Hi everybody,

Me again! I hope you’ve been having a good December and are getting excited for the holidays!

We have had a busy fall so far! When my last blog was published, I was in Italy competing at the Grand Prix Final! The competition didn’t go quite as smoothly as I would’ve hoped, but it was a big goal of ours to get there this season so we were pleased to be able to check that off our list.

The completion of the Grand Prix series and the Grand Prix Final kind of concludes the first half of our season. We have taken a few days off and now we are in Montreal. Here we will fine tune our programs with our choreographer Julie Marcotte, meet with our off ice trainer Patrick Magee as well as our costume designer Mathieu Caron, and prepare for the second half of the figure skating season.

This year is an especially exciting one because the World Championships will be held in Canada. It’s been seven years since the last time worlds was in Canada (2013, London ON) and I was there, competing! I often tell people that it was one of my favourite competitions I’ve ever competed in. There is something special about events held in Canada and I think it is for a plethora of reasons. We always feel supported and cheered on, but I believe that Canadian fans cheer for everybody. The volunteers are happy to be there and willing to go above and beyond to offer their help. I suppose it’s the good Canadian way. When I competed in London with my previous partner, Dylan, we skated to the best of our ability. We finished fourth, just off the podium, and couldn’t have been more thrilled. I will never forget doing our first lap of stroking and our coach telling us to soak it in, because we will likely never have another Worlds experience in our home country.

Almost seven years later I find myself in a very different place both as an athlete and as a human. With gained experience (and evidently, age) comes a loss of naivety. Competing becomes more stressful with the perception of more pressure and more to lose. I have gone through many ups and downs in competition settings and have learned from each scenario. I still enjoy competing as much as ever, but my appreciation for the experiences and opportunities to evolve has grown.

I hope to have the opportunity to represent Canada with Mike this March at the World Championships in Montreal. If I get the chance, I will try to bring the confidence of the fearless girl who competed in 2013 and combine it with the experience and joy of the woman who skates today. I will represent Canada with pride as always, mixed in with a little bit of Skate Ontario magic.