Bradie Tennell Enters 2019-20 Season with New Experience and New Mindset

Considering Bradie Tennell's status as one of the undisputed leading ladies of U.S. Figure Skating, it might be hard to believe that she's still figuring things out.
 
Tennell burst onto the international scene less than two years ago, winning bronze in her Grand Prix debut at 2017 Skate America.
 
It was a title that instantly put her into the Olympic conversation.
 
Soon she was the U.S. champion, then an Olympian, then an Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, and suddenly Bradie Tennell had arrived in a big, big way.
 
But with less than a year competing internationally at the senior level under her belt, Tennell still had some firsts ahead of her.
 
Her first post-Olympic season was also her first full season on the Grand Prix circuit, and with it came some growing pains. There was a lot of travel, quick turnarounds between competitions and the spotlight that comes with being a star.
 
"I was overthinking things a lot last year, when all I really needed to do was just go out there and skate. Because, you know, that's my job," Tennell said with a laugh.
 
She earned bronze at Internationaux de France, but missed the podium in her return to Skate America, finishing fourth. Known for her consistency, Tennell was plagued by uneven performances.
 
"It was little disappointments, things I know I could've done better, mistakes that I made that I've never made before and was like, 'Where did that come from?'" Tennell said. "It was just so many out-of-the-blue things, and I was like, okay, you know what? Everything happens for a reason, it happened, I can't change it and let's just move forward and figure things out."
 
Another first: competing at the U.S. Championships looking to defend her title.
 
The 2019 GEICO U.S. Championships was held in Detroit, not far from Tennell's home in Carpentersville, Illinois, so she had family and friends cheering her on in the crowd.
 
Great support, she says, but added expectations on top of an already fraught situation.
 
"There was definitely more pressure," Tennell said of being the defending U.S. champion. "I was just overthinking things. I didn't trust myself, and I think that was my biggest problem.
 
"I was pretty proud of my short program. My free program I was rather disappointed in, because I feel like from the first jump, I was so shaky. And that's not normal for me. I prefer to skate a free program rather than a short, so it was very out of character for me. Even to this day, I'm not sure what came over me. But those things happen, and you've just got to learn to roll with the punches."
 
Tennell slipped to second place at the U.S. Championships, but rebounded almost immediately with strong performances at both the ISU World Figure Skating Championships and World Team Trophy to close the season. She placed seventh at Worlds, and set personal bests in her short program, free skate and total score at World Team Trophy.
 
"Those were my two best competitions last year, and I'm very proud of the way I finished my season," Tennell said. "I think it was great. Those two competitions were a great experience and they were so much fun."
 
The fun continued into the offseason, as Tennell spent time in France with choreographer Benoit Richaud and toured with Stars on Ice. She reveled in the weekend the group spent on a tour bus – "I was like that little nerdy kid going around Comic Con going around taking pictures of everything, like, 'Oh my god, this is so cool!'" – and getting out in front of an audience every night, as well as getting to interact with many of her young fans.
 
At a show in St. Louis in July, Tennell met a 3-year-old girl who had started skating after watching her at the Olympics.
 
"That's the best feeling in the world, because I remember watching the Olympics myself and being like, 'Oh, I want to be like her, I want to be like her!'" she said. "And being able to now be on the other side of that is incredible. And I'm so grateful that I'm able to inspire the next generation of skaters.
 
"You forget about it until you get in front of a crowd of kids and they're all looking at you like the starry-eyed emoji on your phone, you know? You remember back when you were younger and you looked up to these people that you grew up watching skating, and then you're suddenly on the flip side of it and it's like, 'Whoa.' It hits you."
 
Things were derailed a bit when Tennell broke her foot. She was in a boot for two months, forcing her to miss the Autumn Classic International, and only returning to full-throttle training in mid-September.
 
But she's pain-free, feeling good and looking forward to finally debuting her programs. In her short program, set to "Chronos/Mechanisms" by Kirill Richter, she hopes to show a different side of herself, while her free skate to "Cinema Paradiso" by Ennio Morricone is more wistful and elegant.
 
Tennell will compete at 2019 Skate America presented by American Cruise Lines in Las Vegas on Oct. 18-20, and at Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia, the following weekend.
 
"I'm going into Skate America just like any other competition," Tennell said. "I think I'm going to prepare as much as I can, and I'm going to go and I'm going to enjoy the experience. I mean, Vegas is a great place to have a skating competition, because I think the crowd is going to be awesome. I'm excited to go and I'm excited to skate and get my programs out there."
 
While Tennell's end goals for the season include winning her second U.S. title and making it onto the World podium, she plans on hitting smaller goals to get there.
 
At the top of the list? Stop overthinking and shake off the inconsistency of the 2018-19 season.
 
"I think this year I'm going to trust my process more and step on the ice and just be myself, because I'm most at home when I'm on the ice," Tennell said. "So I have to let that shine."