Stories shared of resilience following injuries BY LEXI ROHNER


ELIZABETH OZORAK, 57 MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA


BRONZE FREE SKATE, PRE-SILVER DANCE


SC OF GREATER YOUNGSTOWN ADULT SILVER MIF, SILVER PAIRS,


Elizabeth Ozorak’s skating journey began in her mid-40s with her son, Nick, learning the basics together. “Skating is very social in our town and I wanted


Nick to enjoy it. I promised we’d both have fun,” said Ozarak, who admitted she was terrifi ed of trying something so challenging as ice skating. Before eventually gravitating toward ice dance


and then pairs with partner Greg Ferree, Ozorak was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. She went from being active to — within a few short weeks — being unable to walk three blocks. Despite the debilitating condition, Ozorak sought


help and was able to continue skating. She and Ferree went on to enjoy three successful seasons together before Ozorak hit another roadblock three days before the 2012 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Sectionals, when she tore her right rotator cuff while performing Axel lifts. Again undeterred, she adapted the lift for com- petition and emerged (with Ferree) with the bronze medal at the 2012 U.S. Adult Championships. She later needed total shoulder tendon reconstruction. “I have no idea what I’d been supporting myself


with because nothing was connected,” said Ozorak, who was off the ice for two months after surgery. “I was de- termined to come back stronger than before, and I did.” A psychology instructor at Allegheny College in


Meadville, Pennsylvania, Ozorak pressed on. “Skating was enormously important for recovery,


because it’s done in short bursts,” Ozorak said. “Noth- ing I did lasted more than two minutes anyway.” In 2013 Ozorak and Ferree garnered silver at sec- tionals and the U.S. Adult Championships in silver pairs, even learning the death spiral in between the compe- titions. She has since moved to free dance with partner EJ Bocan. Ozorak credits her coaches Quinn Vogt, Maria Koman and Elena Valova for shaping her skating. “I grew up in a nonathletic family,” Ozorak said. “I


tell my students, ‘Don’t let anyone put a label on you. If you want it enough, try it.’ ” And Ozorak practices what she preaches. “Most people don’t even know I live with a chron-


ic illness,” Ozorak said. “I credit skating for helping me recover. It’s the spiritual discipline I need when I’m tempted to take the easy way out, and it’s been my road back to health.”


LINDA PRICE, 58 REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA


ADULT SILVER FREE SKATE PENINSULA FSC Watching her aunt skate in the Ice


Follies never left the childhood memo- ries of Linda Price. “I never forgot how the shows made


me feel, so I walked into a rink at age 35, bought skates and was hooked,” she said.


Price, a fi nancial analyst, has en-


joyed a 20-year-plus aff air with the sport, which has been fi lled with more ups than downs under the tutelage of coach Peter Sasmore. “We laugh, we cry, well, I cry, and he


really cares about me and my skating,” Price said. “I’ve also had the pleasure of working with Charlie Tickner who ap- proaches skating with humor, has so much patience that I test every time, and a unique way of connecting with his adult skaters.” Along the way, Price has endured


her share of injuries and recoveries. A high school injury necessitated a


total knee replacement in 2009, and fi ve weeks before the 2012 U.S. Adult Sec- tionals, she broke her leg. “During fast back crossovers I heard the clink of death,” Price said. “I fell onto my hip and broke my greater trochan- ter.”


The fi rst few months back on the ice,


Price would not skate on the crash site, though Tickner made her own it by skat- ing and stomping on it. Over the years Price has learned to


work through problems, she said. “Quitting isn’t an option,” she pro-


claimed. When she’s not on the ice, she’s in demand as a professional costume de- signer and is working with a Theatre on Ice team. “I really enjoy working through the


concepts with the artistic director, and the freedom of bringing my own elabo- rate and unique designs to life,” she said.


ROBIN JOHNSON, 45 ROGERS, ARKANSAS OZARK FSC


ADULT BRONZE FREE SKATE


Robin Johnson’s life is an adventure, no doubt about it. The Arkansas resident trains at a gun


range, rides dirt bikes, is an avid fi sherwoman and loves to lace up her skates and compete. Her lust for life has also paid dividends when it comes to overcoming serious knee injuries. In 2009, a torn left knee meniscus required


repair after a test session fall. In 2013, just a week after the U.S. Adult Championships and one of her best performances, Johnson had a torn meniscus repaired, a chondroplasty, ACL tears repaired and some “fl oaters” removed from under her kneecap. “My most recent surgery was on my right


knee that had a previous ACL reconstruction in 1990,” said Johnson, who has patiently worked her way through recovery. “My physical ther- apist called it ‘precuperation’ versus recuper- ation. My training in skating had me in better shape than most people, making recovery eas- ier.”


Despite being involved in so many


X-Games-type activities, she said skating off ers the toughest mental and physical challenges of them all. “Would it be an exaggeration to say that


skating is life?” Johnson, who works in the in- formation technology fi eld, asked. “I’ve been club secretary and president, taught skating school and private lessons, made and stoned costumes and made props.” She attends numerous skating events as a fan and has been a second skate mom to many skaters with whom she remains in contact. Johnson has learned how training and


preparation can alleviate fear of the spotlight. Coached by her best friend, Jennifer Kelly, Johnson trains one to four days weekly de- pending on her condition. And after 13 years of training, traveling, in-


jury, crazy costume ideas and dreaming, John- son was elated to share the experience with her supportive friends and family when she earned gold at the 2013 U. S. Adult Championships. “It’s about skating smarter, not skating Johnson


harder,”


said of her ap- proach


now I to


skating. “My or- thopedist told me I have grade-four arthritis.


to pace myself to continue


in


have this


sport and still be able to walk when I am 80.”


20 FEBRUARY 2015


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