JustinSkates: May 2013

Monday, May 20, 2013

Justin skates to 'Pursuit of Freedom' at State Games, 2013 (Video)

This is Justin performing his freestyle program at the Sunshine State Games in Ellenton, FL, recently. He had such a great day on Friday, May 10, 2013. He landed all his jumps in his open juvenile 'jumps only' program (see video in previous post). He then went on the ice about two hours later to skate his freestyle program to the music 'Pursuit of Freedom,' written by Dorian Markovac. His freestyle performance was another personal best! (See video below.) The good times continued, too. The next day, on Saturday, he captured first place in Pre Silver solo dance. As always, we are so proud of you Justin!!

Some pictures from the two-day competition:

Justin's 'jumps only' program at State Games, 2013 (Video)

Here is Justin landing an axel, a double salchow and a double toe, single toe combination on May 10, 2013 at the Sunshine State Games in Ellenton, FL. I got a little excited after he landed his double toe, which is evident when the camera goes all over the place for about two seconds after he lands it. But I quickly regained my composure and caught the ending. :)

About Justin

Justin divides his time on the ice practicing two different aspects of figure skating.

He currently participates in singles and dance.

He and his ice dance partner, Sara Wilson, plan to compete at the Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships in Simsbury, Conn., Nov. 18-22, 2015. The two teenagers will perform at the novice level, which is an advance level in figure skating.

At 19, Justin has been skating on and off for about seven years.

He started taking private figure skating lessons when he was 11 years old. For the most part, the first four years of skating consisted of one lesson a week and about one to two days a week of practice. Occasionally, he took stretches of time off the ice.

His love of the ice expanded to ice dancing in October, 2010, when he and his first ice dance partner set out to compete at the US Junior National Competition.

After spending more than a year on the ice together, though, Justin returned his focus to single skating in November, 2011. The blog post titled, A Glance Back At Sectionals Provides New Direction, tells Justin's story surrounding the decision.

From the beginning, Justin has been home schooled, or more specifically, unschooled, which allows him the freedom to pursue his own interests at his own pace.

Sharing Justin's figure skating journey is a wonderful opportunity to enrich our experience as an unschooling family who is learning all the time.

If you are inspired to follow along with us, please do.

We will share our experiences - the ups and the downs - with lots of heart and humor.

We hope you enjoy!

About Us

When Joe and I were newspaper reporters in our 20s and early 30s, we'd immerse ourselves in a topic, and then write about it. We found that to be one of the most exhilarating things about being a writer.

When we had Justin in our mid-30s, like many parents, our priorities and career goals shifted.

Throughout our journey with Justin, though, one thing has always remained the same: A desire to share our experiences through writing.

So naturally, it appealed to us to start a blog about our time spent in the figure skating world.

While I'm the writer of this blog, I don't hit the publish button without running it by my "subject-matter experts," Justin and Joe. They both help me with blog post ideas, edit suggestions, headlines and more.

Together, we simply want to share our experiences as we continue to make figure skating part of our world.