Jan. 10
Men Free Program Practice
I arrived very early for the Junior Ladies Free program in hopes of seeing some of the men practices. I discovered they were only opening the gates one hour before the Junior Ladies Free to which I had tickets. Some gate operators led me on a wild goose chase in the cold and wind chill of the morning to the skaters' hotel, which was not very near the arena. There I was supposed to find practice tickets being sold. But, it never panned out as it was too early in the morning, and they had either run out or knew not whether practice tickets were being sold. So, I retraced my steps back to the arena and found some breakfast in the food court area between Philips and CNN Center.
When they opened the doors for the Junior Ladies Free about an hour before the event, I discovered the final group of men on the ice. It appeared to be the beginning of their practice group. So, it was that I saw the top skaters and not anybody else this way. The music for the entire session was a medley of Michael Jackson hits: Billy Jean, Beat It, Thriller, The Way You Make Me Feel and more. They did not play any of the skaters' program music during this session.
All of the skaters in the group looked very focused and intense. It was funny because most of them were practicing their strengths and what they are already good at during the majority of the session. Ryan Jahnke was practicing his moves in the field that included spread eagles, and he also did spinning. Matthew Savoie was practicing the in betweens and dancing in the choreography of his program.
There were some jumps being attempted. Ryan Bradley was practicing a particular jump in the corner in front of his coaches that stood behind the boards near the skater entrance/exit area. He was not widely successful. His jumps had great height, but he would pop them or turn out the landing.
Michael Weiss also went for a lot of jumps and hit them about one half of the time. In between the jumps, he would skate laps with his hands on resting on his hips and his eyes looking down at the ice. He looked to be in deep concentration.
Johnny Weir was the way I saw him the entire event. Very consistent. He was very focused and confident in what he was doing. He really had it pulled all together. I knew while watching this practice group that he was the next men's champion. His jump landings were seamless, and he was solid on each one that I saw. He executed triple-triple-double jump combinations and also a triple axel-triple jump combination. He gave his best on a fabulous straight line dance sequence with quick ballet turns. He just emitted an aura like he knew what he was going to do.
Do you ever wonder if the flower girls and backstage staff are big fans of the skaters, too? After the practice session ended, the flower girls and children gathered up their books and cameras. They stood in line for autographs and pictures with the skaters exiting the ice. When I saw them, Michael Weiss was entertaining them and later Johnny Weir went to accommodate them.
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