Review of Worlds

So, I had a few emails saying we didn't describe very well what went on while we were at Worlds. Well, everything kind of fell into place so there wasn't too much to report on (for a change!). On the first practice, which was on the practice rink we walked into the LA convention centre and there was a small temporary ice rink slap in the corner of this truly enormous building. Simple as we are everyone found it comical and strange at the same, an idea for Tate Modern maybe? It was in fact a nice rink, and when we were drawn to skate with Mariusz's old coaches' two Canadian teams it had a good atmosphere.


We skated quite late on for us, first out to perform Short in our group and skated clean with the only mistake being Stacey getting a little excited over landing a sweet throw triple loop. I wasn't so pleased with our component marks because for us it was loads better than we skated at NHK in Tokyo yet our components were almost 4 points lower, that's a whole element! It cost us a group for the long the next day and probably a whole place overall! So not concentrating on whether the cameras were still filming I got up to leave kiss and cry but was very promptly told to stay, Ooops big fine if you leave early, but it wasn't to make a point it was just me not thinking. We didn't wait around for the draw tha evening as it was going to be gone midnight with an early start. Anne our team leader drew for us… yet another first to skate for the long.
Sometimes when you step on to the ice, you just have a good feeling about things and this was one of those moments. Just in a world of our own, and for that programme in that moment of time we skated it the best we could. When a years hard work is judged in 4 minutes and 50 seconds and you achieve to do your absolute best, it has a feeling of complete joy. In just under 5 minutes we completed six level four elements (with 2 other elements classed as level 2 and 3) and 2 clean throw triples, with intricate choreography throughout linking the programme together the whole time thinking you must go faster. With hard work this all fell in to place and we reaped the rewards a place at the Winter Olympics.


Our only goal for the entire season was reached only by performing 2 clean programmes on 2 wonderful evenings at the Staples centre in LA. As the week progressed we managed to start seeing some of the Town, unfortunately not so many of the stars. Mariusz spotted Bruce Willis on the first night, and we saw Jordan with Peter Andre were having a Californian Pizza but unfortunately that was our lot. I would like to think that some stars would have watched us in the arena? I know Haig took his cousin Eric Idle to see the mens free and i saw Stephane Lambiel and Johnny Weir too. On the Saturday we hired a ford Mustang to drive around in for the day, and it was great! I like my cars and have always wanted to drive one of the new Mustangs, so we spent the day beach hopping. Starting at Huntington beach where a surf competition was on and going up to Long beach, Venice beach and finally Santa Monica before heading back for Jenna's free skate. It was a great day and we finished it off by driving up to Rodeo drive and Stacey bought me a cool juicy couture jacket saying 'Great Freakin' Britain'. I imagine David Beckham has the same one!



We spent our final 2 days at Universal studios even the day we flew we spent the morning there. There was a lot more we wanted to see and do but i think we'd done as much as we could in the few days we had, LA is so spread out. Now its back to the drawing board and plan out what to do in our 2009-10 Olympic season. Speak soon!

We Qualified for the Olympic Games...

... And that's all that matters! Ha ha, after Stacey's illness this was the only goal left on our once long list and we achieved it. We just had to skate 2 clean programmes at the final competition of the year, no pressure then. Winning Golden Spin and getting 4th at the NHK trophy this year were both just icing on the cake for this season, i would of traded both of those results to be going to the pinnacle competition of sporting excellence. First of all I'd like to thank all the British fans who made the long trip to come support us and the British team, and also to all our fans who watched on the TV or Internet. We have heard so many wide tales about how followers got to watch us in the end, we just feel honoured by the support! Thank you all.

It isn't just David and Stacey who has got us here, we have such a strong team working in the background to help us achieve what we can and this success is felt by each individual member of Kemp and King. First most the NISA World Class Performance Team who have supported us admirally from the start of our careers, our financial support from parents, Jewellery by Michael King, skate force trust, NLTG, R N Electronics, and Sue Naylor. But our most great full thanks go to the tireless workers of the British Olympic Association for the Olympic Solidarity Trust, TASS (Talented Athlete Support Scheme 2012) and Sports AID without who we could never of had the financial support to achieve the commitments that we have made! We are so very thank full you put your faith in us, thank you.

I never thought back in Dumfries that this moment would come true, tottering around the ice never being the best skater at the club and not a huge amount of talent. This just made me more determined, I'd always make achievable goals every year, and slowly making small steps to our eventual goal. Stacey actually started her skating because of Oksana Baiul back in the 1994 Olympics and this was the last time a British pair team competed at the games. It is very strange how things work out and nobody can predict what will happen, yet some things are just meant to be. After our final position in the long, i knew we'd done enough. I looked up to see the bright lights of the Staples Centre beam down and thought, David Kemp (1960-2004) and George King (1919-2008) were there smiling down as they'd know it too. There isn't much to success if it can't be celebrated with lots of supporters, friends, family even with all the commitments and sacrifices made our home still accepts us with open and praising arms along with our new overseas community.

So i hope i didn't ramble on too long, now were sitting back at home in Poland planning our next season and reflecting on the last. LA was amazing, how a World Championships should be held, and with the great weather it all just felt surreal for an ice skating event. This week the Great Britain ice hockey team are playing in Torun at the Division 2 World Champs, so we have tickets to go support them and we also start the process of booking up our season and finalising our plan.