Figure skating: Matt figures he is ready for big test

Jan 17 2010 by Stuart Rayner, Sunday Sun

At 19-years-old, Matt Parr has already had his share of setbacks. Now the man from North Shields tells STUART RAYNER wants to prove he has learnt from them

THE biggest day of Matt Parr’s sporting career so far came in a courtroom and ended in defeat. His most important competition was ruined by nerves.

This is Parr’s 12th year as a figure skater, his eighth as a Great Britain international. But aged just 19, the figure skater from North Shields can travel to this month’s European Championships knowing that for all his experience, time is on his side.

For the past two years, Parr has been national champion but the tournament in Estonia will be his first major senior international competition.

In a Winter Olympics year, it is a chance to showcase the improvements he believes he has made since last year’s World Junior Championships in Bulgaria, when he finished 29th.

“This will be quite a big event, something I’m not used to,” he says of the championships, which run from January 19 to 24. “I’m hoping to get a personal best.

“I’ve done a Junior World Championships before, last year, and that didn’t go so well. I learned quite a lot from that.

“There were probably quite a lot of nerves. I made some stupid mistakes on easy things, and that’s probably why.

“But I feel a lot more confident than I was last year.”