When his home state of Maryland began shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael Parsons disappeared into the woods.
"My dad grew up going to the mountains in Maine all the time, so I definitely got that affinity for the outdoors from him," Parsons said. "So as soon as everything was locked down and I realized all the trails were open, I just packed up a backpack and went camping. I'd go for days on end, just to kind of have me-time."
Ice dancers Caroline Green and Michael Parsons were off the ice and unable to train together from March through June. They didn't come into contact at all during those months, as they both have high-risk grandparents and remained as socially distanced as possible.
Staying in touch over the phone for three months was perhaps not the ideal situation for a team entering just its second season together. But Parsons says his time out in the wilderness turned out to be a blessing.
"I think, honestly, the combination of that and the whole lockdown actually did a lot mentally for me, just in terms of reinforcing how dedicated I was to skating, and how much I wanted to get back on," Parsons said. "I was a little worried about that, and I'm sure all the other athletes were going through the same thing. Just having that time to really think about what you're doing, and whether you want to be doing it. And I think that time off really helped affirm that I love the sport, and I'm happy to be back, for sure, now that we're back on the ice."
"I think it made us hungry, almost," Green added. "We just really wanted to get back on the ice to work on the things that we left untouched last season."
Green and Parsons teamed up in 2019 when both of their former partners – incidentally, both their siblings – retired from competitive figure skating. Parsons and his sister Rachel were the 2017 and 2018 U.S. junior champions, while Green and her brother Gordon won the junior title in 2019.
In 2020, Green and Parsons' first season as a team and first U.S. Championships together, they placed fifth at the senior level. They also earned matching seventh-place finishes at their two ISU Grand Prix assignments, Skate America® and Skate Canada International.
It was a fast start that they were eager to capitalize on.
"I think that we made a really good start last season, and we definitely had some momentum to carry over," Parsons said. "The whole coronavirus thing definitely made that a bit more difficult but I feel like we've progressed a lot already. Our coaches have done a really good job of keeping us in shape, even when we were off the ice, and keeping us motivated. So I think we really have picked up right where we left off last season and have already made a lot of improvements going into this season."
While unable to be on the ice, the pair used the shutdown as an opportunity to work on their individual goals. Parsons worked on his flexibility and body positioning – alone in front of a mirror, he noted with a laugh – while Green focused on her strength and conditioning, having made the leap up to the senior level in skating with Parsons last season.
"For me, it was a little more (focusing on) my physical ability," Green said. "Going into the senior level, I wasn't really sure what to expect. So I think my mindset approaching this season changed a little bit, because I do know what I need to do physically. So it was almost like getting a head start on training. I definitely feel more confident in myself than (I did) last season."
When they were finally able to return to the ice – they've moved with coaches Alexei Kiliakov, Elena Novak, Dmytri Ilin and Ramil Sarkulov to train at Ion International Training Center in Leesburg, Virginia – Green and Parsons had to scale back their expectations, getting back to basics before jumping right into running programs. This break was the longest either of them had ever been off the ice.
"I had to take some time to also remember the steps," Parsons said with a laugh. "Because of the missed time, I think we're really not taking any of the training time we have for granted. We're working much harder than we usually would at this point of the year."
In the two-plus months they've been training again, much of the emphasis has been on their connection and the way they interact with each other on the ice.
"I think when you enter a new partnership, you spend a lot of time just figuring out how to skate together and how to move together, rather than fully on connection," Green said. "But now I feel like we have a better sense of how we skate as a team. So it's really just boiling it down to how we're interacting with each other on the ice and playing off of each other."
"And I think that will be our emphasis for this year, is just interaction," Parsons added. "Because last year, we were still getting used to each other, and this year we're really working on how we actually dance with each other."
While the two have yet to reveal their programs for the 2020-21 season – "It puts the 'dance' in ice dance," Green teased with a laugh – they will debut them during the International Selection Pool (ISP) Points Challenge, a virtual competition offered by U.S. Figure Skating.
(Check out the Fan Zone next week for more details!)
Preparing for such an uncertain season has been something of a challenge, but both are looking forward to the new opportunity.
"I am excited, because it's something new," Parsons said. "Whenever you have something new, it's exciting, and I'm curious to see how it goes. So all we can do is prepare the best we can, and that's all any of the athletes can do."
"I mean, whatever it is, it's still an opportunity to perform," Green said.
"And that's why we're here," Parsons concluded.
