My Skating Story

This blog has been up for months and I don’t think I’ve ever completely shared my skating story. People ask me about it all the time and I love telling it because it’s not your average run of the mill skating story, those go something like this: “When I was young my parents put me in learn to skate and I loved it, I’ve been skating since” or “I was watching the winter olympics as a kid and loved seeing the figure skaters so I asked my parents to take me skating.”

I graduated college in December of 2015, after my capstone meeting I headed home and didn’t know what to do with myself. I had no assignments due, no readings to complete for class, and nowhere to be. I decided to read, and boy did I read. In just two weeks I read 14 books (avg. 300-400 pages) and then I was bored again.

It was late December and I knew that my friends and I would soon be making our annual trip to Campus Martius, the outdoor skating rink in downtown Detroit. I always had a great time with my friends on these trips, but I could barely skate and I hated that. In the last year I had happened upon a used pair of skates that were my size, so I purchased them with the hope that I might actually go skating on my own. The very next morning I decided to go skating so that I could “prepare” for our annual skating night, I grabbed my skates and drove up to the rink.

The first three days on the ice were miserable, sure I had fun - I was listening to music as I was hanging on to the boards with my life, but it was hard. I came home sore everyday. While resting in bed I would watch learn to skate videos on YouTube and by the end of the week I had taught myself swizzles, a turn, and a t-stop (with help from one of the regular skaters).

To this point I had been at the rink 5 days and there was another woman that I saw skating everyday. I decided to introduce myself and after talking a little I learned that she was 60 years old and had just started skating two years prior. I was in shock. I thought that I, at 23, was too old to start skating. She laughed it off and encouraged me to take an adult learn to skate class.

The following day I went to the rink and met a sweet girl who I thought was about my age. We began talking as we were taking off our skates and I learned that she had been skating since she was young. Might I add that she looked so graceful on the ice? Part of me kept going back just to that I could watch the figure skaters in the center do their thing. She also encouraged me to take a learn to skate class which she taught on Saturdays!

That day I had been convinced, the next session started the following week. I signed up immediately and my journey “officially” began. On the first day of learn to skate they asked us what our goals were, deep down I knew I wanted to figure skate but I didn’t dare say that out loud, a girl who could barely skate forward? What a joke! Two (LTS)  sessions later I was asked the same question by a different coach and I replied, “ I am working on my basic freestyle (figure skating) skills,” but I am getting a little ahead of myself. In that first LTS session they told me to skate backwards and I said that was impossible, tried it anyways. They asked me to hop, I said that was impossible, but tried it anyways. They asked me to bend down and touch the ice, I said that was impossible, then tried it anyways. Sure I fell numerous times, but I kept making the impossible, possible, and THAT kept me going.

The more I skated the more I fell in love with the sport. As time progressed my average weekly ice time increased. I started going to the gym religiously to get strong for ice time, I cut out processed foods to get healthy, and began to lose weight.

In the next LTS session I signed up for two classes per week. I got “real” figure skates, and it was then that I felt like a figure skater (there are many points in my journey that I felt like a “real figure skater” but I’ll save that for another post). In my third LTS session I signed up for three classes per week. I had started taking private lessons in early March and then began preparing for my first competition in April, just four months after being on the ice.

My fifth month into skating was geared towards preparing my first program, I worked very little outside of that. In my first competition I didn’t actually compete against any other adults since no one was in my level, but I performed in front of the judges and my family/friends who came to support me.

This journey has been rewarding in so many ways. I feel confident in my own skin, I am healthier, stronger, and happier. I am fulfilling my life-long dream and now call myself a figure skater - officially. This summer I will work and skate at the rink every day. I will be training with coaches 3 times a week and practicing on my own the other two days. I am excited to take my first moves test, learn new skills, and possibly compete again. Most of all I am excited to continue on this journey to see where it takes me - I am just hoping it’s not the hospital.