Champions of the 3 Republics

After drawing last to skate and feeling good about our short we were super tired but attended our 10:30pm practice. Half 10am we had to skate our long. All the Torun pairs were feeling good after short, but i think all very tired after a long few days. But we scored a fantastic 93.17 in the long and all together 144.39, which is a big jump on Tokyo.

So we ended up winning the Polish nationals for a second time but this time we actually got a recognition and a medal, last year we just had to stand next to the podium which was rather embarrassing. I think we received a medal because each separate nation hosted their own champions in each event as well as overall champions of events. On to the gala and we decided to perform the piece we made up in Tokyo last week, although as in the short the sound quality was really bad and could hardly hear our music. Ah well! All in all was another good competition and best of all our 3rd personal best in a row, what more can we ask for when at the start of the season i wondered if we'd make the British! So back to hard work now, so you can enjoy later. All our best, Stacey and David

From One to Another!

We had a great time in Tokyo and loads of fun at the gala even if it did mean missing the only day we had to see the city. In front of a huge packed arena we went out to enjoy and not worry about what scores we should get. The closing banquet was also great with bingo being replaced for a raffle but as always great hi tech prizes, and as ever we didn't win anything but the runner up prize they give away at the end. Although the top 5 competitors did get Klose make up sets, but our real prize was to get another personal best and achieve 4th place at a grand prix.

After all our troubled flight across the flight back was just fantastic, we were upgraded to business class. A remote controlled chair (with massage button) meant we got the best sleep we'd had all week! Good job too because in 3days we would have make the long trip south for the joint Polish, Czech and Slovak nationals in Trinec, Czech Republic. 6:30am the bus rolled up at our door (why is it always early starts?) Stacey and i were cramped up close and personal to our mini bus driver for the next long 10 hours. We stopped for Chinese but otherwise straight there.

Trinec is just over the Polish border and the Hotel Steel where were staying is right in the middle. We had a draw quite soon after arriving which was very professionally done in the local cinema. Not understanding too much of what was going on we drew 4th to skate which was 2nd in the second group and received an alarm clock as welcoming present. Unfortunately neither of the top 2 Czech men are here Tomas Verner and Michal Brezina but we have no time to watch anyway. We sat and enjoyed the entertainment, some nursery school kids who had rehearsed all year singing and dancing for us and waving to their embarrassed parents and to finish we had local ballroom dancers who gave an exhibition. After there was a fantastic carvery, very fine for a national championship.

The rink wasn't as to be desired for but ice is ice and we got to business. 5 pairs on morning practice meant we only just got everything done, chaos. Luckily the warm up groups were split into 2. We scored 51.22 which is yet another personal best, really enjoyed the skate. No pressure and like Mariusz said before we went on 'show our skating has improved'. We did, it was clean, and I haven't got result sheet yet but we must of got most our levels. So leading the short we drew 5th to skate in the long. Unfortunately due to the strange schedule we have practice at 11pm tonight for our free programme at 11am tomorrow... Almost unheard of but they do have a busy schedule! I will let you know how it goes.

4th in NHK GP Tokyo

We stood our ground, 4th in short, 4th in long and 4th overall (it can happen that your fourth in both but drop!). It was a great feeling, being on the top group through the whole event and finishing in 4th behind some great pairs. Practice the day of the short was good but tough skating along side the teams scrapping it out for which shade of medal they want. The day went very quick, before we knew it we were back in the skaters lounge sitting getting a drink and sushi before our event started. All the tv screens on a live feed to exactly whats happening on the ice, behind the scenes at these events is quite amazing.

Our event drew close, we were warming up as the first group took to the ice. As ever we ignored what went on before us, focusing on what we need to do while lacing up our boots. Short wouldn't be televised on Eurosport which is a shame because its good when your friends and family can watch but the arena was packed with a lot of the world still getting a live feed. We stepped on closely followed by two world medalist teams and a well experienced triple axel throwing American team. We were up first! They called our names and we gaze shortly around in to the crowd, it was full. People of all ages sat in anticipation of our short programme, and we skated well. A few minor error's mostly to loose levels (points) on things but ended up with 49.36 which was easily a personal best for us.

Practice for the long went even better still, with a bit of leeway between us and the next down the list and only 5 points off a medal we felt relaxed and happy. All elements were going clean and for a personal best at this event we would need to do our elements good so we get higher points, and nothing looks better than making hard tricks look easy. Stacey almost took the Chinese guys head off on the exit of a lift, but that's the way it seems to go in this group. We stepped off the practice 10minutes before the end but we'd done everything we wanted, no need in hanging around for no reason. Home for a bit of r & r before the final event.

Our free programme was very early compared to the usual set up, again we were first to skate in the second group. We just hoped to skate the programme how we have been, with power until the last position. Our final score was 83.53 and the only poor element was the side by side flip that we threw in last week after Zagreb for safety... Ah well. But it was a personal best and we were very happy. After we skated a very polite Japanese OC worker informed us that because we were in the top 4 we managed to make the gala, which is another accomplishment for us at this event. Anyway still a long way to go from here, which can only mean bigger scores and stronger performances in our next events. Hope to see you there!

Long Haul to Tokyo!

4am Mariusz rolls up at our door... Its going to be a long day! Today we have a 9:45am flight from Warsaw and we make the 2 hour journey to Warsaw in good time. Then we hit major traffic, which we did 2km in 45mins and it was still 15km to the airport and we strated to get tense. We ran to check in, it had closed! Ahh, i felt terrible. It is the only flight any of us had ever missed and the women on the desk said that we can't gon tommorows flight because it was full but the day after was ok, not for us as we would miss our short programme. So sounding very sheepish i phoned my mum to book us 3 new return flights, thank you mum!

The new flight was a good one, we had the Italian, German and Ukrainian squads on the flight so had people to chat to. We arrived midday a day later and feeling a little tired, but the Tokyo skyline woke us up. What a city, it's the third time we've been here in three years and it still amazes me. Our hotel is very grand too, right in the upscale Shinjuku banking district but unfortunately very little time to explore. After all it is just a business trip! First practice and business is going well! A good practice and still on a boost from last weeks win in Zagreb, which also had given us enough ISU points to put us in the top group, our job now is to stay there.

Blow by blow, Zagreb

So we arrived at first practice, our first competition of the season and ready to do ourselves proud, usually for us the first competition is where you try things that may or may not work and experiment at a low key competition. Due to unforeseen circumstances we didn’t have this luxury and just had to get it right first time. We were a long way from Worlds in March, the adrenaline kicks in and you need to keep your cool, you get one shot to show each programme a total of 7minutes 30seconds. But official practices play a big part in judges decisions too, what kind of standard you are, and what common mistakes might be.

Anyway first practice went ok, we did everything but not everything was perfect as we still felt like we were on a plane. The ice was so fresh that when you stepped on it felt like you were going to fall through! Huge groaning cracks went right the way across the ice, like stepping on to a huge quickly melting frozen lake. The next practice the day of the short didn’t go so well, I woke to find the alarm for 6:10am had not gone off and it was now 6:45... Exactly the time our bus for the practice rink was leaving. I threw some clothes on to try and halt the bus or find some alternative transport while Stacey packed our gear. I got to the lobby only to find one of our solo men had slept in too, and moments after Stacey came down looking rather sheepish with a rather annoyed Dorota! The Organizing Committee wanted to take us in a car to get there but took way too long so we decided to cut our losses and just go for breakfast and back to bed.

Later we arrived ‘on time’ to start our warm up for the short, we drew last to skate which means you have to ignore the whole competition going on around you, while you prepare to skate. We didn’t really manage to get in to the ice for the duration of the short which looses speed and quality to cut the second mark. Our legs were still nervous and wooden not pushing to get power into our elements and holding back to play safe. We missed two major elements, the solo jump and throw and this is close to 10 points with the deduction for the fall. In a total of 42 points for the short this is a big problem and held us in second place, but not too bad for our first event.

Fired up to take first in the long we had a day off on the in-between the two programme’s with yet another early morning practice as consolation. This practice was a lot more to our ability we were powerful and commanding with strong elements and a lot better ice coverage. Only the long to go and we were ready, we made a tactical decision to miss the early morning practice as the competition itself started at 10:30am. We drew second to last to skate which gave us plenty of time to gather our thoughts. Stepping out on to the ice for your programme is a great feeling, waiting for your opponents marks (unless your first to skate) skating around with dazzling lights and an entourage of judges and the crowd who can give you hope and courage. They call your name and its all down to you and your hard work.

We stepped into our starting position confident we’d put in the hard work needed to skate well, we start our programme with a basic but strong twist just to get ourselves in thee mood then we are settled. Stacey landed two super throws with + and base marks from the judges and all strong lifts finishing with a level 4 death spiral and a very big smile! These moments last, we sat in the kiss and cry knowing we were about 5 points down after the short and just hoping we did enough. We had, and were put 6 points clear overall. All faith in your ability is restored, the programme was in no way perfect and have a lot of improvements to make but it sure feels good to put on a good performance and this is why each skater puts in the hard work, a good performance to win the gold.

Champions of Zagreb!

Well, if we thought fondly of the rink before now its just a great idol for our skating. We had yet another great competition at this wonderful arena in less than a year. A good start to our very unfortunate season, and lets hope with hard work, it will get better from here on! After a shaky short we gathered our thoughts and put out a long programme worthy of our abilities and indeed the gold medal. Unfortunately the victory was very short lived as we had to catch our bus 40minutes after we skated our long and in less than two hours we were in the air on our way back to Warsaw! I had to go collect our medals from the Organizing Committee while Stacey packed our skates, and they were surprisingly understanding. We felt really bad for not making the victory ceremony and indeed the gala but our priorities lie in Tokyo for the NHK grand prix. We had a great time in Zagreb with the great British team that went, its always a pleasure to meet up with our countries finest! Also i wish Penny a quick recovery, and hope your fighting fit in no time.

So back at home now, reunited with Amber we prepare for what lies ahead. We fly Tuesday 25th and the competition will be live on Eurosport 28th+29th so check your tv guide! See you soon!

FPl. Name Nation Points

1 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR 128.53
2 Nicole della MONICA / Yannick KOCON ITA 122.40
3 Katerina KOSTENKO / Roman TALAN UKR 114.19
4 Gabriela CERMANOVA / Martin HANULAK SVK 108.81
5 Marika ZANFORLIN / Federico degli ESPOSTI ITA 106.40
6 Nina IVANOVA / Filip ZALEVSKI BUL 93.30
7 Jessica CRENSHAW / Chad TSAGRIS GRE 92.23

Zagreb - Golden Spin

So finally our first international and indeed competition has arrived. Its been a difficult build up but eventually were here! Zagreb is home of last Seasons great European placing for us and very fond memories of the arena.
Since July we only made it back home for a weekend to see family and have been in full training preparing for this tough season. We've given full focus to our training passing up tempting shows for valuable catch up time, so just hope it pays off. In the build up stage to the competition season it seems all you are able to do is eat, sleep, skate! Not that its a bad thing trying new elements, not having to worry about what people will think and just skating for the love of it. But competition is so much more exciting, having a crowd and judges watching your every move, get it right and everyone says how much you've improved, get it wrong and they say you haven't worked hard enough. Really its just a matter of did you keep your head in that 7mins 40seconds you have to show how good you are.
After a brief call to our federation the morning of our flight to make sure we will get picked up from the airport and a place to stay we made it quickly to our destination for the second time this year. We just wanted to make it a brief competition to warm us up for NHK, but the plan back fired when we booked our flight to come home early and they changed the schedule! We now have to skate our long programme then get on a bus to go home straight away. Anyway without worrying too much about this our first practice went well, elements felt great just our heads still feel up in the clouds with our flight crew. But after practice we were shocked to find ourselves thrown into a televised interview with the head of Parliament in Croatia, who seemed very interested in what we thought of her city.
That's all for now but i will update to let you know how we do!

Start of Season 08/09!

A fresh, new and exciting season has arrived with a bang! After a great 07/08 season that left us wanting more we were rested and ready to jump into our next adventure.

Our first pin in the map was Montreal, Quebec Canada. We set a time scale of 3 weeks to choreograph two brand new programmes with the lovely Julie Marcotte. What a fantastic experience and great to see so much love for skating, it left us feeling so happy about the sport were in. We got on great and worked long hours in agonizingly new skates to get the seasons look we wanted. With help from a fantastic coaching staff on hand in Montreal we came back with some great ways to evolve our skating.

Fortunately enough it was my Birthday while we were out there and as we had weekends off we decided to take an 8 hour road trip to New York to meet up with our old house mate and best friend Jamie Burns who now trains in Delaware with Melysa James. His birthday is very close to mine so we had a joint celebration seeing a west end show and generally soaking up the amazing city. So all in all our visit to Canada was thoroughly enjoyable with plenty of hard work and two really good programmes completed.

It seemed as soon as our feet touched the ground in Poland we were pushing our boundaries. We had the finest fitness trainer in Poland come work with us for 10 weeks, in 3 fantastic locations throughout Poland. But unfortunately without knowing it Stacey had been struck down with Glandular fever, not seeming herself at all and not knowing why she was finding everything so hard we had a very difficult time ahead. After just buying a gorgeous kitten and named her Amber, the poor thing got the blame for all of Stacey's problems. Stacey visited 4 different doctors before blood tests revealed she had Glandular fever, we sent her on the next flight home and i didn't see her for 4 weeks. It was quite heartbreaking when we haven't been apart for longer than 3 days in 3 years! She felt bad in the first week of training and yet managed to push herself to the 3rd week until she couldn't physically get out of bed it was another two weeks of her being in bed before she was diagnosed. As you may know its a horrible illness and training with it is the worst thing that you can do, so it took her a long time to recover and put a real dampener on our enthusiastic start. After meeting back up with Stacey and reuniting her with our new kitten Amber she spent another 4 weeks on the side lines just watching and resting.

So with our game plan thrown out the window we kind of just played it day to day until Stacey started feeling herself again. We missed 1 domestic competition, and two internationals but not feeling too sorry for ourselves we just did the best we could and with two new programmes that we really enjoy we still look forward to a good season! We skated short programme at a small competition in Warsaw a few weeks ago just to get a feeling of competing again but our first competition now is Golden Spin in Zagreb, then onto NHK Grand Prix in Tokyo followed closely by the combined Polish, Czech and Slovak Nationals. That's all for this instalment but I will let you know how we get on, take care!