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| My final journal entry |
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| May 29, 2002 |
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| As you may have heard by now, I have made my decision as to who will be my next partner. After a long and sometimes exhausting partner search, I have decided to skate with Marcy Hinzmann. I tried out with three excellent girls, all of them very talented. However, when it came down to making my decision i felt that Marcy was my best option. She seemed like the best match and I felt she presented me with the best opportunity. I would like to take the opportunity to thank a few people |
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| To Danielle. For nearly sixteen years you were my skating partner and my best friend. I wish you the best of luck in the next chapter of you life. I hope you will be there as I start my next chapter with Marcy. Richmond will be getting one great skating coach and an even more incredible person. I will miss you more than words can every express and I am grateful for every moment we have spent together. |
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| To Janey (Mayne) and Brandi (Sandoval). I want to thank you both for trying out with me. I am sorry that things were unable to work out. However, I believe that both of you will be successful in whatever you decide to do. Good luck in the future |
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| To my family. Thank you for supporting me the past twenty-four years. I hope you will be there to support me as I start the next chapter in my life |
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| To my coaches. Well we are about to start over again. Thank you for being there for Danielle and I for the past few years. I hope you will be there to help Marcy and I as you have for Danielle and I in the past |
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| To my students and their families. Thank you for your understanding while I went through my partner search. I know at times it must have been a little frustrating watching me try to juggle ten million different things. I hope you respect my decision to continue skating. I also am looking forward to working with you in the future |
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| To my fans. Thank you for supporting Danielle and I over the length of our skating career. I really appreciate it. I hope you will be there to support marcy and I as we start the next chapter of our skating career |
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| To Sandy and Arlene. Well i am sorry that the hartsells.com website must come to an end. Thank you for everything you have done for Danielle and I. I hope you will be there as I start a new beginning of my skating career. |
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| And finally to my new partner, Marcy Hinzmann. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to skate with you. I realize we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. At times I will probably be difficult to work with. However, I believe that you will make me a better skater and I hope I can do the same for you. I am looking forward to beginning our future together. I realize that you have been through a lot in the past few weeks. Relocating to Detroit must have been a difficult decision. Hopefully, I can make the move to Detroit worth your while and we will have a successful future together. |
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As you may have heard by now, Danielle and I have decided to no longer skate together. This was a difficult decision for both of us. We have thought long and hard about what we both wanted for our future. We both had many options in front of us, and we had a lot of people to consider in making
them. In the end, we both made the best decision for both us. |
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| At the moment, I am now looking for a new partner to skate with. This was a very difficult decision for me to make. I never thought I would skate with another girl besides Danielle. But, since Danielle no longer wanted to skate and Ii did, it was the only decision i could make. |
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Right now, I am working with a girl from my rink (Emily Krol) for about a week now. I have
been trying to teach her some of the pair moves and she is trying to get my butt back in shape. I also have a couple of tryouts lined up in the next couple of weeks. I have also turned in my application for the partner tryouts in Colorado Springs in April. Hopefully, I will be able to find the right partner to skate with me. |
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| Since Nationals, iI have been in therapy trying to recover from a torn groin muscle. It has been a long and sometimes tedious process. I am finally back on the ice, skating two hours a day. I have started jumping and can now do all my singles, a double toe, double flip and double axel. Emily and I have been skating pairs about an hour a day and we have done all our throw doubles (except for Axel). She has been working on a forward inside death spiral, some basic pair spins and all sorts of lifts. I have also started lifting weights and doing lots of cardio. I am hoping to get my weight down to 165 lbs before the beginning of summer. |
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| i want to point out that I respect Danielle's decision 100 percent. I know she is looking forward to starting a new chapter in her life. I wish her the best of luck in the future and I have enjoyed skating with her for the past 15 years. This is going to be difficult for both of us, but I think we can both do it. |
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in closing, i want to say something to Danielle. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I have enjoyed every moment of our 15 years on the ice together. We had a special bond, that will always have a place in my heart. You have been closer to me than anyone else that I have ever
known. You have been more than a best friend. No matter what was happening in my life, I always knew that you would be there for me. I hope that we can remain close even though you will be many miles away. I will need you as I try to start a new chapter in my life. I will also be there for you as you
start yours. I wish you the best of luck in the future and I want you to know that I will always love you. Words cannot express how grateful I am for the time we have spent together. |
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| Sunday, December 30, 2001 |
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| We are almost ready for Nationals. Our training has been going very well. We are in the best shape we have been in since 1999 Nationals. My foot is feeling much better. I also went back to my old pair of blades. |
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| I also moved into a new apartment with a good friend of mine.I have been really busy lately and still haven't unpacked all my stuff. |
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| Sunday, November 18, 2001 |
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| We still have a couple more days of training. We plan on leaving Saturday afternoon and start practice on Sunday. These last couple of days will be spent putting the final pieces of the puzzle together. Wish us luck. |
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| Well, we were both embarrassed about our performance at Skate Canada so we came home determined to work hard. We re-worked our long program, changing some of the elements around. We are returning to our short program from last year with some changes to the choreography. We have been training very hard. We hope to show you at Nationals what good skaters we can be. |
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| Saturday, September 9, 2001 |
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| I'm back on the ice. I started jumping this week. My toe is feeling much better. We started our fall season. I'm going to be busy coaching 14 hours a week along with my normal skating and weight training schedule. |
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| We had a show today. It wasn't too bad considering it is our first performance since my injury, and, the music started over again about in the middle of the program! We still have some work to do before our next performance, Evening With Champions. Talk to you soon. Bye. |
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| Saturday August 4, 2001 |
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| Well, after about a month of pain in my left foot, i had x-rays and a bone scan and found that I have had a broken toe. So it's no toe jumps for me for a couple weeks. I'm just glad we were able to compete at Skate Detroit. |
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| Speaking of Skate Detroit, we were disappointed in our 3rd place finish but we did made 2 major errors and found that we had what was considered by the judges to be an illegal move in the program. We're making adjustments to the program to correct that. We got some good feedback from the judges too. Right now we will will be working on our choreography until can work on the jumps again. |
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| When I was walking up to the rink one day during Skate Detroit I saw a lot of people milling around with cameras and such so I thought they were filming a promotion. Then I saw Kristi Yamaguchi and I thought oh yeah, that's what they're doing-a promotion. I got the surprise of my life when Kristi said I had won this beautiful Chevy Venture mini van in a contest sponsored by Chevrolet that I had entered several months before. I was shocked and so happy! I can't tell you how much having a reliable car (actually having a car period) is going to make our lives easier! |
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| Friday June 22, 2001 |
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| We're really excited about the new season and looking forward to Skate America and Skate Canada. Hope to see you there. |
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| Vacation time is over. It's time to get back to work. Danielle and I had a great time inJjamaica. We both got a nice tan as well. |
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| Since then things have been really busy. We just got finished choreographing our short program. We are skating to Broken Arrow. We have a few weeks to get ready for our first competition. Danielle and I are planning on competing our short at Skate Detroit this year. |
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| We just started working on our long program. I can't tell you what we are skating to because I honestly don't know what it is called. What I can tell you is it will be different from what we have done in the past. Hopefully we will be able to pull it off. |
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| We also spent a couple of days in Delaware. We had lots of fun seeing some of our friends. If any of our friends from Delaware read this, thanks for showing us around while we were there. Good luck to all of you and keep in touch. |
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| It has been a while since I have written. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Danielle and I are preparing to go to Jamaica for vacation. Last week, we had two shows. We did Champions on Ice in Detroit on Friday. Saturday we went to Bowling Green, Ohio for two shows. Now we are done and ready to prepare for this season. In a month I have a student competing at the Ann Arbor competition. I hope she does really well. When we get back from Jamaica it is time to prepare for the upcoming season. Talk to you soon. |
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| Wednesday, January 31, 2001 |
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| I know it has been awhile since iIhave written. A lot has happened since then. |
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| Our competitive season is almost over. We leave for Four Continents on Sunday. We have been training hard trying to get ready for the competition. I am looking forward to some time off afterwards. |
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| I am taking an American History class at Oakland this semester and still working as a coach at DSC. So, you can see, I need a vacation. |
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| We love hearing from you and are encouraged by your good wishes. |
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| Steve |
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| Not much has been going on lately, just practice, practice, practice. Wednesday I did get my ear pierced. Friday we had a halloween party and I dressed up as my coach, Johnny Johns.; Everyone really liked my outfit. Saturday, I helped my sister move into her new apartment.; Now, I am getting ready to leave on Monday. |
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| Wednesday, November 2, 2000 |
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| My life has been boring. I'm coaching 6 days a week, and I divide my time between Detroit Skating Club and the Troy rink. I also spend a lot of time of the computer. I like to talk to my friend Erin Pearl and Ii do visit FIgure Skating World but i don't participate. Skating, working out, talking to my friends on the computer, watching baseball, that's my life. |
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| We leave for Nation's Cup on Monday! |
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| Monday, September 4, 2000 |
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| Thanks for all your support. Will I see you at our road rally next week? |
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| Well, we went to training camp in Lake Placid. There were a lot of meetings but we did have some fun doing " statues", which is getting a group of us together where we were each had to be in a different pose but touching each other somehow. It's hard to explain but it was really funny! |
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| Wednesday, July 12,2000 |
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| We've been training hard, as usual and it's really coming together. We're looking forward to the new season! |
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| We have a road rally coming up in September (I'd better not do the driving in that one either). Hope to see some of you there. Go to the fundraiser page for info. |
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| Last night I went to a prom with Sarah Stevens, a friend from Detroit Skating Club. We had a lot of fun, but I can't remember when I got home! But i do know I slept in late this morning. (this afternoon). |
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| Skating has been going well except I had to miss a couple of days because of pain in my right side. The doctor is watching it. I have had x-rays, blood tests, etc. I hope it's not appendicitis. |
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| Sunday, May 7, 2000 |
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| I am going on record to predict I won't miss a single jump this year in competition!!!!! |
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| Well, Danielle and I are back to practicing. We are starting to work on our new short program. I can't wait to compete again! |
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| In June we will be going to the Olympic Training Camp in Colorado Springs. We've been before and really enjoy it so i'm looking forward to that. |
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| Will write again soon. |
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| Saturday April 15, 2000 |
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| We've done talks at a couple schools in the area. We got a thank you note from one of them saying we now have 500 new fans Boy that's nice to hear! |
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| I've also been teaching and going to school. Everything is going pretty good. |
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| I'll be writing again soon. Thanks for all your support! |
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| Well, watching Nationals this year was different. We got to see the senior team of Craig Joeright and Larisa Spielberg win the bronze medal. And Stephanie Kalesavich and Aaron Parcham won juniors. Kristen Roth and Michael McPherson won novice pairs. All of them train at Detroit Skating Club with us. I'm really happy and proud of them all. |
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| Saturday, February 19, 2000 |
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| I wish we were there competing but look forward to getting on the ice soon. Danielle is about a week away from getting back on the ice. We hope she will be skating a week from Monday. |
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| Since getting back from Cleveland I have taken the last week off. I'll start working with the trainers on Monday and will resume my regular training schedule then. |
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| Before we left for nationals I went snowboarding with a couple of friends from the rink. It was a lot of fun but I was really sore the next day. I hope iIcan try it again in the future. |
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| Again, thanks for all your support. The notes and e-mails have really helped us get through the rough times. And we always like hearing from you. |
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| Well, by now you all probably heard about the injury to my sister Danielle. Well, here's what happened. |
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| We were going over our short program's star lift and the lift was really good until the end when the lift started to get a little bit back on the last turn. And I thought ;this is not what you want for this lift As we were going for the exit my heel got stuck in the ice and I fell. Then I went to save Danielle and brought her to fall on top of me but she was adjusting at the same time, then, as we hit the ice her knee cap hit the ice and that's how the injury happened. |
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| Saturday, January 15, 2000 |
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| The last couple of weeks I have been keeping myself busy. Danielle and I are taking a class together at Oakland University. On top of that I have been teaching eleven hours a week (skating). Also while Danielle is off ice, I am helping a girl, Katie Stewart, learn pairs. Katie has been doing a good job and is picking up really fast, but I can't wait for Danielle to be back on the ice! |
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| I have been skating a lot since the injury doing two hours of pairs and two hours of singles a day. I have also been working out with a new trainer, Britta Ottoboni. She has been working me very hard. I have been getting a lot stronger but I have a ways to go. Erin Pearl & I have also been working together off ice. Between working out with Britta & Erin, I have been getting my body beaten up! But, I have added two pounds of muscle and hope to add another three pounds by the end of spring! |
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| Danielle & I are planning on going to Nationals to watch and to cheer on all of our friends. It's going to be interesting to watch instead of compete, but we look forward to competing again in the near future. |
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| We did a performance in Wayne, Michigan at our old rink. We made a few changes on the long and short programs since Skate America. The changes feel good. The programs are a lot more comfortable. There are still some small adjustments to make. |
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| We leave for Germany on Monday. Hopefully we'll skate better at Nations Cup! |
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| Saturday, november 6, 1999 |
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| We did an exhibition in St. Clair Shores, Michigan today. I thought we skated pretty well. We had a really good throw triple loop. We had a couple of small misses but we're pretty much where we should be at this point. We hope for a better performance at Skate America. But we've got a few things to clean up. We are pleased with the way the program is laid out. On Danielle's death spiral, she opened up her hip and she went down. It happens. |
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| No time for a personal life right now! |
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| I just heard about Paul Binnebose. We will be praying for him and hope he has a speedy recovery. |
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| Saturday, October 2, 1999 |
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| We've really been working hard on our new programs these past few weeks. I am really getting excited about the start of the new season. We will debut our long program next saturday at a local competition here in Michigan. |
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| My passport came in the mail on Thursday so i'm all set to go. Danielle's is here too. I was able to sneak in a date or two in the last couple of weeks, a blonde girl, but no more details! I'm not the type to kiss and tell! |
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| Saturday, September 25, 1999 |
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| We were all really busy, mom, Danielle and I, catching up on our fan mail. We were behind because we were waiting for our new pictures to come in. By the way, if you'd like to write to us, please send mail in c/o the USFSA. They need to know that we have lots of fans too. We really appreciate all the mail we get and all the support you have given us. |
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| I promise to write some more when i have more time. Hope to see you at the rink! |
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