Sectional Skating spreads skills

My experience at sectionals

OPINION | January 2023

On one of the last run throughs we had, my teammate and I slammed into the boards while skating around the corner, which caused pounding in my head. It was a scramble to get back into the pivot block element which began to fall apart. More teammates fell–causing yet another program element to become ruined. The steps were jumbled up and we were off count with the music. It was a complete disaster. The rink was cold and the air was dry. There was more pounding from my hair being in a bun all day. The bright, white lights from the rink didn’t help. The last Capital Ice Connection practice we had before the competition was so quiet due to the nerves surging through our muscles. We could feel the tension rising. The second the music ended, heads looked down. Not being able to look our coaches in the eye after that was the worst feeling. We skated back towards them and waited for our feedback. 

No one said a word for a while. Unfortunately, we could only do the program one more time. This made us feel unsure about how we were going to do the next day. It didn’t matter if we had corrected the mistakes we had made. It still had happened and it was our biggest fear it would happen again.

Back at the hotel room, my teammates and I could not get that performance out of our heads. This made us extra nervous, especially because we did not qualify the year before, and this was my last year on the team before I aged out. We worked so hard all year for this one moment, but it just takes one little mistake to lose it all–depending on whether we would qualify or not.

That morning, as we were getting our hair and makeup done, I started to have negative thoughts about how we would do. Because I was experienced and one of the oldest skaters on the team, I was considered a leader, along with eight other skaters. As a leader, I was expected to be strong and model positivity, but that was incredibly difficult due to my own doubts and nerves. It was at that moment that I realized I was the most nervous I had ever been. 

My mom helped us cope with our nerves, which was beneficial because we were then able to help others. On the bus ride to the rink, music was blasting from the speakers. We all jammed out to our favorite songs to help loosen up which created a space where we could build our energy to compete. When we arrived at the rink, we stretched and ran through our program off ice. Then we headed to the locker room to get changed. This is when we realized we only had a couple minutes before we would be on the ice.

In the locker room, we listened to more music and visualized what we wanted our program to look like on the ice. We tried to ease our nerves with laughter and conversation once our dresses and skates were tied. 

The music came to a stop. It was time to huddle up and go over the things we needed to keep in mind. Then, it was go time. 

We circled the ice, tuning out the announcer while he was announcing the other team’s score. The arena was loud with cheers and 

“Welcome to the ice, the Bismarck Figure Skating Club!” 

I skated to my spot and waited for our music to start. The second it did, I could feel the energy we had brought. I could hear the Chips cheering as loud as they could to encourage us to keep our expression and skating sharp. The arena filled with buzzing anticipation. Will someone fall? Are they going to correct the changes made to make the skate better or will they forget? Are they going to rush? All these questions in the air for us alone to determine. Next up in our program was the pivot block. We came around the corner and my teammate and I couldn’t get around to the others like at practice. We skated so hard to get there and eventually we did! The coaches had no idea how we managed because usually when skaters are not connected by the time the pivot comes, the element is done for. Thankfully we were determined and saved that part of the program. The rest of the program was smooth. 

"I was expected to be strong 

and model positivity, 

but that was incredibly difficult

due to my own doubts and nerves."

Chloe Dwyer

The music ended and that feeling of accomplishment surrounded the rink and my team. It felt so good to finish successfully after having a bad experience before competing. We got off the ice and filed into rows to take a picture and waited for our score to be announced at the kiss and cry. 

“And the score for the Bismarck Figure Skating Club… 52. They are currently in third place.”

We were so excited to hear that we had a chance of qualifying for nationals after having a slip up in the pivot block. Now we had to wait. The suspense was bigger than it had ever been for our team. We went up to the lobby and waited to hear other teams’ scores that still had to skate in our group. We stood in a circle holding our breath every time a team finished. One by one the other teams got their score and it was lower than ours. Then it was Team’s Elite’s score. We lost to them by half a point! Them being our biggest competitors and becoming that close to them without having a clean skate was a huge accomplishment. We finished in third place. We were going to Nationals! This made the older girls, including me, super proud because this was our last year on the team before we had to age off.

We went to the room where skaters took their picture after they had competed. We smiled nicely and took a fun photo. After that we walked in the hallway, we stopped in an open area to take more pictures. 

Then my coaches came up to Lexi Stenberg and me. 

They talked to us about how we have been amazing leaders on the team who have encouraged others and asked us to represent the Connection on the podium. We then got into a single file line and skated to the podium. We cheered for the other teams as they were awarded their medals. Once it was our turn we ducked our heads and the third place medals were placed around our necks. We took some more pictures and celebrated how amazing it felt knowing that we were going to nationals in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The girls who were aging off were thrilled to end their last year on a good note and were satisfied that they accomplished their goals.