Sasha Alcoloumbre reaching his goals

“I wasn’t really expecting that at all,” he said in an interview before a practice at the local arena. “I just wanted to place top five or six or at least the top eight since they all go to the nationals.”

For the short program, Sasha performed “pretty good” and came third. Skating “close to perfect,” his only fault was stepping out of a jump. In the long program, he did really well and again placed second. “Everything just came together.”

Overall, Sasha finished second because he was among the very few who scored consistently high in both programs. “I’m really happy because I reached higher than my goals. That boosts my confidence and motivation.”

That was a much better result than at the Quebec sectionals six weeks ago where he finished fifth overall. In four other Quebec competitions this year, he also came fifth in each one.

He’s really looking forward to the nationals that take place in early February 2008 in Ottawa. For the next six weeks, Sasha promises to work “very hard,” especially on his techniques, and achieve consistency in his programs so they pretty much become second-nature.

Part of this year’s success is due to his lack of injuries. Last year, he injured his ankle and hip as well as badly stretching his inner thigh due to a growth spurt. Even with those handicaps, Sasha finished 11th overall in Quebec.

Practicing six times a week, he does a half-hour stretching and warming-up each time and another one-and-a-half hours on the ice. There you can see his strong artistic expression and abilities very well. To keep himself competitive for the nationals, Sasha will work on his triple jumps and double Axels. “Doing those difficult jumps would be really great.”

Over the past few years, he has developed a really good attitude and “progressed fantastically,” Lodge commented.

His practice time is somewhat limited now that he’s still in Grade 11 and is quite serious about his studies. Next September, Sasha will have more time to train physically and skate more when he enrolls in the CEGEP sports-and-studies program.

“That will definitely help me for future competitions.” By making it to the Junior nationals, he has already achieved one of his goals. His next ambition is to get to the Junior world’s and Senior nationals and eventually to the world’s. “I want to go as far as I can.”

(Photo: Courtoisie)