Although I have been skating for about 16 years, I have never attended and watch a live completion before. 2014 US Figure Skating Championship was held in Boston this January. Because of the Olympics year and they would select which skaters will represent USA, it’s a good competition to attend.
Thanks Janet for sharing her all event tickets. I got a very good deal for men’s short and long program events. I also bought the ticket for the open ceremony followed by ladies short program. It’s unique experience to watch these skaters live. I was a little disappointed how slow and cautious ladies skated. Men were much faster, jumped higher, and interpreted the programs better, I thought. My friend Elliot, who have done official work for skating competitions before. He found some breaks from his volunteering work at the championship and sat next to me for ladies short and men’s short programs. We were having a great time exchange what we saw and criticizing their skating. We also played judges and guessed what their scores may be. We did a pretty good job of coming up the scores. I also met Janet and Jen to have dinner at the Legends Club at the TD Garden, where the event was held. Through a friend’s help, I got a VIP reservation at the Legends Club. It’s fun to enjoy the dinner, watching live skating practice on tech big screens, and catching up with them.
After ladies and men’s short programs, I wanted to take a break on that Saturday before I went back for try men’s long program on Sunday. I just can’t watch that much of skating. Well, that’s what I thought. I went to my rink on Saturday afternoon for my usual skating lesson and practice. The next thing I know, Jeremy Abbott who was placed at the first after men’s short program came to the same rink for practice. It’s a smaller crowd because most of the adult skaters were watching the championship at the Garden. Among the adult skaters on ice, we reminded each other that let’s get out of Jeremy’s way. We didn’t want to have any liability if he hurt himself because of us. It’s fun to watch him practice on the same ice with us. The quad jump was amazing. It’s also very intimidating. It’s actually a good practice for me to focus on my skating practice without being distracted by him. Well, not too much at least. When I went to the locker room to take off my boots, guess who was there? He was taking off his boots too. With just he and I in the locker room, I got a rare one on one time to chat with him. I have to say I was not a big fan of him. However, he showed a lot of maturity through the conversation. At one point, he was talking about his family couldn’t attend lots of international competition because of the expenses. They will go to Olympics though, he said. I was looking at him, and he realized and said: I should finish skating tomorrow first to get into the Olympics team! We had a good laugh. I commented that all you can do is try. It was a very pleasant and personal conversation. I am glad he did a great Jon at try long program, and won the competition. That means he also got a spot in the Olympics team. That’d great!
Oh, and a couple of selfies we took in the locker room. We had a fun time!
