Hey everybody!
I hope your spring holidays were filled with family, friends and happiness. Right now I am preparing for a long flight to Europe and thought it was the perfect time to reflect a bit on the past year.
It was a season fighting injury for me. I was so happy that it finally began to come together just before U.S. Nationals. I was also happy that I was selected to the U.S. Four Continents team. During my preparation for the competition, I twisted my ankle on a quad landing. Not only did the injury force me to withdraw from the competition, it also forced me to stop jumping… indefinitely!
Rafael wanted me to use this down time wisely and suggested that I get a jump on next season and start my new long program. He selected Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) and Tom Dickson to choreograph it. I thought his choices were great and after my initial rehab., I headed off to Colorado Springs.
Two weeks ago I returned to Lake Arrowhead and began jumping again, a little more each day. Since I am not back to the level I was at before the injury, Rafael suggested that I skate my new long program and to use this competition, Gardena Spring Trophy, to focus on all of the other elements a program brings. My goal is to skate the best I am able to.
I am very grateful to U.S. Figure Skating for the opportunity to represent Team USA at Gardena Spring Trophy and excited to travel to beautiful Italy!
Ciao… for now!
Adam
POSTSCRIPT:
Adam wrote an article for the Athlete Advisory Committee’s “Athlete Corner” about his April 2013 Gardena Spring Trophy experience with Team USA in Italy (where he won the Senior Men’s free skate and the silver medal) that was published on page 43 of the May 2013 issue of SKATING magazine. A scan of the article can be viewed courtesy of U.S. Figure Skating: [click here to read “Rippon comes full circle on Gardena trip”]
In addition to veterans Adam and Brandon Mroz, the U.S. skaters making their respective international debuts for Team USA at this competition were: Jordan Moeller (won gold in Junior Men), Jimmy Ma (bronze in Junior Men), Polina Edmunds (gold in Junior Ladies), Karen Chen (gold in Adv. Novice Girls) and Vincent Zhou (gold in Adv. Novice Boys).