Hi Everybody,
Thanks for visiting the site. I have been a very busy boy recently, lots of life changing events are going on, so I haven't had a lot of time to keep you all up to date. But now I do, so I thought I'd let you guys know what's up.
First of all, training has been going really well. I finally have my quad sal consistent, and my quad toe is also coming along well. I've recently gone into new skates and new blades are coming soon, so jumping will of course go downhill for a week or two, but I'm in very good spirits to start the season and also start my "comeback."
Possibly the biggest news I have is about my plans for the summer. At the beginning of May I went to Connecticut to work with Marisa Ross on her programs, and Sasha was in town from tour so it was nice to hang out with her. In addition to all that, Tatiana Tarasova was home for a week from Russia. I had been wanting to work with Tatiana for about two years, so my mother and I set it up that I would have some lessons while I was there. The first day, I was of course, very nervous, but I skated pretty well and had a great time skating in such a high intensity atmosphere. The second day went equally well, and Tatiana was very complimentary and also had a lot of input into what she thought about my skating. It was then that my mother and I decided that I would make the move to Connecticut, for at least the summer, to get my short program and just have a day to day working relationship with one of the best coaches in skating. It also doesn't hurt that I'll be skating with Alexei Yagudin, Sasha Cohen, and Andrei Griazev every day, which will help push me to work harder. Another plus is the fact that I will only be skating with a limited amount of people, rather than thirty-five on every session like in Delaware. It will be difficult to be away from my family, coach, and friends, but I think this is just the right thing to help jump start my skating career.
I haven't decided on short program music yet, but I'm leaning in the direction of something new and edgy that people haven't done before, or even something classic which I think is in my comfort zone.
As far as personal news, nothing of note is really happening. Since Nationals, and having to watch Worlds on TV and whatnot, my friends have been my greatest strength through all of this, so I'd like to thank them for that.
So nothing else really important to say, I will let you all know how my summer goes, and how my music search ends up. Thanks again for your support.
Take care,
-J We
