Justin and his single's coach, Diana Deka, added 30 more seconds to the program after he performed it in September at the Ellenton competition. The additions include a back camel spin into a tango spin and more footwork. He also replaced one of his axels with a double salchow.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Justin Performs "Pursuit of Freedom" 2012 (Video)
Here's a video of Justin skating to "Pursuit of Freedom," written by Dorian Markovac. He performed this program at Tampa Bay Skating Academy's Saturday Winter Wonderland show. It was beautiful!
Justin and his single's coach, Diana Deka, added 30 more seconds to the program after he performed it in September at the Ellenton competition. The additions include a back camel spin into a tango spin and more footwork. He also replaced one of his axels with a double salchow.
Justin and his single's coach, Diana Deka, added 30 more seconds to the program after he performed it in September at the Ellenton competition. The additions include a back camel spin into a tango spin and more footwork. He also replaced one of his axels with a double salchow.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Ups & Downs At Ellenton Competition
In all things - ice related or not - there are times when things go well, and times when things don't go so well. Justin experienced both at the Southwest Florida Fall Classic Figure Skating Competition held Sept. 21 through the 23.
At Friday's event, Justin performed two bronze level solo dances, placing first out of four. The next day, he performed his freestyle program, placing second out of two.
"All day Friday was great. Saturday wasn't," Justin said. "I wasn't as confident in my freestyle program as I was in dance because there were some things I still had trouble with. But I thought I could pull it off. I was wrong."
The three-day competition in Ellenton showcased more than 250 figure skaters, some from as far as Delaware and Great Britain.
We arrived early on Friday to watch the pair teams of Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea, and Stacey Kemp and David King perform their senior pairs short program. Justin also watched his friends, William Hubbart and Emma Oleck, perform their short programs before he took the ice to compete in dance.
"It was really cool watching the senior, junior, and novice pair skaters," he said. "And watching my friends compete and cheering them on was really fun."
When it came time for Justin to compete in solo ice dance, he was feeling confident and ready. Ice dance combines the athleticism of ice skating with the artistry of ballroom dancing. The set pattern dances are derived from traditional ballroom dance tempos (the waltz, the foxtrot, the tango, etc.). At the bronze level in solo dance, he was required to perform two pattern dances: the Hickory Hoedown and the Willow Waltz. (See slide show of pictures below.)
But once on the ice he had to reassure himself to regain his confidence.
"When I was warming up for the Hickory I got nervous," Justin said. "But then I remembered that I went through a lot to go to sectionals for dance, and I figured if I can get through that, I can get through this."
Walking to the locker room after he finished the second dance, the Willow Waltz, he wasn't sure he got all the steps right.
"Man, I messed that up," he said.
"Well, it looked good to me," Joe replied.
Justin's ice dance coach, Laura Amelina, knew he did well.
"Go check the results," she said. "I'm sure he medaled."
She was right. Justin's name was on the top of the list of skaters.
"I was really happy," he said. "Half of me wasn't surprised because I felt confident and ready. But half of me was because there were a few spots where I thought I messed up."
The next day, Justin competed in his first USFSA (United States Figure Skating Association) freestyle competition event. Freestyle, or single's skating, differs the most from dance in that it has jumps. It was the first time in three years Justin had competed as a freestyle skater. In 2009 when he did compete as a single skater it was at an ISI (Ice Skating Institute) competition, which is geared more for recreational skating. USFSA skating is more competitive and is designed for the more committed skater. Both are good programs. The difference is USFSA allows the skater to move up the competitive ladder to regionals, sectionals, US Nationals, Worlds and Olympic competitions.
But Justin didn't decide to get serious about ice skating until two years ago. It was then he and his first ice dance partner set their sights on competing at sectionals. For Justin that meant passing four "moves in the field" tests, three pattern dance tests, and the juvenile free dance test in the span of 10 months. He did it. But as a result, testing for his single skating was put on the back burner.
So he and his freestyle coach, Diana Deka, put together a program to compete at the Pre-Preliminary B division, which is the first level on the USFSA test track.
The program was set to a fast, intense, orchestral piece, written by Dorian Markovac, and called Pursuit of Freedom. It contained a series of five jumps, including two axels. An axel - the jump many skaters love to hate - is performed by leaping up from the front outer edge of one skate to make one and a half rotations of the body in the air and landing on the back outer edge of the other skate. His program also had two spins: a camel, sit, back sit, combination, and a sit spin, along with footwork to tie it all together.
"I thought I could land my first axel," Justin said. "But the second one I knew I was going to fall. I just did it anyway. My footwork was fine. All the elements besides my axels and the spin I fell out of were fine." He paused. "For my first time competing in a long time, I'm not really upset about it."
However, he did leave the competition having learned something from his freestyle experience.
"I learned to quit skating," he said, jokingly. "No, I learned I'll be more prepared for the next competition."
 |
| Justin skates to the Willow Waltz. Photo by Deavers Photography. |
"All day Friday was great. Saturday wasn't," Justin said. "I wasn't as confident in my freestyle program as I was in dance because there were some things I still had trouble with. But I thought I could pull it off. I was wrong."
The three-day competition in Ellenton showcased more than 250 figure skaters, some from as far as Delaware and Great Britain.
We arrived early on Friday to watch the pair teams of Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea, and Stacey Kemp and David King perform their senior pairs short program. Justin also watched his friends, William Hubbart and Emma Oleck, perform their short programs before he took the ice to compete in dance.
 |
| Justin hanging with friends Sara (at left) and Shayla. |
When it came time for Justin to compete in solo ice dance, he was feeling confident and ready. Ice dance combines the athleticism of ice skating with the artistry of ballroom dancing. The set pattern dances are derived from traditional ballroom dance tempos (the waltz, the foxtrot, the tango, etc.). At the bronze level in solo dance, he was required to perform two pattern dances: the Hickory Hoedown and the Willow Waltz. (See slide show of pictures below.)
But once on the ice he had to reassure himself to regain his confidence.
"When I was warming up for the Hickory I got nervous," Justin said. "But then I remembered that I went through a lot to go to sectionals for dance, and I figured if I can get through that, I can get through this."
Walking to the locker room after he finished the second dance, the Willow Waltz, he wasn't sure he got all the steps right.
"Man, I messed that up," he said.
"Well, it looked good to me," Joe replied.
Justin's ice dance coach, Laura Amelina, knew he did well.
"Go check the results," she said. "I'm sure he medaled."
She was right. Justin's name was on the top of the list of skaters.
"I was really happy," he said. "Half of me wasn't surprised because I felt confident and ready. But half of me was because there were a few spots where I thought I messed up."
 |
| Justin performs his freestyle program. Photos by Deavers Photography. |
 |
| At right, Coach Diana offers Justin pointers before he takes the ice to compete. |
The program was set to a fast, intense, orchestral piece, written by Dorian Markovac, and called Pursuit of Freedom. It contained a series of five jumps, including two axels. An axel - the jump many skaters love to hate - is performed by leaping up from the front outer edge of one skate to make one and a half rotations of the body in the air and landing on the back outer edge of the other skate. His program also had two spins: a camel, sit, back sit, combination, and a sit spin, along with footwork to tie it all together.
However, he did leave the competition having learned something from his freestyle experience.
"I learned to quit skating," he said, jokingly. "No, I learned I'll be more prepared for the next competition."
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Introducing Taylor & Brown *
For Justin and his new ice dance partner, Madi Taylor, skating together means enjoying the best of two worlds.
"We can laugh and have fun while we're working, which not a lot of people can do," Justin, 16, says. "It helps a lot that I've known (Madi) for so long."
The teenagers have been friends for years, sharing time on the ice at Clearwater Ice Arena and also time hanging out as friends away from the rink.
"I like ice dancing with Justin because he's one of my best friends so it's a lot more comfortable to express ourselves and have fun, and everything not be so uptight," says Madi, 15, who has been skating for seven years.
While Justin and Madi will continue to skate as single skaters, they decided to start ice dancing together about two months ago. Their coach is Laura Amelina.
"They communicate
well on the ice," says Coach Laura, as she points to the north end of
the rink at Tampa Bay Skating Academy where Madi is skating
closely behind Justin, mirroring his every move. He extends his leg;
she extends her leg. He steps to the right; she steps to the right. They quickly are in sync. Because
Justin already has a year of ice dance experience, Coach Laura explains, and Madi is an
advanced skater and a natural dancer, (see photo at left) the two are a
good match.
"Many partners don't let the other teach them, and that's too bad," she adds.
Coach Laura will have Justin and Madi compete at the intermediate level this year in as many competitions as they can.
"I think it would be cool if we went to regionals," Justin says.
Madi shares in that sentiment.
"My short term goal for this year is to make it to regionals and to pass all of our tests in order to get to that," she says. "And to compete as much as we can to show what we've worked on.
My long term goal for ice dancing is to be ranked in the U.S.," she says. "It doesn't matter where we're ranked, but just to be ranked would be really cool."
Justin, who is sitting right next to her, shakes his head in agreement and chimes in with a rousing "yes."
"Nationals is definitely a goal, too," Madi continues. "Not this year, but it's definitely a goal at some point."
In order to make it to regionals this year for ice dancing it will take a lot more than dedication, lessons, practices, and passing tests. They also need a little luck. More time wouldn't hurt either. The deadline to compete in regionals is September 1. They need to pass 11 tests in seven weeks to qualify to compete at the intermediate level.
First, Madi needs to pass the first three pattern dances and the juvenile free dance to catch up to Justin. Then they both need to pass six more pattern dances and the intermediate free dance. They're ready to take the first six pattern dances, but the first test session they can do that at is in several weeks. Most clubs only have one test session a month, sometimes less than that.
"Whether we get first or last or whether we go to regionals or not," Justin says. "I want to have fun. That's why I started ice dancing - for fun." He pauses and then adds: "But regionals would definitely amplify the fun."
To follow are a series of questions and answers to get to know the ice dance team of Madi Taylor and Justin Brown both on and off the ice.
Q: What do you like about ice dancing?
Justin: It's fun to skate with somebody. I like skating to the beat of the music, and how music plays a more important role.
Madi: I like skating with a partner because it develops team sportsmanship skills. I like expressing my ability through someone else, through my partner as one, because that's what ice dancing is you're skating as one.
Q: What do you like to do when you're not skating?
Justin: I pretty much sit motionless at the computer all day. And I also like to spend time with Mei Mei. (His girlfriend.) And I like to watch Anime.
Madi: I like singing, being with friends off the ice, and the beach.
Q: What is your perfect Saturday?
Madi: Lazy day, not doing anything after skating all week.
Justin: I actually like having my dad take me to skating on Saturday mornings, and I like when he cooks stuff all day. I also like to sleep a lot, and go out to eat somewhere.
Q: Who are you listening to now on your iPod?
Justin: Neon Trees. fun. Amy Winehouse. Maroon 5.
Madi: I really like John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Sublime.
Q: What is your favorite food?
Madi: Fettucini Alfredo, and anything chocolate.
Justin: Chinese food, and chocolate.
Q: If a movie star were to play you in the story of your life, who would it be?
Justin: Ryan Gosling. That would bring in lots of movie-goers.
Madi: Taylor Swift.
Q: You both have significant others. (Justin's is Mei Mei. Madi's is Zack.) How did you meet?
Madi: At Clearwater Ice Arena. He's a hockey player, a goalie.
Justin: We met at a gathering at the mall.
Q: What are some characteristics you really like about your significant others?
Madi: He's really shy. He has a great personality and he plays an instrument. (A guitar.) He's really, really good at it.
Justin: She's really smart, and she's really funny. And she's an amazing artist.
Q: What are your favorite dance patterns and moves so far?
Madi: The Canasta and the Swing. And I like the lifts.
Justin: The Swing. The Fiesta Tango. And Twizzles.
Q: Who is your favorite figure skater?
Madi: My biggest inspiration is Sasha Cohen and I really like Yuna Kim. For ice dancers, it's Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto.
Justin: My favorite skaters are Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Mao Asada and Diasuke Takahashi. My favorite ice dancers are Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, Meryl Davis & Charlie White. (Dramatic pause.) And us, Taylor & Brown.
*Unfortunately, the partnership with Madi didn't work out. We miss Madi. We wish her the very best.
 |
| Justin and Madi. |
The teenagers have been friends for years, sharing time on the ice at Clearwater Ice Arena and also time hanging out as friends away from the rink.
"I like ice dancing with Justin because he's one of my best friends so it's a lot more comfortable to express ourselves and have fun, and everything not be so uptight," says Madi, 15, who has been skating for seven years.
While Justin and Madi will continue to skate as single skaters, they decided to start ice dancing together about two months ago. Their coach is Laura Amelina.
 |
| Madi finishes 1st in her June performance of Swan Lake. |
"Many partners don't let the other teach them, and that's too bad," she adds.
Coach Laura will have Justin and Madi compete at the intermediate level this year in as many competitions as they can.
"I think it would be cool if we went to regionals," Justin says.
 |
| The two skating in sync. |
"My short term goal for this year is to make it to regionals and to pass all of our tests in order to get to that," she says. "And to compete as much as we can to show what we've worked on.
My long term goal for ice dancing is to be ranked in the U.S.," she says. "It doesn't matter where we're ranked, but just to be ranked would be really cool."
Justin, who is sitting right next to her, shakes his head in agreement and chimes in with a rousing "yes."
"Nationals is definitely a goal, too," Madi continues. "Not this year, but it's definitely a goal at some point."
 |
| Coach Laura illustrates how close Justin and Madi need to be when they skate. |
First, Madi needs to pass the first three pattern dances and the juvenile free dance to catch up to Justin. Then they both need to pass six more pattern dances and the intermediate free dance. They're ready to take the first six pattern dances, but the first test session they can do that at is in several weeks. Most clubs only have one test session a month, sometimes less than that.
"Whether we get first or last or whether we go to regionals or not," Justin says. "I want to have fun. That's why I started ice dancing - for fun." He pauses and then adds: "But regionals would definitely amplify the fun."
To follow are a series of questions and answers to get to know the ice dance team of Madi Taylor and Justin Brown both on and off the ice.
Q: What do you like about ice dancing?
Justin: It's fun to skate with somebody. I like skating to the beat of the music, and how music plays a more important role.
Madi: I like skating with a partner because it develops team sportsmanship skills. I like expressing my ability through someone else, through my partner as one, because that's what ice dancing is you're skating as one.
Q: What do you like to do when you're not skating?
Justin: I pretty much sit motionless at the computer all day. And I also like to spend time with Mei Mei. (His girlfriend.) And I like to watch Anime.
Madi: I like singing, being with friends off the ice, and the beach.
Q: What is your perfect Saturday?
Madi: Lazy day, not doing anything after skating all week.
Justin: I actually like having my dad take me to skating on Saturday mornings, and I like when he cooks stuff all day. I also like to sleep a lot, and go out to eat somewhere.
Q: Who are you listening to now on your iPod?
Justin: Neon Trees. fun. Amy Winehouse. Maroon 5.
Madi: I really like John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Sublime.
Q: What is your favorite food?
Madi: Fettucini Alfredo, and anything chocolate.
Justin: Chinese food, and chocolate.
Q: If a movie star were to play you in the story of your life, who would it be?
Justin: Ryan Gosling. That would bring in lots of movie-goers.
Madi: Taylor Swift.
Q: You both have significant others. (Justin's is Mei Mei. Madi's is Zack.) How did you meet?
 |
| Madi & Zack. |
Justin: We met at a gathering at the mall.
Q: What are some characteristics you really like about your significant others?
 |
| Justin & Mei Mei. |
Q: What are your favorite dance patterns and moves so far?
Madi: The Canasta and the Swing. And I like the lifts.
Justin: The Swing. The Fiesta Tango. And Twizzles.
Q: Who is your favorite figure skater?
Madi: My biggest inspiration is Sasha Cohen and I really like Yuna Kim. For ice dancers, it's Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto.
Justin: My favorite skaters are Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Mao Asada and Diasuke Takahashi. My favorite ice dancers are Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, Meryl Davis & Charlie White. (Dramatic pause.) And us, Taylor & Brown.
 |
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Justin Passes Intermediate Moves
 |
| Justin practicing some of his intermediate moves. Even though his new boots were hurting him, he passed his intermediate moves in the field test on Saturday, June 9th. :) For those who may not know, intermediate moves are the 5th of 8 skills tests that require figure skaters to focus on increasing levels of form and accuracy on the ice. |
Monday, January 16, 2012
A Glance Back at Sectionals Provides New Direction
Going forward in figure skating, just as in life, sometimes means looking back. This year moving forward comes after a lot of heart-rending reassessment.
After ending an ice dance coaching relationship and an ice dance partnership in November, Justin set a new skating course for 2012. His focus: to work on his single skills. He wants to:
* consistently land all of his doubles
* work on some double jump combinations
* pass his intermediate moves in the field
* test up to juvenile freestyle
* attempt a double axel by year's end
Diana Deka, Justin's primary coach for nearly four years, is choreographing a single's routine to a fast, intense, orchestral piece that Justin picked out, called The Pursuit of Freedom. The instrumental music is written and produced by Dorian Markovac. Justin will perform it at several competitions this year.
All this forward movement, though, comes after much consideration around last year's events. Our trip to the Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships in November ended with Justin severely re-injuring his back on a lift, causing us to withdraw from the competition. It was a scary and unsettling couple of days in Jamestown, New York. And his back injury gave us cause for concern and reason to reevaluate.
Once home, we took Justin to a doctor and a physical therapist. They did several specific tests to help isolate the source of pain in Justin's left lower back. From Justin's symptoms the pain pointed to a joint injury. The doctor told Justin not to do any lifts for two to three weeks or until he felt no pain in his back at all. And, if he re-injured his back on a lift again we needed to get an MRI to see if there is disc damage.
Jeremy A. Smith, a physical therapist at Therapy and Sports Center, explained that the SI joint, which stands for sacroiliac joint, is a firm, small joint that lies at the junction of the spine and the pelvis. It is critical to transferring the load of your upper body to your lower body. An injury to the joint takes three to five weeks to heal. Smith said Justin also could have ruptured a disc but only an MRI could tell for sure. Either way, Smith said, with specific stretching and exercises and treatment Justin's pain would go away.
"There are things we can do to fix it," Smith said. He was right. Five weeks without lifts and eight physical therapy sessions later, Justin finally had his first skating workout free from left lower back pain.
But at sectionals that was far from the case. After many discussions in Jamestown and over the following days, we knew it was time to take a break from ice dancing. The decision, though, came with a lot of painful realizations.
We will always appreciate the coaching Justin got last year from his ice dance coach, Jim Millns, but after reassessing Justin's back injury we felt it was time to move on. Because Coach Jim is Sarah's coach indefinitely, ending the coaching relationship meant we had to end Justin and Sarah's partnership, too. There are always so many things to consider when it comes to ending any relationship, whether it's a coaching relationship or an ice dance partnership. But suffice it to say, Justin was sad to end the partnership with Sarah.
"The saddest part was the friendship would be changing," Justin said. "I knew we weren't going to be as close because we wouldn't be ice dancing anymore. And that it didn't work out in general was sad because we were getting good."
After more than a year of lessons and practices, Justin and Sarah had become more comfortable on the ice together, and they had become closer friends. I can't count the number of times onlookers would tell me, "I don't know what you give them but they have so much energy and they're always laughing." Or, I often would hear, "They seem to have so much fun on the ice!"
My personal favorite comment, though, was by a skater mom I had never met until one day she asked me if I was their mom. "They're so refreshing to watch because you don't see many skaters that good who have so much fun with it," she said.
So when the partnership ended, we were sad. Fortunately, Justin and Sarah both agreed that, through it all, the friendship they developed over time was the most important thing to keep intact.
There's little doubt their friendship, and the easy-going, fun-focused, light-hearted sense of humor at the center of it, kept them sane through sectionals.
Before the back injury, the two discovered on their official practice ice that the Ten Fox, which they had practiced the months leading up to sectionals, wasn't the dance they needed to know. They also learned they were required to have their own compulsory music, but they didn't.
"Can you imagine training for months, focused on everything from being perfectly in time with your music to pointing your toe just right, only to discover the day before you compete that you've been practicing the wrong dance?" Joe reflected.
Coach Jim apologized for the mistake. He said he had accidentally looked at the previous year's requirements to determine which dances Justin and Sarah needed to learn for the competition. And, he said, he thought that bringing their own compulsory music was optional, but not required.
Fortunately, Kirk Wyse, (pronounced Wise) a pairs coach in Jamestown who was helping Justin and Sarah, was quick to schedule another practice ice so they could re-learn the required dance, the Hickory Hoe Down.
It was on the second practice session when Justin went to lift Sarah that the injury happened. Justin felt a pop; the pain was excruciating, worse then all the other times, he would tell us later in the car. The minute it happened, though, Joe and I looked at each other with great concern. My biggest fear was his back was getting more injured with each lift.
"I knew when he set her down he was in a lot of pain," Joe said. "I was terrified."
Clearly, something wasn't right. In the four weeks prior to sectionals, Justin kept re-injuring his back on lifts. The consensus all those times was that it was a muscle spasm. Treat it with heat and ice. Several days with no lifts would help. We did all of the above and every time he returned to doing lifts he would re-injure his back. Now, after three days rest from skating before sectionals, it happened again.
So when I saw him off the ice holding an ice pack on his back, his face trying to hide the pain, I knew he could not keep re-injuring his back or we would have a lot to regret. We needed time to figure out what was going on because his back wasn't getting any better; it was getting worse.
With this latest, more painful incident, Justin wasn't sure he could trust his back to skate in the competition the next morning. So we made the decision to take a medical withdrawal.
"It's not smart to skate with an injury that serious," Justin said recently. "I couldn't even walk at first or get in the car. Even if I had taken a bunch of meds and skated, there was no chance we could have made it at nationals and a great chance I could have injured my back even more. Looking back, it was a smart decision I wish I didn't have to make."
Others offered their opinions. They were:
* But Justin and Sarah had worked so hard all year to get here.
* But we spent a lot of money for additional lessons, practices and tests so they could qualify to compete.
* But we drove 1,250 miles to get to the competition in Jamestown.
* But a decision to withdraw would affect Sarah, who we care about like a daughter.
And then there were some who disagreed with the decisions we as Justin's parents were making regarding Justin's back. But the bottom line was all those opinions were given by people who weren't in our shoes, weren't in Jamestown and, moreover, weren't in Justin's skates.
"I'm sorry you guys came all the way up here, but ultimately, it's Justin's decision," Coach Kirk said, summing it up nicely later that evening.
While our experience at sectionals was filled with lots of worry, frustration and sadness, we did have some fun times on our 41-hour drive and 2-day visit to New York.
We enjoyed seeing the leaves change from green to orange, to yellow and red as we went farther north into South Carolina. And driving over, around and through the Appalachian Mountains was an exhilarating experience for all three of us.
There also was our first night in Jamestown when we dined at Friendly's with Sarah and her grandmother, Susan. We have video of all the laughs we shared there.
But what probably topped the list of cool things to experience was
watching the snow hit our windshield for several miles on our trip back through West Virginia, a terrain so beautiful Justin wants to buy a house with some land there one day. Seeing snow was a first for Justin.
When we think back about the whole experience, there are a few things we will never forget:
* How Sarah was so supportive and understanding through it all. We will always be impressed with her reaction when she learned of the decision. She showed a maturity beyond her years.
* That Justin made a wise decision, one that took a lot of courage because there was pressure from some for him to skate, even though it went against his and our better judgment.
* That Justin's health and well-being is always what matters most, more than the money we spend, or the time we invest, or the dreams we have for his skating future.
We'll always keep this last point top of mind as Justin moves forward. Recently, Coach Diana gave him one heck of an inspirational speech to kick off a new year in skating.
"I'm so psyched after that talk, Mom," Justin said on the way home from his lesson. "I want to go back and skate some more."
And he isn't ruling out the possibility of ice dancing again, either.
"I miss skating with Sarah," Justin said. "It's really fun to skate with somebody."
 |
* consistently land all of his doubles
* work on some double jump combinations
* pass his intermediate moves in the field
* test up to juvenile freestyle
* attempt a double axel by year's end
Diana Deka, Justin's primary coach for nearly four years, is choreographing a single's routine to a fast, intense, orchestral piece that Justin picked out, called The Pursuit of Freedom. The instrumental music is written and produced by Dorian Markovac. Justin will perform it at several competitions this year.
All this forward movement, though, comes after much consideration around last year's events. Our trip to the Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships in November ended with Justin severely re-injuring his back on a lift, causing us to withdraw from the competition. It was a scary and unsettling couple of days in Jamestown, New York. And his back injury gave us cause for concern and reason to reevaluate.
 |
| Justin works out with his physical therapist, Jeremy, in December, to strengthen his back. |
Jeremy A. Smith, a physical therapist at Therapy and Sports Center, explained that the SI joint, which stands for sacroiliac joint, is a firm, small joint that lies at the junction of the spine and the pelvis. It is critical to transferring the load of your upper body to your lower body. An injury to the joint takes three to five weeks to heal. Smith said Justin also could have ruptured a disc but only an MRI could tell for sure. Either way, Smith said, with specific stretching and exercises and treatment Justin's pain would go away.
"There are things we can do to fix it," Smith said. He was right. Five weeks without lifts and eight physical therapy sessions later, Justin finally had his first skating workout free from left lower back pain.
 |
The Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships program book picture of Justin & Sarah. Photo taken by Holly Wintermeier. |
We will always appreciate the coaching Justin got last year from his ice dance coach, Jim Millns, but after reassessing Justin's back injury we felt it was time to move on. Because Coach Jim is Sarah's coach indefinitely, ending the coaching relationship meant we had to end Justin and Sarah's partnership, too. There are always so many things to consider when it comes to ending any relationship, whether it's a coaching relationship or an ice dance partnership. But suffice it to say, Justin was sad to end the partnership with Sarah.
"The saddest part was the friendship would be changing," Justin said. "I knew we weren't going to be as close because we wouldn't be ice dancing anymore. And that it didn't work out in general was sad because we were getting good."
After more than a year of lessons and practices, Justin and Sarah had become more comfortable on the ice together, and they had become closer friends. I can't count the number of times onlookers would tell me, "I don't know what you give them but they have so much energy and they're always laughing." Or, I often would hear, "They seem to have so much fun on the ice!"
My personal favorite comment, though, was by a skater mom I had never met until one day she asked me if I was their mom. "They're so refreshing to watch because you don't see many skaters that good who have so much fun with it," she said.
So when the partnership ended, we were sad. Fortunately, Justin and Sarah both agreed that, through it all, the friendship they developed over time was the most important thing to keep intact.
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| Justin & Sarah practice before the injury with Coach Kirk at the Jamestown Savings & Bank Ice Arena in New York. |
Before the back injury, the two discovered on their official practice ice that the Ten Fox, which they had practiced the months leading up to sectionals, wasn't the dance they needed to know. They also learned they were required to have their own compulsory music, but they didn't.
"Can you imagine training for months, focused on everything from being perfectly in time with your music to pointing your toe just right, only to discover the day before you compete that you've been practicing the wrong dance?" Joe reflected.
Coach Jim apologized for the mistake. He said he had accidentally looked at the previous year's requirements to determine which dances Justin and Sarah needed to learn for the competition. And, he said, he thought that bringing their own compulsory music was optional, but not required.
Fortunately, Kirk Wyse, (pronounced Wise) a pairs coach in Jamestown who was helping Justin and Sarah, was quick to schedule another practice ice so they could re-learn the required dance, the Hickory Hoe Down.
It was on the second practice session when Justin went to lift Sarah that the injury happened. Justin felt a pop; the pain was excruciating, worse then all the other times, he would tell us later in the car. The minute it happened, though, Joe and I looked at each other with great concern. My biggest fear was his back was getting more injured with each lift.
"I knew when he set her down he was in a lot of pain," Joe said. "I was terrified."
Clearly, something wasn't right. In the four weeks prior to sectionals, Justin kept re-injuring his back on lifts. The consensus all those times was that it was a muscle spasm. Treat it with heat and ice. Several days with no lifts would help. We did all of the above and every time he returned to doing lifts he would re-injure his back. Now, after three days rest from skating before sectionals, it happened again.
So when I saw him off the ice holding an ice pack on his back, his face trying to hide the pain, I knew he could not keep re-injuring his back or we would have a lot to regret. We needed time to figure out what was going on because his back wasn't getting any better; it was getting worse.
With this latest, more painful incident, Justin wasn't sure he could trust his back to skate in the competition the next morning. So we made the decision to take a medical withdrawal.
"It's not smart to skate with an injury that serious," Justin said recently. "I couldn't even walk at first or get in the car. Even if I had taken a bunch of meds and skated, there was no chance we could have made it at nationals and a great chance I could have injured my back even more. Looking back, it was a smart decision I wish I didn't have to make."
Others offered their opinions. They were:
* But Justin and Sarah had worked so hard all year to get here.
* But we spent a lot of money for additional lessons, practices and tests so they could qualify to compete.
* But we drove 1,250 miles to get to the competition in Jamestown.
* But a decision to withdraw would affect Sarah, who we care about like a daughter.
And then there were some who disagreed with the decisions we as Justin's parents were making regarding Justin's back. But the bottom line was all those opinions were given by people who weren't in our shoes, weren't in Jamestown and, moreover, weren't in Justin's skates.
"I'm sorry you guys came all the way up here, but ultimately, it's Justin's decision," Coach Kirk said, summing it up nicely later that evening.
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| Pictures from our drive up through eight states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. |
We enjoyed seeing the leaves change from green to orange, to yellow and red as we went farther north into South Carolina. And driving over, around and through the Appalachian Mountains was an exhilarating experience for all three of us.
There also was our first night in Jamestown when we dined at Friendly's with Sarah and her grandmother, Susan. We have video of all the laughs we shared there.
But what probably topped the list of cool things to experience was
watching the snow hit our windshield for several miles on our trip back through West Virginia, a terrain so beautiful Justin wants to buy a house with some land there one day. Seeing snow was a first for Justin.
When we think back about the whole experience, there are a few things we will never forget:
* How Sarah was so supportive and understanding through it all. We will always be impressed with her reaction when she learned of the decision. She showed a maturity beyond her years.
* That Justin made a wise decision, one that took a lot of courage because there was pressure from some for him to skate, even though it went against his and our better judgment.
* That Justin's health and well-being is always what matters most, more than the money we spend, or the time we invest, or the dreams we have for his skating future.
We'll always keep this last point top of mind as Justin moves forward. Recently, Coach Diana gave him one heck of an inspirational speech to kick off a new year in skating.
"I'm so psyched after that talk, Mom," Justin said on the way home from his lesson. "I want to go back and skate some more."
And he isn't ruling out the possibility of ice dancing again, either.
"I miss skating with Sarah," Justin said. "It's really fun to skate with somebody."
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