Tuesday, April 8, 2008

3 Olympians...and lil' 'ol me.....

Wow! What a night.
I got to hang out with three 1980 Lake Placid Olympians--Pairs Champion Michael Bottecelli, Dance Champion Lorna Aldridge and Men's Singles Champion Charlie Tickner.
I can't even BELIEVE it!
And you what was so great? They are so passionate about us adult skaters. Adults! We are not future Olympians. We are not elite athletes. We are working moms, dads....career folk...ordinary people who just happen to love skating.
Michael B said it so well,
"Adult skating is one of the few remaining purest forms of the sport left."
Yes, we do it because we LOVE it. We may make complete idotis out of oursleves, but we don't care. We may flop. We may trip. We may cruise at a snails pace out there. But, who cares? All we really want at the end of this thing called "Adult Nationals?"

We want to FEEL good. We want to FEEL like we skated our best and that all the hard work and goal setting got us somewhere.

How pure is that? And these three people right here, people who are at the top of the sport understand that and revel in it.

This night was one of the best in my "adult" skating life.
Thanks Mike, Lorna and Charlie. You have inspired me beyond what I ever thought I could imagine.

Michael Bottecelli in 1980 at the Olympics:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JPCCWijylsY&feature=related

Lorna Aldridge, then Lorna Wighton at the 1980 LP Oylmpics:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pM6fqEfcq2A

Charlie Tickner:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1AVcwz_jtgI

We are competing on the same ice as these great legends. Wow. How cool is that?
Until Next Time,
---J

P)S. I took TONS of pics of Dance practice tonight, plus video. I'm just too tired to post it all tonight. I'll do it tomorrow. I promise! Goodnight blog world!

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