Hi everyone and welcome to yet another journal entry! So much has happened since our last entry. We have had a great summer and we hope that you all did, too! I would first like to start by thanking everyone at Figure Skaters Online and especially our webmaster, Lanie, for their help with our new and redesigned site. It means so much to us that they would help us with our web site and give us the chance to keep all of you up to date with our skating!

Our first competition this season was Skate Detroit, where we skated our Short Program only. After we skated we were definitely happy that we had this competition pretty early in the season because we had a lot of things to work on! We didn't skate our best and ended up in 4th place. After we came home, we basically changed our whole short program! The best thing about Skate Detroit, however, was that we got a chance to work with Marina Zoueva. Marina completely transformed our programs! She is amazing! She really brought something special to both of our programs, and we are very thankful that we had this opportunity to work with her. It was inspiring and I think people will notice a big difference in our skating and be able to see Marina's influence.

Our next competition was the Indy Challenge. We were definitely well prepared to take on the senior ranks at the biggest pair competition in the United States. However, in the Short Program I fell on my throw triple loop and we had problems with the landing of the twist. Drew got his hand caught in my skirt and because of that missed my hip! Before the long, we tried to put that behind us, and it seemed to work. In the long we skated almost flawlessly! We had a minor mistake when I stepped out of our last throw, a triple Sal, which is at almost four minutes into our program. It didn't cost us too much because we managed to win the free skate and get a personal best overall score of 151 points. We were really excited to have such a great senior debut!

After our summer competitions, it was time to start getting ready for our Senior Grand Prix events. Our first Grand Prix is the Cup of China in Nanjing, China in the beginning of November. Our second Grand Prix is the NHK Trophy in Nagano, Japan, in the beginning of December. We knew that we had some down time for a few weeks after the Indy Challenge, so we spent most of our practices focusing on drilling our elements but not running our programs. One Thursday at the rink, we got a call from US Figure Skating asking if we wanted to go to Oberstdorf, Germany for the Nebelhorn Trophy - in three days! Like I mentioned, we had not been training our programs but we really wanted the opportunity to compete again before the Grand Prix series. USFS gave us about two hours to make our decision, and when the time came, we decided that it would be good to go and skate our programs to get feedback from international judges.

After a lot of craziness, running around and some quick packing, we flew into Munich, Germany for our first ever senior international event. Oberstdorf is a tiny little town in Germany that was built in the valley between beautiful mountains. It was very pretty and we were really excited to participate in this event. Our practices were OK, considering the short notice, but certainly not our best, so we went into the short program just wanting to skate well and not really thinking about placement. We skated very well except for one major mistake when Drew fell on his double Axel and I singled it. We came to find out that none of the teams were very successful at their jumps so we ended up in 2nd place after the short. We were thrilled to be so high because all we wanted to do was to make the last warm-up.

In the long program we skated third so we had a lot of time after the warm-up to take a break and really think everything through. Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski brought the house down right before us with a great program with no mistakes at all. Their scores were great, so we had a lot of pressure to skate after them. If someone were to judge us on this after watching the beginning of our program, they would have thought that we were not able to handle this pressure! We missed our first element completely, a Lasso lift, because my edge slipped on the take off and the lift never went up. After that however, we were able to keep it together and skated clean through the rest of the program! We landed a double Axel/double Flip sequence, throw triple Salchow, and throw triple Loop. Our lifts and spins were all judged with the correct levels, so we were very happy about that. We finished in second place in long and overall, right after Brooke and Ben. We were excited that the American team finished so strongly at Nebelhorn and that we had come in second in our first Senior international event, but a little disappointed that we missed our first lift so strangely, thus costing us the title. As it turns out, this lift was worth more than enough points to give us the win, had we have done it!

Unfortunately, we were not able to skate in the exhibition. Drew had to fly home immediately because his mother was getting married the day after our free skate! We finished competing on a Friday, and Drew left Saturday morning at 5 AM for the wedding that began Saturday afternoon at 4:30 PM! He took four trains, two planes and an hour-long car ride, but miraculously he made it in time!

We are training hard for our Grand Prix competitions now! We are hoping that since we will actually be prepared to compete this time, it will go even better than in Oberstdorf! I hope that you all have enjoyed this entry and thanks again for coming to our site! Keep checking back for more updates and new journal entries about our travels from Boston to China, back to Boston and then to Japan!!! Thanks again to Lanie and FSO! Poka for now!!!

Julia

4 April 2006 - St. Louis, Ljubljana and everything in between!

Hey everyone! Welcome back to our site, and thanks for coming again! A lot has happened since our last journal entry, so bear with me, this one might get long!

After our Silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix final in December, Julia and I went to Nationals with intentions to win. When we got to St. Louis, everything was very good. The rinks and hotel were both nice and comfortable and our practices went extremely well! In our short program, we skated the best we had all season. We did a throw triple loop with just a little skid on the landing, and all of our other elements were solid, including our level 4 star lift, which we had worked very hard to achieve. Our skating was also nice that night; it was one of the first times I felt really "ON" in a competition. We ended up in third place, which was a bit of a shock and a disappointment for us, although we weren’t fazed by it. The top three teams were separated by only .05 of one point!

Going into the long program, we practiced as if nothing would be different. We never missed a side-by-side double axel the whole week, in fact. We also managed to hit a throw triple sal - triple toe combination in one of our practices. It was the first time we were able to show this element in a competition practice.

In the long program our plan was simple. Our only goal was to make the World Junior Championship team, and since we stood right on the cusp of this, in third going into the long, we needed a more conservative approach. We had watched our competitors all season and we knew that we had two good teams ahead of us and at least one behind us, Bridget Namiotka and John Coughlin. We needed to skate a clean program to help ensure our spot for Junior Worlds, so we replaced our side-by-side double axels with side-by-side double flips. We did this so we could concentrate on the elements that get us more points, our lifts and throws. We still had enough difficulty to match our competitors and a better chance of skating clean. Unfortunately we missed our throw triple loop. We did however manage to skate the rest of our program well, including three level 3 lifts and a throw triple sal. Our strategy paid off and we finished third in the long and overall, and thus were granted a trip to the World Junior Championships! We were upset of course to have come third by only .07 of one point, but happy that we were going to Junior Worlds with a chance to make things right there.

The rest of Nationals was a blast as usual. Junior Pairs was done on Thursday and we had the rest of the week to relax and celebrate with our friends. We knew that when the week was over it would be right back to the grind in order to prepare for Junior Worlds.

Junior Worlds came up real fast. It felt like I was only home long enough to unpack and watch the Olympics! :) Although it was fast, we felt ready and had been skating well when we left for Ljubljana, Slovenia.

When we got to Ljubljana, things were great. It was so nice to be with our "team" again, it fit like a old Gucci glove! Julia and I had traveled with the same group of kids all year and we had all become very close. Our friendships kind of kept everything in perspective. At our first practice, John Coughlin and I even warmed up by "dancing" to some salsa music that was playing in the ice rink, as our partners looked on in disgust at our lack of rhythm! Our nerves hadn't quite set in yet!

Our practices went well all week, and going into the short program we felt good. Our short started off with a clean throw triple loop and continued clean with just some small bobbles on our footwork at the end. We were both soooo tired! I think it was because of all the extra energy we spent due to being much more nervous then we usually are. Our marks were good, and we ended the night in fourth place. We were, however, surprised that our circular footwork was not only called level 1, but it was also called a STRAIGHT LINE! Apparently, the technical panel felt that our circle was too much of an oval, and they entered it in the computers as a straight line. Because several of our level 3 features were in the second part of our circle, they weren't taken into consideration, and we only received a level 1. Once the judges noticed that the technical panel had called it a straight line, they were forced to give us a mandatory deduction of - 3 on our GOE because our "straight line" of course was not complete! Nevertheless, there were only three points separating us from first place and so we switched our focus to the long program.

We drew last to skate from the long program. We usually like to skate second or third in a warm up, but last was not too bad. We didn't watch much before we skated, just enough to know we had a great opportunity to take home the gold. Before we got on the ice, I looked at Julia and said, "We can do this, we just need to take each element at a time, and skate like we do in practice."

I also told her that nothing had changed in what we needed to do, even though other teams had made mistakes. We still needed a clean program, we always did. We were both so nervous. I think we were tired before we even took our opening pose! But then the music started and it all went away. Our only major mistake came first, Julia singled our side-by-side double axels. From there on however, it all came together. We checked off our throw triple loop, throw triple sal, both with positive GOE. We also managed three level 3 lifts and four other elements that were level 3 or higher. Only two of our elements were level 2, none level 1. The last minute of the program, we were running on empty, but we pushed through to the end and finished strong. As soon as our music finished, I threw myself onto Julia and said, "I'm so tired!" It was the first thing I could think of! Being so nervous really took a lot out of us. As we skated to the kiss and cry, I didn't know what to expect, but I did know that I was happy with how we had skated and I thought we had a good chance to pull up and medal. Our TES came up the highest it had ever been and suddenly things started looking up! Next of course came our PCS, which was also very high, and we ended with a personal best in the long program with 92.61 points. We knew we had won the long, but were not quite sure what it meant for our final score and placement. I tried to calculate in my head if we had made up the difference after short and came to the conclusion that we had! I didn't believe myself. Julia then said to me that it was enough, but I didn't believe her either! I needed to see in on the screen. Sure enough, within seconds there it was. Our overall score was 138.05, putting us it first place by 4.5 points. I jumped off the couch and throw my arms in the air, I couldn't believe we had just won the World Junior Championships! Julia and Laura both burst into tears, I hugged Alex and Laura, and then of course Julia.

During the next few minutes it was like I was in crazy daze! We were escorted out of the kiss and cry to the other side of the rink. In the hallway, we saw the rest of our friends and our team, all of whom got hugs, whether they wanted them or not! In what felt like an instant we were on top of the podium listening to the National anthem. Julia barely had enough time to stop crying! I will never forget what it felt like to stand on top of a podium at a World Championship, and I won’t even try to describe it because I could never do it justice. After things wound down, I finally saw my mom and my sister, Tess and gave them both long hugs! I called my Dad back home, but of course he knew already, he had been following it online.

We were the last ones to skate that night, and the last ones to leave the rink. It was nearly one in the morning when we were back to the hotel, after the press conference and doping. I went up to my room, threw my stuff down and put on a hat and t shirt as fast as I could! I forgot how starving I was during all the excitement at the rink. I came down stairs thinking I would be the only one in the dining room. After all, it was one in the morning! When I came through the door, I was greeted by the whole U.S. team, all of the pair skaters, all of the athletes’ parents, our team officials and team leaders. They stood and clapped for me. I was first of all shocked that they were there celebrating, and second of all touched. The 30 seconds that they stood and clapped for me meant more to me than the gold medal I had worn minutes before. It felt so good to have my friends, family, competitors and their families supporting me and to know that they were proud of me.

The rest of the night was more fun than I have had in a long time! We sat, talked, ate and celebrated. We toasted to each other, our team and our support systems. And of course we partied! I won’t go into many details, I don't want to bore you! :) But the rest of the night and early morning was filled with gambling at a Casino, lots of phone calls from home, Cher impersonations and interpretive pair lifts in the streets of Slovenia, staring Andy, John and myself! I don't think I will ever forget that day and night, and all the emotions that came with it.

Pairs is the greatest discipline to skate in! Not only is it clearly the most amazing, :) , it’s also always done first! The three days off we had before the exhibition, felt like a week-long vacation. One morning my sister and I spontaneously hopped on a train to Venice, Italy. We had been debating all morning if we should do it or not, and we realized that we might never be able to see it again. So with minutes to spare, we made it to the train station and were on our way. We spent the day walking around the streets of Venice and took in its culture and couture! We drank what was possibly the best espresso ever, and I took so many pictures that I had to buy new batteries for my digital camera TWICE! We also drifted through the canals on a gondola and ate dinner by the water as the sun set on one of the most beautiful cities in the world. That night we took the train back to Ljubljana.

Although the exhibition was exhausting, we skated well for nearly 5 minutes between our show number and our "encore" number. That night we all went out one last time. It was so nice to have had the same people with me at all of my internationals this year. Andy and I were roommates at the JGPF and at Junior Worlds and we saw each other four different competitions this season. Bridget and John went to three internationals with us, and two other competitions. We have all become so close. We are more than just competitors and team members, we are friends. I was so happy that we all did so well at Junior Worlds, our last competition of the season. It is a great accomplishment for U.S. pair skating to have gone 1,2 and 4 at Junior Worlds, and with our fourth place team coming second in the long. It shows how strong we all are. I had an amazing time at Junior Worlds and it was so nice to have such a great team there with us. I am so proud of all of the athletes that were with us there competing. For the second year in a row, the U.S. will have three spots in every discipline next year at Junior Worlds! One this is for sure, Julia and I could not have done it without the help of our team and our friends. They made it all a lot easier and a lot more fun.

We are back home now in Boston. Things are back to normal now, with the exception of being interviewed and photographed for the newspaper every day! We're skating every day, the same time as usual, preparing for next season and our senior debut. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are up for it. We have a bunch of shows that we will try and let you know about and a few other things too. Oh yeah, we might sneak a vacation in there somewhere too, and I will be turning 21 years old on Monday! :) Winning the World Junior Championships was a great way to end our Junior skating career. Although this win is only a small stepping stone to our ultimate goal, it will always make me smile to think that Julia and I, like Michelle Kwan, Gordeeva and Grinkov, Alexei Yagudin and many other great skaters, are World Junior Champions.

Thank you so, so much for coming to our website. I really hope you will come back again in the future. Thanks for reading this long, long entry as well. As always, your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated! Take care,

Much love, Drew

30 December 2005 - Our LAST Junior Grand Prix Event Ever!

Hey everyone! Welcome to another journal entry from me, Julia. Thank you very much for coming and visiting our site. It really means a lot to us. Since the last entry that Drew wrote, we have been training hard and we have visited a unique place in many ways.

Because of our placements at our Junior Grand Prix events this year, we qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The trip to Ostrava was a long one with two planes and a car ride, but it did not seem too long because we were so excited to be going to the Final. The drive was long and confusing because our coach/my father was driving and our choreographer/my mom was looking at a map and trying to lead us in the right direction. There was snow on the road and it continued to snow. But after about 4 hours we finally made it to Ostrava, and the beautiful hotel that we would be staying at for the following week. The rink and the hotel were placed right next to each other so that was definitely a very nice convenience.

Unfortunately we did not get to see much of Ostrava because our schedule was pretty tough to fit anything into. The actual skating part went much better that at our previous Grand Prix’s, which was a confidence-booster going into Nationals.

In the short program we skated second because the starting order is reversed from the qualifying order. A team withdrew so a Russian team, who were ninth to qualify, skated before us. This starting number was nice for us because we could skate and then watch the rest of the group already knowing what our score was. We skated a very good short program that included a throw triple loop, a star lift that received a level three from the caller, and double twist lift and a double lutz. We were very pleased with how we skated, so we got to watch our friends compete after us with light hearts. In the end we placed third going into the long program which was the same result as the previous year. Our goal was to improve on last year’s result of fourth, and we were well on our way to do that. In the back of our heads we knew that last year we were also third in the short program but then we dropped to fifth in the long program. But we knew that we were well trained and ready to take on the challenge.

In the free skate, we skated second in the final warm-up because, yet again, the starting order was the reverse of the short program results. We knew how a lot of the teams skated before us, and if we skated a program like we knew how to do, then we would be fine. We did just that. Right when we got on the ice for the long program our coach called us over and told us that we were not going to do side-by-side double axels and that we were to do single axels because all we needed to do was skate a solid clean program to beat the teams before us. Drew and I decided not to complain, and we started off with side-by-side single axels as a slight warm-up for the rest of the program. We then skated a solid long program which included a throw triple loop and a throw triple salchow in combination with a double toe. This was definitely really cool because no one the world had landed this before, so I was the first to accomplish the task.

When we got our scores we were very happy because we were in the lead at that point in the competition, which meant that we were guaranteed to improve on last year’s result. In the end, we managed to pull up to the silver medal position, losing only to a team from Russia. Overall, we were very happy with the way we skated and the result that we got.

On our way home, we stopped in Prague for a day because we had a car and it was so close to Ostrava that we just couldn’t resist. The weather was extremely cold but that did not stop us from walking around with a tour and really getting to see the whole city. I ran into one of our competitors there, Will Chitwood, which was quite funny in such a big city. I really enjoyed Prague because it reminded me of the place where I was born, St. Petersburg, Russia. We bought a few souvenirs to take home and left the Czech Republic with a happy heart.

The weekend after we came home, we did a benefit show in Fitchburg, MA for the Red Cross and the Hurricane Katrina victims. It was really a touching experience to help out with this tragedy, because so many people have been in some way hurt by this natural disaster. There were Katrina evacuees in the audience so it was extra special. Drew also had a friend come and watch him skate. Drew mentioned her in the previous journal entry as that special girl from the Jimmy Fund who gave Drew a handmade bracelet. She came to watch because she really loves skating and she knew that Drew and I were in the show. This really touched me because she came all the way to Fitchburg to watch us skate. With this in mind we skated a wonderful program to Hero, and we did the best that we could to help the victims and the Red Cross.

Now we are home training for this year’s US Nationals, which are going to be held in St. Louis, Missouri. We are really looking forward to the competition because from here we will find out all the events that we will be able to do next season. So for right now I am going to say goodbye, and we’ll check back soon following the US National Championships!! Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to read this. It really means a lot to me and to Drew!

Ciao! Julia

31 October 2005 - Around the World in Thirty Days... Almost!

Hey everyone! Welcome back to our site and our journal, and thank you so much for coming back! Since our last entry, Julia and I have been all over the world competing. We had two Junior Grand Prix events, one in Canillo, Andorra and one in Zagreb, Croatia. We have been up to a lot so let’s get to it!

The Junior Grand Prix of Andorra was our first international event of the season. Julia and I were skating really well going into this competition and we felt ready for the challenge. We had trained even harder than usual for this event because Andorra is located in the mountains between France and Spain and we knew the altitude would play a big part in our performance.

After two flights totaling more than 9 hours, and a four-hour bus ride from Barcelona, Spain, we finally arrived in Andorra. The bus ride, however, wasn't all that bad. Driving into the mountains was breathtaking! It looked like something from a different planet… or at least the Discovery Channel! Nearly twenty-four hours after lift-off from Boston, we arrived at the hotel.

The next morning Julia and I had some time before our practice. We decided to take a walk around the town and explore our new surroundings. Canillo has one mile-long main street that fits perfectly between the mountains that surround it. We walked up and down and took in everything that was around us. It was so beautiful there, Julia and I couldn't get over it. After an hour or so we took a ride up one of the mountains on a gondola. It was so amazing, as we rode up the mountain we saw the whole village sink away into the mountainside and were left with a view spanning three countries from the top.

Practice that day went well. We ran though our short and the altitude factor definitely hit us. Besides that we were feeling good. We drew last to skate in the short program, and the next day we competed. On our first element, a throw triple loop, Julia slipped off her heel on the take-off and missed the element completely. It was really hard to get through the program after such a weird and almost shocking mistake on our first and most important element. We lost concentration, and our side-by-side spin combination suffered. We finished the program and were very upset we did not skate well. We found ourselves in first place after the short program, due to our higher component scores and to achieving level three on all of our elements except for our footwork. We were not happy with our skating, but we tried to forget about it going into the long program.

The long program was the next day, and again we drew last to skate. Our practices were good once again, but it seems as though we only built on our bad momentum from the short program. We opened with a side-by-side double Axel which I missed. We followed that by missing both our throws, and Julia missed our second jump element, a side-by-side double Lutz double Flip sequence. We finished the program devastated that we had skated so badly after being so prepared and having such good practices. We came third in the long and finished second overall. Needless to say, we were not pleased.

That Sunday we debuted our new exhibition program to "Hero" by Enrique Inglesias. That Sunday was also the four-year anniversary of the events that happened on September 11th, 2001. It was weird to be out of the United States on a day when so many people's thoughts worldwide were on our home. Skating to a song named "Hero", on a day where so many heroes were born, made this day even more memorable for me and helped to put things in perspective for me after such a disappointing week.

We left the next day for home with a silver medal that felt tarnished already and a sinus problem that prevented me from hearing ANYTHING the whole twenty-four hours home.

With Andorra in the past, Julia and I prepared for our next international event of the season, the Junior Grand Prix of Croatia in Zagreb. We arrived in Zagreb feeling good and ready once again. Our practices went well again and we were ready to skate our short program. We took the ice for our program and stuck our starting pose. Seconds later, Julia struck the ice! Our opening move in the program is a slide through my legs where Julia grabs my hand and slides in a shoot-the-duck position through my legs from behind me. Instead of giving Julia my hand, I gave her my pants! Unfortunately, as she began to slide through my legs, so did my pants and she wound up on the ice! Looking back on it, it was quite funny although at the time it wasn't the most preferred way to start our short program. After our beautiful opening I picked Julia up and told her to "RELAX!" We proceeded to skate a clean short program which included a bangin' triple Loop throw. We ended the night in second place by three tenths of one point, due to our one point fall deduction and because for some reason we received lower levels on some of our elements than in Andorra.

Heading into the long we felt all right as long as we could nail our opening pose. We opened with a side-by-side double Axel which Julia singled. After that we skated a decent program except for a fall on the throw triple Loop. We scored 85.84 points and, despite our mistakes, our increased difficulty of lifts and higher levels on other elements gave us enough points for a new personal best. We finished third in the long by five tenths of a point from second place and second overall by eight tenths of a point. We had skated better than in Andorra, but it still was not up to our standards and we were again disappointed with our skating.

The weekend after we returned from Zagreb we participated in the Evening With Champions show benefitting the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. We had an amazing time there, skating for such a great cause, skating well, and getting to seesome of our friends. I really enjoyed skating with some of the kids the show was benefitting. One of the little girls I skated with was named Jane. She was so sweet and so much fun to skate with. I hope she had as good a time as I did. Before the show on Saturday night she gave me a bracelet that she made for me. It meant so much to me that she was thinking of me. When I got home I put it in my trophy case next to my medals from Nationals and my different international events

A week later the Junior Grand Prix series ended. Julia and I finished in the eighth spot overall, qualifying for our second Junior Grand Prix Final. We were very happy to have qualified again for the Final and simultaneously qualified for U.S. Nationals due to ourautomatic bye through sectionals. We are now working really hard so we can show everyone what we can do at the Final. We know what we are capable of, and hopefully we can improve on our fourth-place finish there last year. Julia and I found out that our third-place score from Croatia would have been enough for first place in every other Grand Prix except for one, and of course Croatia. It doesn't mean much, just that if we can skate like we know we can, we will do fine at the Final.

Thanks again for visiting our website, it means a lot to us. I hope you enjoy the site and this journal entry. Please let us know what you think by signing the Guestbook or leaving us a message right here in the comment section of our Journal. Thanks again and we'll see you after the Final!!!

Much love, Drew

23 August 2005 - Summer Competitions, Airport  Delays, and Upcoming Trips to Europe!

Hey everyone!! Thanks for coming to see another *exciting* edition of our journal! I am going to tell you all about our first two competitions of the season. Also, I will talk about our preparation for some of the most exciting competitions this year!!

Well, our first competition was Skate Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. Overall, I would say it was a success, especially for the first competition of the season. The rink was great. The ice and temperature of the rink really could not be any better. In the short program there were only 3 teams and we skated 2nd. Our short this year is the same music from last year except the steps and elements within it have completely changed. We started off with an all right throw triple loop. I kind of put my other foot down on the landing, but overall it was a nice throw. Then we did a nice pair spin combination and a nice star combination. Both of those elements got us level 3's!! Yay! Then we had some minor issues on our twist. Well, actually they were kind of major issues. We didn't do the twist. It went up and then it came down without any revolutions made by me. That was our only mistake of the program and it was a stupid mistake that I hope we will never repeat again. The rest of our program went pretty smoothly with a double lutz, a level 3 side-by-side spin, footwork, and a forward inside death spiral. Overall, we ended up in 2nd place, losing to Kendra Moyle and Andy Seitz by .6 of a point.

The following day, in the long program, we skated 2nd again, but this time there were only two pair teams. Once again, we had an O.K. program for this early in the season. Both Drew and I stepped out of our double axels, I fell on the throw triple loop, and I popped the double lutz (oops, I promise I will never do that again!!). The rest of the program was nice with three level 3 lifts, a double twist, and a throw triple salchow. We won the long by almost 10 points!! So, we were pretty happy overall and enjoyed the rest of the week by cheering on our friends!!

Three weeks later, we flew to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Indy Challenge. We were very excited for this competition because it is the largest pair competition in America and it is monitored (which means that JGP selections are made based on the results). This is our third year in this competition, so we knew the city by heart. The competition rink had not changed and neither had the condition of the ice in the practice rink. To make a long story short, the ice in the practice rink was one big swimming pool! If you fell once, then you were dripping wet from top to bottom. Needless to say, I tried really hard not to fall. The competition rink was really nice with ice drying very quickly and the temperature being just right!

Our short program started at 9:00 am which is definitely not the best time to compete, but we were all in the same situation so we all had to deal with it. We skated 2nd in the 3rd warm-up (there were a total of 11 pair teams). Our warm-up was clean and so was our program. I nailed a great throw triple loop, and then after that everything was just fine, until Drew got a little tangled in his feet after the double lutz and skipped the steps before the side-by-side spins. But all-in-all, we won the short program with a 2 point lead (which is a lot in the new system) and were happy with our performance. Our long program the following day happened to start even earlier, at 8:45 and we skated 2nd in the 2nd warm-up group. Our warm-up was definitely not the best, but it's just a warm-up so we went out and skated a very decent program. Our only big mistake was my popping the side-by-side double axel in the beginning. My throw triple salchow was a bit shaky and Drew's double flip was a little off-balance but nothing too severe. We did complete a nice throw triple loop and three nice lifts. We ended up in 2nd place in the long program, right behind Bridget Namiotka and John Coughlin, our long-time friends. The scores were not combined but just for the sake of it, Drew and I combined the scores and figured out that we would have won by .1 of a point. That's not much but still, we won.

Our skating wasn't the biggest problem that we had that weekend. Our flight was supposed to leave the day of the long program at 4:40 pm. That never happened. We sat on the plane for about 20 minutes and then we were told to de-plane. Needless to say, we were not very happy! We were told that the weather in Boston was very bad and that it was dangerous for us to fly. They told us to stick around to see whether the situation would get better. We were in the airport from about 3 pm until 7 pm with nothing to do. We had dinner, we read, and we sat around, just waiting to see if we were going to fly. When we finally got really bored we decided to entertain the people in the airport and did a few lifts with our friends from our group that were flying with us, Caitlin Yankowskas and Dani Cohen, who competed Novice pairs. We got some applause and amused looks. At about 7:30, we decided to stay the night in Indianapolis, so we took a shuttle to a local hotel and stayed the night. The hotel was very nice. We watched a movie that night and went to bed. The following morning our flight left at 10:45 in the morning and we finally arrived in Boston at 2 pm. Later that week, we found out that due to our performance at Indy we received a second JGP event. We will be competing in Zagreb, Croatia and we are very excited about that!

Now that I am done talking about the past I will talk a little about the future. Right now we are getting ready for our Junior Grand Prix in Canillo, Andorra (a small country between France and Spain) on September fifth. Exactly a week before we leave happens to be my 15th birthday (August 29th) which I am planning on celebrating with my friends at a local restaurant. Andorra is at high altitude so right now we are making sure to skate many programs to try and not die by the end of our long program!! Hopefully, if we are still alive, we will come back to America to train for our second Junior Grand Prix that we received after the Indy Challenge. This one will be in Zagreb, Croatia. I am told that it is very beautiful there, but I will let everyone know after the competition.

Thank you very much for visiting our website and reading our journal and we hope that you will visit again to read out next journal entry that we will probably write after the first or second Junior Grand Prix. Ciao!!!!!

Love, Julia