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.

Justin skates to the Willow Waltz.
Photo by Deavers Photography.

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.

Justin hanging with friends
Sara (at left) and Shayla.

"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."

Justin performs his freestyle program.
Photos by Deavers Photography.

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.

At right, Coach Diana offers Justin
pointers before he takes the
ice to compete.

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."