near the
top. I was pleased with my skate, but it
also seemed as though most of the judges were
not willing to separate the technical and artistic
marks very far so I didn't receive as much credit
as I could have for my program. That just
made it very clear that my long program needed
to include every difficult jump I could do.
The only problem is that I hadn't done a program
up to that level all week. At first it almost
seemed "unfair"....I rose to the occasion
for my short program, but it still wasn't good
enough. Now I needed to do even more.
I had a choice to make. Either I could play
it safe, do only what I've been landing in practice,
and not
move anywhere in the rankings. Or I could
take the risk of attempting the tougher elements
and give myself the opportunity to move up, or
go down with guns blazing. I chose option
two and had a great skate in the long program,
finishing 6th place overall. It felt so
good having the team leader, my coach, the U.S.
judges, and myself all pleased with how I skated.
In an instant, the trials of the entire week were
worth while.
There's nothing
like the feeling of satisfaction you get after
coming through at an important competition in
front of a lot of people. I was also excited
that the short program was played on ESPN and
the long made it on the ABC broadcast. It's
nice when other people get to see what I'm doing
even if they are a long way away.
Once the competition
was over, I had three days to look around the
city with Diana, my coach. We spent most
of the first day at the Palace at Versailles just
outside of the city. It is an immaculate
complex that was equally beautiful from the outside
as it was from the inside. This is where
the treaty to end World War 1 was signed.
A palace like this could never be built today.
The expense would be too great. Stone carvings
were above every window and each ceiling was painted
with some amazing scene. That evening I
walked up the Arch de Triumph and took some great
pictures of the city. Unfortunately, none
of them came out since I unwittingly used my flash.
I didn't think it would make a difference but
apparently it covered up the distant lights by
brightening the area close to the camera. I won't
make that mistake again... The next day
we spend catching a glimpse of many of the priceless
pieces of art in the Louvre. That museum
is simply enormous and the building impressed
me as much as what was inside of it! Notre
Dame was another highlight of the city for me.
I guess I'm awed by enormous structures filled
with minute details. Entering the church
and looking down the nave is enough to make anyone
stand silent.
Other stops on our tour included taking the elevator
to the top of the Eiffel Tower and browsing through
the Muse D'Orsay. That is a museum dedicated to
18th and 19th century art (I think). It
has a large collection of impressionist paintings
including many by Van Gogh. His famous self
portrait may be one shade lighter thanks to the
flash on my camera. (I sort of got in trouble
for that one :-) Luckily they're pretty
lenient with clueless American tourists!
Other fond memories of the city include walking
the streets looking for great little bistros to
eat dinner, riding the Metro to any part of the
city, and eating chocolate crepes while walking
down the Champs Elle'say (sp?).
Play time officially came to an end which marked
my return to the United States. Less than
a week later, I left Colorado Springs for Anchorage,
Alaska to skate in a show my choreographer, Tom
Dickson, was directing. My main role was
as Peer Gynt, skating to the music of the same
name. It is a fictional tale of a Norwegian
adventurer who travels around the world to many
mystical places. I was there for almost an entire
week learning my part in this 12 minute piece
as well as a trio to the violin solo "Meditation".
I did a lot of partner skating in this show which
was new to me but very enjoyable. I definitely
wouldn't recommend that anyone go to Alaska in
the dead of winter. The sun didn't rise
until roughly 10am and I got dark again around
4pm. I tried keeping up with some training
sessions in the morning around 8am and it felt
like 5am. I don't know how people skate
up there! The hardest part of this trip
was the marathon skating days. My first
day there we worked for 12 hours, over six of
which was on the ice. Needless to say it was more
than I bargained for. I did enjoy meeting
new friends and seeing my old training mate Dan
Hollander who was also a guest skater.
As if that wasn't enough, the very next weekend
was Pops on Ice at the Colorado Springs World
Arena. This is a first class show performed
with the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra and
this year the special guest was country singer
Chely Wright. It is so great skating here
in Colorado Springs where I have the chance to
skate in a professional show like Pops on Ice.
The music for my solo was "While I was waiting"
sung by Chely Wright along with her band
and the symphony orchestra. Now that's pretty
special.
Tomorrow is New
Year's Eve and I'll be on the ice in Keystone,
Colorado at the stroke of midnight. This
is the second year Tom Dickson and his wife Katarina
have produced a show for the ski resort on the
outdoor lake up there. Most of the
Broadmoor Skating Club national team is skating
and it is tons of fun! We get
put up in a ritzy condo at a ski resort for New
Year's and get paid! That's what I'm talking
about...
Of course Nationals
is only a few weeks away in Boston! Preparation
for that has been going full force for a while
now and I'm looking forward to it. Will
I be ready for it? I think that answer for
that will be yes. I am improving steadily
and just need to work on putting it all together.
I can't wait to see those of you who will
be there. Otherwise, keep me in your prayers
so you can see me on TV!!!
I think that's
it for this edition of story time with Ryan.
It has taken me four days to write this much and
I'm sure you all have other e-mail to read!
God bless,
Ryan
Return
to Thoughts Index
