LIVE FROM WAKE FOREST - Friday, November 16th ~ 2007

This is was a day that I questioned why I didn't put my daughter is some calm and easy sport--like bull-riding or high cliff diving.

Skating after all, has all those colloquial attachment phrases, "On thin ice", "the ice is slippery", "it's a slip and slide world out there".

Okay, maybe that last one was a toy from the 80's, but it seems to fit.

Yesterday, during the 5 minute warm up, my team did a move that could have been in "The Cutting Edge", for now I am calling it the Petro-Gregory fall, you know the principle, fall, slide, knock the wind out of you, head-butt the boards and make as much noise as possible so that the ceiling vibrates.

Then there is the moment of silence as we all wait to see if there is movement.

Then there is the mom hanging over the boards.

Then there is the slow rising of tangled arms and legs and the crowd cheering that the zam doesn't have to make a new sweep.

And then there is two minutes left in the warm-up until they skate first.

The resulting skate was not their best, but like all our skaters, they would all try even if they had a broken arm or a few cracked ribs.

What was truly amazing, though not surprising, is how supportive the competitors and parents are in these situations--for we have all been in them. The skaters truly care for each other--they admire and respect the dedication each one brings to the ice, and the parents are just as compassionate.

That is the real story at Easterns, and I suspect it is just as true at the other venues, Ice dancers cheer for their competitors, and join their parents in sharing the ups and downs that each goes through.

I suspect you wouldn't find that at a rodeo or on the hills of Acapulco--but it probably would be less tumultuous!

Mombo