Our Evening in a Private Suite at the World Figure Skating Championships

Wednesday night was no ordinary night for the Schneider-Farris family. Of course, going to Worlds was unusual in itself, but little did we expect the treat that was in store for us as we left the parking lot near Staples Center for the arena.

This is what happened:

An executive from Mattel Toys in Los Angeles approached a friend of mine as we entered the arena. Apparently, the people he'd invited from Mattel to share his company's private suite during the Pairs Freeskate had not shown up. "Would they like to come to his gathering in their place?"

My friends accepted. They soon found out that they could invite my entire family too!

So off we went through the VIP area in Staples Center. We not only watched the pairs in luxury, but we were welcomed to a room with a private video screen, a comfortable lounge, food (gourmet sandwiches, salads, hors d'oeuvres, pop corn, chips and salsa, dips, hot dogs, chicken, sodas, bottled water...you name it!), and a deluxe view of the arena. (The suite even had a refrigerator, sink, and cupboards! The children commented the only thing missing was a restroom!)

Our host from Mattel explained that this was Mattel's private suite and that he was not a skater. Of couse, he liked figure skating, but admitted he knew little about it. He treated us as if we were authorities on the sport. He said things like, "That looked pretty good to me." and "What is the highest score you can get?"

Anyway...we watched Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett of the United States skate an incredible program. We cheered for Keauna and Rockne, but we were sad that they didn't skate their best. We watched the incredible Chinese pairs, and saw the Russian girl fall on her face after she fell on the quad throw. We saw the Germans win.

Our host left the suite before the awards, and so privately, with our friends, we watched the awards ceremony. We saw Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley, and Jenni Meno and Todd Sand give out the awards to the pairs medalists. We saw the flags raise and we then saw the skaters take their victory lap.

As the arena emptied out, we sat on the suite's couch for a moment and laughed together about our wonderful evening! It was hard to leave! We will never forget going to Worlds, but also, we will never forget the night we watched the best pair skaters in the world from the "lap of luxury!"

Just one more additional note:

My dear friend, Larisa Gendernalik was also with us. She also enjoyed seeing the event from the private suite. As we exited the arena, Larisa saw Russian coaching legend, Tamara Moskvina. Larisa is Russian and knows Tamara well. The two reunited and I took a photo.

What a night it was!