Last meet of the season

Last weekend marked the last meet that speed skating daughter will compete in for the 2011-2012 season. She has decided that she does not want to participate in the Masters & Regional Championships to be held March 31-April 1 in Kitchener. I would like to attend to see how it works and how she would end up ranking, but I'm not going to push her.

That being said, we did attend the Silver #13 (E) Ability meet in Gloucester this past weekend. As I expected, she moved up a level to compete against "faster" skaters. With the new OSSA track rules in place, all skaters in the Juvenile and below categories skated the 100m track (as oppose to the 111m track). This meant that new distances would be skated. 111m races turned into 100m races, 222m became 200m and 333m became 400m. In the older groups, several kids skated 800m races, along with 500m and 400m. Overall, PB's would be set as nobody had skated many of the distances set up for the meet.

In my daughter's 1st race (200m), she did ok, but ended up finishing 3rd (out of 4). That left her out of the 'A' finals for that distance, and I knew right there that there would be no 2nd medal (the points drop off quickly the farther down the list you finish). In the 'B' finals, she had a good start and was in 2nd place heading into the 3rd corner. Unfortunately the leader fell and took out several of the track markers that ended under speed skating daughter's skate as she did a crossover, causing her to fall. She ended up in last place for that final, only to be moved up 1 spot due to another skater being DQ'd (for skating inside the track). 9th place did not get her a ribbon, leaving her a little sad, especially since her friend finished 7th and received a ribbon.

In her 2nd distance (100m), she finished last in her heat and ended up in the 'C' finals. In that final, she skated faster than her prelim race, but ended finishing 2nd (10th overall). Again no ribbon and very little points. With little points gained throughout her 'finals', she was placed in the 'B' 400m Super final (seeding was based on accumulated points). At this point, the coach came up to her and said that if she wanted a ribbon, she needed to finish top 2 in a distance she had never skated before. She wasn't too optimistic about it, but she had a great start, managed to take the lead early and never looked back, finishing 1st in the 'B' final (7th overall). She received a ribbon, which made her super happy (making the day a success). When I saw her time, it turned out to be the same time as when she skated her best 333m earlier in the season. That meant she skated 67m farther in the same amount of time (I'd say she's getting faster). I then did the conversion and it turned out that in comparison, she would have skated a 333m race in 59 seconds, essentially breaking the "1 minute" barrier that many of the kids strive for at an early age. I'll have to talk to the coach and see if she is required to bring in cupcakes as a celebratory gesture for breaking the 1 minute barrier, which is something the club has implemented.

Speed skating daughter leading the pack in the 400m race

And now there are 2

Last night marked the 1st night that Youngest Son tried speed skating (sorry, no photos yet). He did exceptionally well for his first time and showed some decent speed at first. Other than being a little tired (with sore legs), he said he liked it and wants to go back (at least for the 3 remaining try-it sessions).

He will now be referred to as Speed Skating Son. :)

One proud... moment

Today was our speed skating club's yearly ability meet, that speed skating daughter was registered for. The way that she has been skating since learning how to do her crossovers, my wife and I figured she would skate some PB's. That meant, the whole family HAD to come out to watch her skate. It turned out that both my parents, and my in-laws made the 1 hr trip to watch. Right from the first race where she took the lead at the start and didn't give it up until the race was over, we knew she would do well. In the finals of that distance (222m), she finished 2nd overall. That meant she would receive a 2nd place ribbon, which made her smile from ear-to-ear. At that point, I mentioned to her that if she did well in the next distance (111m), she might have enough overall points to win a medal (top 3 in each group). That motivated her and again she finished 1st in her preliminary heat. In the finals she started strong and only lost in the last 3 m of the race. Another 2nd place ribbon for the distance and a 2nd place medal overall.

The interesting thing about this is that we went to watch this meet last year and speed skating daughter said then that she really wanted to try speed skating. That is some great progress to go from never doing it to finishing 2nd overall (in her age category) in 1 year.

Today was a very proud day for speed skating daughter (and mommy & daddy). Can't wait to see what other meets have in store for her.

Here's a few other pics from the day.

All it takes is time... and practice

I’m not sure if I already mentioned it, but before the snow fell, I built a small rink for my kids in my backyard. By small I mean, 19’ x 40’. With the cold weather now upon us, they have been out on it several times, and all 3 keep asking to go out, even in -25o C weather.

Because of the rink, speed skating daughter learnt to do crossovers using hockey skates, only son has gone from barely walking on the ice, to full on strides and glides and oldest daughter states that she can now do crossovers using her figure skates even though I figured she could already do them (she argues no). So all 3 have become better in a short amount of time. That, in my opinion, makes building a backyard rink a HUGE SUCCESS!

Last night, at speed skating daughter’s first practice since before Christmas, she was able to do crossovers using her speed skates and now realized that she can maintain a good pace on the turns. With over 1 month before the club’s official meet, she has plenty of time to become better at doing crossovers and improve her 333m, 222m, and 111m times. Time will tell.

If only son continues at this pace of improvement, I will sign him up for the try-it-before-registering speed skating sessions, as he mentions he wants to do speed skating like his older sister. That means, I could have 2 kids, and possibly my Dad and myself, registered at the club next season. I hope they give family discounts. :)


 
BTW, that is me, speed skating daughter (bottom), only son (on knees) and speed skating daughter’s friend on the ice, with family dog just off the ice. Oldest daughter was away on a sleep over that night.

Rare opportunity

About a month ago, my daughter's speed skating coach asked me if I'd be interested in attending a day long seminar with a National Team Coach. The catch was that it was on a Friday, just before Christmas. After looking at how much leave I still had left, I quickly said yes to this limited opportunity.

It turns out that my daughter's coach happens to be the sister of Jonathon Cavar and he is planning on being home for the holidays. This allowed the club, along with our coach, the opportunity to secure some ice time and have him put on a full day of on and off ice training, for both our club's coaches, our competitive skaters, and coaches and skaters from neighboring clubs.

It should be lots of fun and informative and should really help me when working with the kids from my daughters club. I'm really looking forward to it.

A star is born

Last night was my children's school Christmas Nutcracker play. My oldest daughter had the lead, while my other 2 children had minor roles. One being a fairy, while the other was a mouse. Even though the 2 youngest had no lines, just actions to perform, they were all excited to be part of the play.

This play marked the first time that the school has done anything for Christmas in many years, and to my surprise, people came out in full force to see the presentation. So many people showed up that they had to pull out extra chairs for them to sit on. That is always a good thing.

The play started right on time, and everything went extremely well. Between each set, while they changed the background, various students sang Christmas songs. Overall, the play, and singing, lasted nearly 1 hour, making it an enjoyable evening for all.

My daughter, who had the most lines in the play, performed exceptionally well, with no mistakes. My other 2 were all smiles when their parts came up. The joy I felt seeing all of them on stage was wonderful, and my oldest daughter seemed to bask in the fact that she was the star of the show.

Maybe this is the beginning of a new path for her.

Well that changes everything

(crying)Mommy, my tummy hurts.
wife: Did you go to the bathroom?
Yes, and it still hurts.
me: Go try again, you might have more.
I’m bleeding.
wife: That happens.
Not there...

That was roughly my wife and I’s conversation with our 9½ year old daughter at roughly 3am this morning. At that point we were both up.

She had woken us up about an hour before with complaints of pain and we thought we “fixed” the issue by suggesting the bathroom. The second time, just before she said the bleeding part, I started to think that THAT could be the issue. My wife went with her in the bathroom and did the best she can to explain the situation, half asleep, at 3am in the morning.

We both knew that our little girl was growing up faster than we wanted, but before 10 seems young. I know for girls, there is no exact time as to when their bodies start changing, and I’ve heard stories of some starting as young as 8, but deep down you hope your daughter’s body can hold off until she’s a little older, say 25. :)

For my daughter, questions are now going to be asked, and hopefully my wife can answer them (I know I sure can't). I wish her well on this journey into womanhood and I will do my best to help her get through it (as much as a father can). There will be painful days, and there will be wonderful days. But starting today, I/we have to stop treating her like a little girl, but a blossoming young woman.

I’m not sure I’m ready for that.