Surviving my debut at senior nationals
Hi everyone!
Thanks for checking out my site and coming to read my journal.
Its been almost a month since nationals and a lot has happened. Where to start, where to start????
Well, I guess I should start with nationals. This year was filled with learning and challenges through out the season. It being my first year as a senior I had a lot to do to make the big jump from being a junior at nationals to making it as a senior at nationals. Well that should be easy, I’m a skater, that’s what I do is JUMP! But no… Its not that easy.
About a year ago this time I sat down with my coaching team and we decided on strategy, music, choreography, choreographers, training and everything else. I think I put it all together this year and followed my goals and plans pretty well, skating great programs at almost every competition. There was a small change in plans this summer when my head coach Mingzhu Li took up an offer to return to China. Thus, I started with Peter Oppegard. I had already taken from him a few times before so it wasn’t a huge ordeal to make the switch. He was really good about helping me stick to my season plan and goals that I had set. So that takes us to nationals. I made the big jump, stuck to my plans, and as my first year at senior qualified to compete at my first senior nationals.
Going into nationals I was very well trained; skating great programs and having great endurance. The morning we traveled to nationals I woke up with a chest cold. But I didn’t care too much about that because we all train occasionally with a cold so its not a big deal. When we got there we checked into our hotel and met with some friends for dinner. That night around 1 a.m., I woke up vomiting!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!
The next morning I sent my coaches a text saying I would not be coming to practice due to having the flu. The “medical team” at nationals this year was AWESOME!!! They were really cool and really helpful through out the week. Unfortunately, I had the flu and a fever for most of the week and made many trips to the medical room for check ups. The bright side is that they all knew me after a few days and I knew all their names!! It was kind of like coming home. I’d walk in and they’d say “Hi Sean. How are you feeling? Did you have a good practice today?”
In all, nationals was a struggle for me due to being very weak and having the flu, but I learned we don’t just train to be good at competition; we train to be good at competition regardless of what happens and your condition. Since I was very well trained coming into nationals, I was able to rely on my technique and just do what I’d been training. I can also say I learned the true meaning of will power! Even though at one point I had a fever of 103.1 I never withdrew. I fought and fought to skate and practice the best I could given my circumstances.
So now a month later its almost the END of February….where has the time gone?!?!?!
I started school, taking Japanese level 4 and Business 110. Both are evening classes which works well because I teach two times a week in the morning and four times a week in the afternoon, skate five days a week, and go to the gym for work out four days a week — so night time is the only available slot for school. My friends were looking at my calendar book and said it looked for like a chapter book and not a calendar!! Soon we will all sit down and start planning out for the next season!! I can’t wait.
Well I’m going to do my best to update you all as often as I can, I enjoy writing to you all, and I love reading and hearing responses from you all!! Also check out my tweets on Twitter @seanrabbitt!
Soon check for my Bi-Lingual Journals, where I will write in English and….drum roll please…….JAPANESE!
Have a sunny So. Cal day!!
— Sean