I Heart Lake Placid

Nearly 33 years ago, on February 13th, 1980, the XIII Winter Olympic Games opened in Lake Placid, NY. Coincidentally, I was born on the exact same day! I never thought that I'd ever be competing in a U.S. Figure Skating competition, but I did and it was in Lake Placid! Amazeballs!

Here are some photos from the trip:

Our abode for three nights

View of Mirror Lake from the back door of our room

Another view - to the right

OJ Team hair & make-up time! I love these girls!

Wake up, Sophia!

1932 Rink - it's actually warm in here

Go Team Reflections!

A familiar face!  Lake Placid Figure Skating Club alum Doris Papenfuss - she teaches at Twin Ponds East

Outside the Bookstore on Main St.

Taken at a shoppe on Main St (Olympic Village)

Dogsled rides on Mirror Lake and a guy making smooth ice for the skating area

All the competitor's names were displayed along the rink concourse.  That's ME - Jurry Kim!

My cousins - Angela Jung and Jessica Jung

Team Pizza Party at Mr. Mike's - OJ getting congratulatory medals from Coach Amy. They skated their best ever!

I bought this photo taken by the event photographer.  I'm the second skater from the right.

Me after our skate.  Survived my first skating competition!

Roy and I after my skate.  He is so supportive and I'm thankful he was there to cheer me on.

We got to Lake Placid on Wednesday night and the last couple hours on the road were treacherous.  It was unusually warm that day so the ground was giving off some serious steam/fog. It wasn't too dense but very patchy and you couldn't really see so it felt like you were heading straight into a mountain wall.  It was scary to say the least, but we made it.  There was packed snow on the ground - the kind that crunches every time you step on it.  I miss that kind of snow and it snowed every day we were there.

Thursday was OJ (Open Juvenile) Team competition day so we ate breakfast and hung out with the girls as they got hair and makeup done.  The OJ category had a total of 30+ teams so they broke it down into three groups and each group would compete as a qualifying round.  The top four in each group would go on to the final round, with the top three places earning a medal.  Team Reflections was in Group B and ended up 5th!  They were so close!

Open Juvenile: A team of 8-16 skaters. The majority of the team must be under 19. All skaters must have passed the pre-preliminary moves in the field test. 

Here is a video of their routine:


On Friday, I had a team practice at 5 am. I will never forget this practice because it's the first time I used my hard guards. I'm told every skater remembers the time they first use them and FORGET to take them off as they step onto the ice because as soon as you step on, you are on your ass!!!  At first I was like, whoa, this rink is super SLIPPERY! Ugh, my left buttock was so sore after that.

After practice we all ate brunch and then went to see the Intermediate competition at 1980 Rink.  This rink has more seating and the skaters are pretty super awesome. Their routines are a lot more entertaining since they are a bit longer and the skaters are much more advanced.  Ice skating has skill levels kind of like karate.  You take tests to advance higher.  Our team skated amazing but the competition was fierce.

Later on the team held a pizza party for everyone.  Food was delicious and it was nice to meet all parents and socialize with the team. Unfortunately the adult team had to leave for another practice later that evening.  This time it was more of a dress rehearsal (though we didn't get into competition dresses).  We had 10 minutes on the ice and got two run-throughs in.  The first one was good, the second one I fell and bruised my knee.  It wasn't that bad because I fall on the same part - especially if we are doing the routine back to back like that. I just don't have the skater's legs like my teammates - yet!

Saturday was our competition.  Here is a video of our routine:


There were 13 Open Adult teams competing, split into two groups as the qualifying round. We came in last in our group of 7.  We actually scored higher than 6th place team in our group, but the judges' ordinal majority had us in 7th. One judge had us in 4th, one in 5th, one in 6th, and four in 7th.  Roy said he paid the one judge $100. LOL.  He needs to bring more money next time - there are 6 other judges! =)

Next up is the 5th Annual Reflections Synchro Invitational in Hershey, PA on February 17th at the Giant Center. Time for redemption!