Steven Helmer Publications

This may or may not end up being our oldest daughter's last one. She's going to try to become a junior coach next year and would likely focus on that if she does. But, I also wouldn't rule a return to the ice, at least for the home competition again. This weekend was the annual competition at our local rink, with her skating in showcase (artistic) and interpretive (a fun one where the skater improvises a program to a random song) events. And, she did a great job. Unfortunately, the turnout for this competition wasn't that great this year and, as a result, she wound up not having anyone to compete against at her level. So, in that regard, we really don't know how she would have matched up against another skater. However, she's been doing this for a few years now and I think this is the best I've ever seen her perform. In fact, one of the coaches/judges told me later that it was one of the best showcase programs she had ever seen performed and she thorou...

We have a full day planned tomorrow. My daughter has a skating competition down in McFarland, WI and we are pretty much planning on spending the whole day there. Her first event is around 10:30, meaning we have to be there at least an hour earlier than that. Her final even isn't until almost 4. There's a pretty big gap in between so I might drive over to Costco for lunch and to do some shopping. This will be her final competition until May. Ice show rehearsals start next week so I'm going to let her concentrate on that. She'll still have one 30-minute session per week with her coach so she can keep her programs memorized and practice for her next US Figure Skating test session. That doesn't mean my wife and I will get a break, however. Our other daughter has two dance competitions coming up, one this month and one next month.

My oldest daughter had her first skating competition of 2018 yesterday at the Pettit Center down in Milwaukee. It was our first visit to this rink, which is where Olympic skaters train. And, overall, I thought it was pretty cool, especially with them having two rinks (side-by-side) and a speed skating track in what was a pretty large building. It was, by far, the largest rink she's ever skated in. For her part, my daughter did pretty well yesterday. It was her first time skating at the pre-preliminary level and she finished second in compulsory and 5th in her program. There's always going to be room for improvement, but she was right in the mix, has a good foundation and two weeks to find ways to improve before her next competition. It was a very exhausting day, however. She was asleep in the backseat before we even made it out of Milwaukee. Considering she's normally very energetic, that was a surprise.

My daughter is competing at the Pettit Center in Milwaukee this upcoming weekend and needed a new skating dress because she is outgrowing the one she already has. We looked at buying her a dress. But, since they can run in excess of $300, my wife decided to buy the material and just attempt to make her one instead (something she's done in the past but it had been a while). She started it last week and, despite a variety of issues, including her sewing machine not working (forcing her to use her new serger instead), finished it yesterday. Total cost for materials was about $35, making it much less expensive than most of the pre-made dresses we were looking at. She eventually wants to attempt something a little more complicated, and has even sketched out the design, but that will have to wait until summer, when she has more time.  In the meantime, this one will work just fine, both for this weekend and another competition the first weekend in March. The only thing that...

There are no formal skating classes this week, but my daughter still was at the rink last night so she could prepare for her upcoming competition at the Petit Center in Milwaukee next month. Here's a video of her running through part of her compulsory program while avoiding one of our synchronized skating teams (also prepping for a competition). Incidentally, our local rink (non-profit/volunteer run) is currently entered in a competition for upgraded lighting. If you're interested in voting, here is the link: http://www.lightlikethepros.com/vote/entries/169133068

She is moving up to pre-preliminary free skate when she competes next year and had to pick out a new song so she can start learning a new program. After considering several choices, she ended up going with "Saving the Ship" from Alice Through the Looking Glass. I don't always approve of her song choices. But, I do like this one because I think it gives her the opportunity to show off her skills.