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. :)

Congratulations to Julia Paige Grant and Justin Brown! *

Julia and Justin at CIA after Julia
passed all six dances.

Julia, skating with Justin, tested and passed six ice dances recently.

It was quite an amazing feat because she was suppose to test for only three preliminary dances: the Dutch Waltz,
the Canasta Tango, and the Rhythm Blues.

Justin, who has already tested up to the pre-silver level, skated the dances with her. The two became an ice dance team three months ago.

During the Feb. 6, 2013, test session at Clearwater Ice Arena, the judge was impressed with the first three dances. After Julia and Justin finished, the judge asked Julia if she wanted to test the next three dances. 

The teenagers were surprised, but said yes.

They went back out on the ice and skated the pre-bronze level dances beautifully. The three dances at this level are the Swing,
the Cha Cha, and the Fiesta Tango.

Julia garnered some wonderful comments from the judge on all six dances:
 

Julia and Justin at the February test session.

* good unison and knowledge of steps
 

* well-matched couple!
 

* skated on solid edges with good flow

* strong, erect posture

* good knees and deep edges!

* nice, tight cross-behinds

* very nice feel for music and good timing (Swing Dance)

One guy came up to them afterwards and said, "you guys were fun to watch."

Needless to say, we thought so too! Way to go Julia and Justin!!

Julia and Justin practice at Tampa Bay Skating Academy.




* Unfortunately, the partnership with Julia didn't work out. We miss Julia, and we wish her the very best in everything she does. 

Justin's Double Flip (Video)

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.

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." 

Justin's Axel Toe Loop Combination (Video)