A New Adventure

I've decided upon a new adventure…it's something that's been in my head for a long time – something I've always wanted to do. So in turn, I took the plunge and just did it. And I'm glad I did.

I'm going to be a skating judge.

Why? What? I thought you were a coach, you're thinking. Correct. I was a coach. I haven't coached actively with a club for a few years and at this point in my life, it is too much commitment without enough pay. Coaching skating is something that requires a lot of dedication (if you want to do a good job) and something you need to pour your heart into. Those are both things, at least right now, that I just can't do. I hate getting up early in the morning to coach and I hate driving at 3pm. I hate not being in control of my business (ie: able to expand it) because if there's no ice, you can't just go rent some somewhere else. I have a daughter I'd rather spend time with and a stay-at-home job I need to focus on. All these things lead me to believe that me and coaching are just not a good mix at this time in my life. I really thought about going back this year and making it work with Alexys, but in the end, I'd still have to work somewhere else on top of coaching in order to make the financial things work out.

I'm also 99 percent sure this is my last year of skating synchro for a long while…unless I like, win the lottery, or come into a great deal of money. I can only skate this year because I have fundraising money from the year before. I don't have the time to fundraise anymore (at least not enough to pay for a season) and quite frankly, I'd rather have nice things for Alexys and save for a bigger house, then adding another mortgage payment to my life for skating.

So where does that leave me after this year? Rinkless, that's where.

And I can't do that.

So over the weekend I took the first step in becoming a skating judge. Some things you should know about skating judges:

• Judges are not paid. It is a volunteer position – yes, even Olympic level judges. However, you are paid for all expenses, including gas and food.
  
• Judges cannot wear jeans or LuLu's. The must wear dress pants. And parkas maybe. I might need to invest in a parka ;) I am thankful for my Ugz. Those are considered dressy (?!!!) and kept my feet SO warm.
  
• This is the first season in figure skating history that you must be a SKATER to become a judge. I'm not kidding. Anyone could have done it prior to now. Guess all my last place 2^nd to last places over the years make sense. I just wasn't appealing to the old, gay men who knew nothing about skating. Maybe I should be relieved ;)
  
• They are not all old, gay men. Just mostly they used to be. Now they tend to be female. And young. And I don't know about their sexuality.
  
• This will probably only make sense if you're a skater, but this was the last clinic ever to be done with the 6.0 system – the rest are all CPC. It should be interesting in the future, as there is not a set date in which STARSkate and young categories will be switched. So basically you'll be trained in CPC and then judge using 6.0. Logical. NOT.
  
• The total amount of time it took for me to become an official judge was less than 8 hours. Total.
  

That's right. I'm a judge. Well, I just have to mail my papers in and then I am official. All I had to do was sit in a seminar and learn a couple obvious things (like a good jump has a stretched landing and a flying spin doesn't count if it doesn't have a proper fly) for 4 hours and then go and trial judge. I judged four events – one being Senior Men (just for fun) and 3 Prelim events. I got all my placements within 3 spots of being "correct" (that's the requirement).

Our head lady sent me an email by the time I got home going on and on about how great of a judge I'd be and I'm one of 2 from my group to judge at the next competition if I'd like and have already been recommended for a "promotion" and the chance to do the next level clinic. Sweet.

Anyways. That's my adventure. It'll be perfect for next year. This year I'll mostly just do a bit here and there. Just enough to dip my feet in, in preparation for the following year.

kortney elise xoxo