Competitions for the 2008-2009 season

I just purchased a ginormous 2009 calendar, to hang aside my ginormous 2008 calendar. Before the competitive seasons begins, I like to mark down what is happening when. You may be asking, "Why not use your computer to do this?" Great question and for the life of me, I cannot get used to looking at a calendar on the computer. It's almost like it's the last paper thing I'm clinging to before I go completely digital. There's something about turning the pages to see the next months that is very calming. Hey, I save a lot of money on spa treatments! But anyway, I look forward to marking up my calendar because then I know that 1) the skating season resumes shortly (yay!) and 2) the rink I usually skate at during the season, Rockefeller Center Skating Rink in NYC, will open shortly (double yay!). I thought I would start breaking the international competitions down for you folks who would like to be as neurotic as I am. In preparation, you need a calendar, pen, highlighter, a few magic markers, and lots of White-Out.

Let's start with the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. The Grand Prix is a series of international invitational competitions organized by the ISU where skaters compete in singles (ladies and men's), pairs and ice dancing.

Currently, the sanctioned competitions for the Grand Prix are:

• Skate America
• Skate Canada International
• Cup of China
• Trophée Eric Bompard (France)
• Cup of Russia
• NHK Trophy (Japan)

The series ends with the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, which features the top six skaters/teams from the six competitions. And let's not forget the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating, which differs in that there are eight events in eight different locations.

Afterwards, I can look forward to the Japanese Nationals, U.S. Nationals, European Championships, Four Continents, the World Championships, and a recent addition, the ISU World Team Trophy. There are lots of dates and locations to keep track of, but so far on my calendars are the following:

2008 ISU JUNIOR GRAND PRIX (JGP) OF FIGURE SKATING:

• August 27 - August 31, 2008: JGP France (Courchevel, France)
• September 3 - September 7, 2008: JGP Italy (Merano, Italy)
• September 10 - September 14, 2008: JGP Mexico (Mexico City, Mexico)
• September 17 - September 21, 2008: JGP Czech Republic (Ostrava, Czech Republic)
• September 24 - September 28, 2008: JGP Spain (Madrid, Spain)
• October 1 - October 5, 2008: JGP Belarus (Gomel, Belarus)
• October 8 - October 12, 2008: JGP South Africa (Cape Town, South Africa)
• October 15 - October 18, 2008: JGP Great Britain (Sheffield, Great Britain)

2008 ISU GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING:

• October 23 - October 26, 2008: Skate America (Everett, Washington)
• October 30 - November 2, 2008: Skate Canada (Ottawa, ON, Canada)
• November 6 - November 9, 2008: Cup of China (Beijing, China)
• November 13 - November 16, 2008: Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire (Paris, France)
• November 20 - November 23, 2008: Cup of Russia (Moscow, Russia)
• November 27 - November 30, 2008: NHK Trophy (Tokyo, Japan)
• December 11 - December 14, 2008: Senior and Junior Grand Prix Final (Seoul, South Korea)

2009 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS:

• January 20 - January 26, 2009: ISU European Figure Skating Championships (Helsinki, Finland)
• February 2 - February 8, 2009: Four Continents (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
• February 23 - March 1, 2009: World Junior Figure Skating Championships (Ostrava, Czech Republic)
• March 23 - March 29, 2009: ISU World Figure Skating Championships (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
• April 3 - April 4, 2009: ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships (Zagreb, Croatia)
• April 16 - April 19, 2009: ISU World Team Trophy (Tokyo, Japan)
• May 28 - May 31, 2009: ISU International Adult Figure Skating Competition (Oberstdorf, Germany)

OTHER IMPORTANT COMPETITIONS:

• 2009 U.S. Qualifying Competitions
• December 8 - December 13, 2008: U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships (for juvenile and intermediate only; novice, junior and senior compete in Cleveland in January) (Lake Placid, New York)
• Sometime at the end of December 2008: Japanese National Championships
• January 14 - January 18, 2009: BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships (Saskatoon, Canada)
• January 18 - January 25, 2009: U.S. Figure Skating Championships (Cleveland,Ohio)
• March 3 - March 7, 2009: U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships (Portland, Maine)
• April 21 - April 25, 2009: U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

And let's not forget all the television specials involving someone's Friends and Family and Pets, or Fashion on Ice, or Celebrate the Holidays, or Seal or Barry Manilow singing while skaters skate! Disson's got that one covered. And because I am in NYC, there are always Olympians and World medalists who skate at Rockefeller Rink for NBC's Today Show so there are further notations on the calendars on that front, like "Wake up really early to see (name) live." Whew! I know the above is not my complete list, but it's a start...A really complete list can be found here.

Comments

[Aaron Harris]

I love the idea of marking all that on the calendar! Seems like I can never get enough skating, but boy that's a lot of skating to tune into! Can't wait.