Well, it was a whirlwind trip to Lincoln, NE and back left
on Wed, the kids practiced on the floor on Thurs, (Carb’d up all day Thurs)
then they raced on Friday and we returned on Saturday.
Now on to the agony of defeat! It is so disheartening to watch your child
fall (figuratively and literally) during a race. It takes everything in me to not go down and
tear into someone. Then there is the
competition anxiety that just eats all of their energy. That is what my son has, though he does not
want to admit it. I think he feels it is
a sign of weakness, but, in no way is it.
He just needs to find what works for him to calm himself down and not
burn out quick. Okay, so here is how the
races went, I will start with my oldest first.
He unfortunately did not make it out of two of his three
heats. The heat he made it out of is his
500 m, but, I knew he would, why you ask?
That is the only race he has been talking positively about for the last
few weeks. So, he was already defeated
in the other two races before he stepped on the floor. I am not sure how to help him cope with the anxiety;
he is just going to have to keep trying different relaxation methods to find
which one works for him. So he made it
to his 500 m semi, but, unfortunately this year that was all the farther he
made it. Though, he did get farther than
last year AND he did not fall! So I am
very proud of what he has accomplished.
Just being in the top four of his region and being able to compete on a
national level says something in itself.
And that is one thing that I have to remind myself and my husband.
For my daughter, she made it out of all three of her heats;
it is the semi-finals that we had problems with. The first race was her 500 m and she was
knocked down, and with only five laps she was not able to move up into
qualifying position. The next semi-final
was her 300 m, on this the girl that was directly in front of her did a left
kick just as she was coming out of the turn and my daughter was in the process
of passing. Needless to say my daughter
went down, slid on her rear end. She got
up quick to finish her laps, but again she was not able to get up into
qualifying position to move on. Even
though the skater that tripped her was DQ’d that still does not help her making
it to her finals. Now, what I did not realize is that when she fell she tore a
huge hole in her suit just below her rear-end.
So after that race we had to scramble to figure out what to do. Luckily on of the other teammates came to the
rescue and was able to score a complimentary pair of bike shorts from Pinnacle
Racing! AWESOME! I owe them both! So, she was able to race the third race (without
showing her all). But, I could tell by
that time with two falls behind her she had, had it. Even if she did make it to her final she
would not have enough points to podium.
When I went down to meet her after the third race her head was down and
she was crying. It just tugs are your heart
to see your children go through so much training and determination to get to
this point just to have someone trip her.
But, I will have to give her this much, she told me on the way home that
she only wants two weeks off and is ready to get back to training! She has made it farther this year too, than
last and I am also very proud of her accomplishments.
So, in one week we begin training again, and yes, I will be
part of this one. I plan on skating this
season and possibly competing this season (don’t tell my Mom she will have a
fit). One last thing I have started
creating skate jewelry, because I have not been able to find anything specific
to skating for the kids and I have enjoyed making them so much that I decided
to sell them. Please go to this link if
you would like to see what I have been up to http://www.etsy.com/shop/RollWithItJewelry?ref=seller_info
Also a tip from Nicole Begg on warm-ups and cool-downs http://www.inlineplanet.com/2007-12/warmup.html
