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Grant Hochstein's JGP Final Blog

Wednesday, Dec. 2

Hello from Tokyo!!!
 
First of all, before I tell you who I am, I need to point out that Tokyo is amazing! I've never been to a place like this with so many people, such high energy and such magnitude. I feel truly honored to be here.

That being said, my name is Grant and I'm competing in the junior men's event here at the JGP Final. So far, we've all had at least one practice...some of us even compete tomorrow. The junior pairs and junior men have all been here since Monday, with the bulk of the team arriving Tuesday. The exceptions are Jeremy Abbott, whose plane was canceled in Detroit, and the Shibutanis. All of our flights were all really long (mine was 13 1/2 hours), and I think everyone slept really well their first night. Ross Miner even said he "slept like a champion."

Having done my research on Tokyo, I knew exactly where I wanted to go during my free time. A lot of people like to stay close, and some people don't even go exploring the city at all, but my coach Lindsay and I always see the sights. So far we've seen Tokyo Tower, an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which gave breathtaking views of the city and a really cool shrine near the tower. We also conquered the massive subway system and caught a glimse of the Imperial Palace. I still want to visit the Shibuya scramble crossing and get in a little shopping at the famed Harajuku district, among other things.

As for the skating, everyone has been practicing really well. I think it's great that U.S. Figure Skating has such a strong team at this competition. I have been skating great so far, doing a clean short program run-through on Tuesday and landing some solid triple lutz-triple toe combos and some triple Axels today. The other junior men have also been skating well. I haven't been watching too much, trying to focus on myself, but the U.S. guys seem very strong. I have only seen Britney and Nathan skate, and they've done very well as usual.

After our practice I had the privilege of seeing the great Shen and Zhao skate. It is absolutely inspiring to see the briliance and perfection they bring to our sport. If they can't inspire you, nobody can.... well, except for Michelle Kwan, but that's another conversation for another time.

I hope I've given you a little inside peek into what's been going on here in Tokyo. I'll give more updates as the week progresses. As I depart for the opening ceremony, I can promise you this: Team USA is going to dominate and bring home a whole heck of a lot of medals. Hopefully we can make you all proud.
 
Talk to you soon,
 
Grant


Thursday, Dec. 3

Hello again!!
 
The competition has begun, and the Americans are looking strong. Charlie and Meryl are first after the OD; unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to watch them because the junior men had practice very early this morning, and we needed our rest. I did, however, hear that they were amazing, like usual.

Britney and Nathan weren't perfect in their short program, but they definitely look strong. I actually was videotaping their program for Britney's mom so she could watch, so I was trying harder to keep them in the lens than taking down the details. They have been practicing very well, so I'm sure that they will rebound in Friday's free skate.

The junior men's event was very strong as expected. Ross Miner finished second, I was fourth, and Ricky Dornbush was sixth. We all skated well, which is great considering the magnitude of this event. Watch out -- we are going to kick even more butt in the long!!

The only other event I saw was senior pairs. It was after my event, and I probably should have gone back and had dinner and then gone to bed, but I wanted to watch Shen and Zhao. They were amazing. The entire event was inspring to watch. Just to see that level of skating and the perfection these skaters are bringing really makes you want to better yourself. I'm really excited to be a part of something so great.

That's all for now. Lindsay and I are going to go to Shinjuku, which is supposed to be a cool, little district in town that Mark Mitchell suggested we go see. Yesterday we, along with Ricky, went to Shibuya like I had wanted, but it was raining and kind of a letdown. Hopefully, we will be able to go back before we leave.

Go Team USA!!!
 
Grant


Friday, Dec. 4

It's a rainy day in Tokyo...perfect to spend some time in an ice rink. Lindsay and I were supposed to go run and get something to eat, but since neither of us has an umbrella, we aren't about to venture out. I have a break between the junior ladies SP and senior pairs FS, so here's my rundown of yesterday and today's events so far.

First was the junior men's event. You all already know the results, so I'm going to let you know some things I learned from my experience.

  1. Always trust in your abilities. The way you train in practice will be the way you compete. I worked my butt off for this competition back in St. Clair Shores, and I feel like the work showed.
  2. Take one thing at a time. After missing my triple Axel, I still had six more jumping passes, three spins and a footwork sequence. Except for a ridiculous step-out on a double Axel, I didn't miss another element.
  3. Skate for yourself. This is the most important lesson I learned for my JGP Final experience. Unlike usual, I didn't go out and try to get a certain place, beat certain people or get a certain number of points. I skated because I love skating. It wasn't for anybody but myself, and I know that is why I skated so well.

I'm really proud of Ricky, Ross and myself. We had a wicked good group with some amazing skaters. We all skated really well the entire competition and gave it everything we had. Hopefully, you all agree.

Britney and Nathan moved up a position from their short program to finish in sixth. Excluding the fall on the side-by-side double Axels, they were awesome. They did an amazing throw triple Salchow and should be happy with their skate.

The senior men's short program was the highlight of the competition so far. I was really impressed by how great they all did. I mean, since they are the top six on the Grand Prix circuit, I guess it should have been expected, but you never know with these competitions sometimes.

Takahashi was incredible. His circular footwork was so smooth, so fast and so ridiculously amazing - I would kill for footwork like that! And when you match it with those jumps and spins, it's unbeatable.

However, Evan came pretty darn close. He put out a solid program, with his only flaw being a feather coming off in the middle of his footwork. I guess he needed to put a little bit more hairspray on the feathers to hold them in place!

Oda was great as usual, but the surprise was Johnny. This was the best I think I've seen him skate in a while. We all thought he got a little ripped off and should've been higher. In person, his program is really cool. Jeremy and Tomas had some mistakes, but they can pull up in the long if they skate to their abilities.

Ashley skated a pretty good program yesterday as well. There were small mistakes, including a downgraded double Axel, but I'm sure she is going to come back strong tonight, and I'm willing to bet on at least a top-four finish in the long.

Our junior ladies were respectable as well. Both Christina and Ellie skated cleanly and finished fifth and sixth, respectively. I was really happy that they could do so well under such pressure. Kiri and Angela both had problems on their triple flips, but they both have such can-do attitudes that they will rebound tomorrow in the long.

One blog and 15 minutes later, and my break is over...off to watch senior pairs!!!
 
Grant
 
PS - I'm currently semi-stalking Yu-Na Kim and Shen and Zhao. I have some impressive TMZ-like pictures to post if I can find a way to do so before the trip is over.
 
PSS - I want to recognize Lorie Charbonneau for her wicked dance moves backstage before Kiri's short program. Lorie, you rock.


Monday, Dec. 7

FINALLY!!!!! I AM HOME!!!!!

As much as I loved Tokyo, I am thrilled to be back home! The flight was not bad at all. I took some medicine to help me sleep, and I think I was up for only four of the 11 1/2 hours. Thank the Lord!!

My final few days in Tokyo were a blast! I enjoyed seeing all the senior skaters compete as well as the final junior events. The highlight of Sunday was Christina Gao's amazing free skate. She skated brilliantly, landing every one of her jumps, each more effortlessly than the last. For her to pull up and win the bronze medal was a great thing for all of us to see.

Afterwards, Jeremy, Ross, Ashley and I went to Harajuku. I had been searching for this little hot spot all week and finally found it thanks to Jeremy's leading the way. We spent a really long time wandering the stores and mingling with the THOUSANDS of people. I repeat – THOUSANDS!! I have never seen more people in my entire life. We made up an ingenious call to signify to the others that we had been separated or lost. It sort of resembled a large bird in the middle of dying. Needless to say, the Japanese thought we were insane when there were dozens of bird squawks throughout the night.

We also continued the walk-by pictures with the locals. Ashley and I aren't a good team on the walk-by pictures; she would go too fast and I would go too slow or vice versa. We did try and finally managed one decent walk-by picture.

The closing banquet was a blast as well. I finally managed to talk to Yu-Na Kim –mission complete! I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm a weirdo, especially because I told her I was trying to talk to her all week and kept moving closer to her breakfast table every morning in pursuit of that goal. I don't think that is stalker-ish at all.

I would like to give a shout-out to Ricky for his amazing laugh during one of the speeches...not embarassing at all. I also would like to give a shout-out to my dinner date, one of the coolest chicks ever.

Now, as I sit down to my warm bowl of chicken noodle soup in snowy, cold Michigan, I would like to thank all of you for reading. Hopefully, I haven't bored you, and I promise, promise, promise to upload those amazing walk-by pictures soon. Thanks to all my teammates, team leaders and team doctor/physiotherapist for making this trip a blast. Finally, thank you to Lindsay O'Donoghue, the greatest coach ever, for making all my dreams possible.

Grant

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