At the start of the season, we emphasized the importance of each decision, determining to make every step count towards the realization of our Olympic Dream. Two very large steps for us were to train in France with Muriel Zazoui for the summer and to move to Southern California for our local training with Renee Roca. These were fantastic opportunities, affording us experience and developmental progress that we would not have experienced otherwise.

 

As we approached our first competition in September, we followed our coaches’ advice in withdrawing due to minor injury. We agreed that to withdraw was the best decision, as it would enable us to be better prepared training-wise and financially for November competitions. As training progressed, our overall confidence on the ice increased. We could not be any happier with the rate of our improvement. Simultaneously, our funding support decreased. We soon found ourselves unable to purchase flights or even keep up with our training expenses. We knew it was time to make some difficult decisions. We are fortunate to have a core group of mentors and coaches who have assisted us in this decision-making process over the past few weeks. They helped us weigh the pros and cons of pursuing our Olympic Dream (at this stage without the funding), or allowing our dream to transform into another venue. Through them we have received additional opportunities as professional skaters, allowing us to do what we best love to do…skate! Although we will not be able to pursue the 2010 Olympics, we are forever grateful for the achievements we have accomplished to date. We are excited about our future.

 

Some of our exciting future events include performing at private functions, appearing in national television commercials, and touring show productions. We will maintain our web site and keep you posted.

 

We just wanted to drop you a note to say "Hello" and touch base before we get on a plane late tonight for the 2005 Mexican National Figure Skating Championships. It is hard to believe that Nationals are here already. The season is flying by fast. The good news is our programs are continuing to grow and to build, and we are very pleased with our most recent progress.

In figure skating, because the seasons are packed with action and because it takes many months to put together new programs, we skate the same programs for many months -- improving them along the way. This week in Mexico, we will compete our programs that you might have seen on the internet from Europe or at Skate America last month. Each week we work to perfect our moves and each step -- making them faster, harder, stronger, smoother and better. This is called growing your program and culminates at the World Championships in March.

It will be especially fun for us to skate our Latin Dances (the Latin combination Original Dance and our Techno Tango Free Dance) in Mexico City as a fitting way to say thank you to our Mexican family, our heritage and our dual citizenship that we honor as we skate for our father's native country. As the first ice dance team to skate at the international level for Mexico, we feel a certain amount of pride that we hope will pave the way for a future generation of Mexican skaters in the decades to come.

We also want to thank all of you who responded to our fundraising plea as donors over the past two months to cover our training expenses for the Olympic qualifying trials in Europe. This certainly was a dream come true for us and your gifts to the NEASF allowed us to purchase our airline tickets, pay for the critical coaching, equipment and costumes needed to compete at the international level. As amateur athletes supporting ourselves with only very limited time to work when we are not training, the fundraising support we receive is the only way in which we can continue to train. We thank you one hundred times over for your support.

Several of you have asked if we will have fundraising events this year to help us make it to the World Championships in March as we did last year, and the short answer is:YES!   We have just started to put together several events where we hope to see as many of you as possible. The events this year in California should be great fun for all of us, on the ice and off, including a family fun skate on the Peninsula, a wine tasting event in Campbell and a private dinner at the swanky Elements Restaurant in San Jose (thanks to owner and fellow ice dancer Tristan Huy Trinh).

When we return from Mexico, we'll post a list of these events and save-the-date details so you can mark your calendars. Until then, thank you for your support of our skating and our pursuit of the Olympic Dream. Our dreams are alive and well as we continue to persevere improving each and every day, grateful for this opportunity to improve ourselves and our lives.

Competing at the Four Continents Championships was a wonderful and rewarding experience.  The non-stop excitement began from our first step in the cruise ship hotel with registration at midnight, till the start of our long travel home.

 

Our first practice felt great: the ice, the atmosphere, and our confidence. We were so honored to be skating against the best teams from seven different countries; it was very inspiring every time we took the ice.  The competition was so much fun and we received such great energy from the audience who really showed their appreciation when we took the ice.  This kept us going every day.

 

During our free dance competition we had to skate first in our warm-up group.  Even the warm-up was fun as we captured the attention of the audience.  During the program Luke said he couldn't stop smiling, it was just so much fun. 

 

Finishing 8th in the free dance and 9th overall was very exciting.  We know we have accomplished so much already, but we also know we are capable of so much more and can reach that goal as well. 

 

Being at the Four Continents has really boosted our confidence and we are even more determined to achieve all that we can. 

 

We are really excited to be part of the Mexican team as we all cheer each other on at the events and enjoy time together at each performance and off the ice as well.  We are so glad to be a part of such a wonderful team.

 

With just one week home since Korea, we are focusing on our upcoming competition at the World Championships in Moscow, Russia.  We are so excited to be going to this competition competing among the best teams of the World, which takes us one step closer to the Olympics. 

 

The past 2 months have been very busy for us with our travel and fundraising events.  We would like to thank all of you for your moral and financial support.  We really couldn't do it without you!

Hi, this is Rebekah, Luke and Laura's mom, and I get the honor of introducing you to the newest members of the Mexican National Skating team: my kids -- Luke and Laura Muñana!

Our time in Mexico went very fast in some aspects and not fast enough in others. I didn't know how many more cab rides I could take and still keep my sanity. I even video taped one of these wild rides, just to have something to laugh over later.

As far as the skating goes...all went well. On Wednesday, L & L performed their original dance. Before they skated, the Zamboni cut the ice in preparation. Perhaps some people thought this was a good time to take a snack break, because they left the bleachers. I felt indignant, because they might miss seeing my wonderful kids skate, and I knew that they had no idea of what they might miss. But, most everyone was back in time to be awed by L & L's sparkling performance. The applause was everywhere and didn't stop. The announcer repeated their names: "Laura Muñana y Luke Muñana, vive en California, y representan el Estado de Mexico."  It was awesome, and I felt very proud.

L & L skated their free dance on Thursday. A few ladies came up to us to ask when they might see them again, and to say how beautiful they are. I do believe that L & L won the hearts of the young aspiring figure skaters and the fans who came to watch the Mexican Nationals.

We all stayed healthy, loved the food, and received royal treatment from everyone who was helpful. We were grateful to members of the local skating club, the Mexican Skating Federation and Tuthill Company (my husband Rick´s employer), who has an office just a few minutes away (Tuthill Latin America). One of the employees spent all afternoon Monday driving us around to where we needed to go, and even treated us to lunch and dinner.

Based on their performance at the Mexican Nationals, Luke and Laura have been assigned a place on the National Team as Mexican National Ice Dance Champions and will now travel with the team after the first of the year, including the Four Continents Championship in the Republic of Korea in February.

Needless to say, they are back at work today on the ice and training hard. On behalf of my husband Rick, myself and our Family, we thank you for your thoughts, your prayers and your support of Luke and Laura. We missed everyone while we were in Mexico and thought of all of you often. I sure can tell that someone is praying for us.

With Love, Rebekah Muñana