Don’t be afraid to embrace change
by ASHLEY CAIN For as long as I can remember, I was the
girl who competed in two disciplines — the girl who did singles and pairs. People thought I was crazy because I stayed at the rink after everyone left, running my fourth full program of the day. It was something I did so naturally and that’s how I thought it would always be. In 2010 I won the silver medal in novice
ladies and the gold in novice pairs with Josh- ua Reagan. In 2011 I was fifth in junior ladies and first in junior pairs. That same year Josh and I placed second at our Junior Grand Prix, made the Grand Prix Final and were fourth at the World Junior Championships. At this point, juggling two disciplines
was still easy for me and I didn’t find it stress- ful. I was still young and my body was able to take all the physical demands. The final year that Josh and I skated together, we placed sixth in senior pairs with a great free skate and I won the silver medal in junior ladies. That same year I competed on the Junior Grand Prix circuit in junior ladies and the se- nior Grand Prix circuit in pairs. It was a really exciting year filled with a lot of hard work. Unfortunately, when we got back from
nationals Josh and I decided to end our part- nership. When this happened I felt lost but fell back to my singles and applied all the extra time that I now had to working on my skating skills, spins and more difficult jumps. From competing and training both disciplines for so long, I was able to stay in elite shape all the time.
When I started only doing singles, I
had to add in more floor training, jumping, and program run-throughs to keep myself in shape. Throughout that first year, I slowly started finding myself and I established my- self as Ashley Cain the senior lady. I had suc- cess from 2012 to 2015 in singles, earning two senior international medals, competing on the Grand Prix circuit and completing tri- ple-triples in competition. I gained so much experience in my singles career and I loved every moment of competing and training. Fast forward to the 2015–16 season. I
suffered an injury to my right ankle that had me on and off the ice, and every competition I went to I felt unsure of myself and of my skating. I kept pushing and made it back to nationals, something that I did not see hap- pening at the beginning of that season. After last season, I took some time off to reflect and I came back to the ice refreshed
56 DECEMBER 2016
Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc
and healthy. I started working toward this season as a singles skater and things were going well. One day during training, sort of out of the blue, my coaches/parents were contacted by U.S. Figure Skating about my interest in competing in pairs again because Timothy LeDuc was coming back to competi- tive skating. My immediate thought was that jump-
ing back into pairs was going to be a huge commitment and, as crazy as it sounds, I was unsure if my body remembered how to be a pairs girl. I told U.S. Figure Skating that I need- ed to think about it, but by the end of the day I knew I wanted to do the tryout. I knew that it could be a new beginning of a world of pos- sibilities. Before I knew it, Timothy was on the
plane to Dallas. Our tryout was conducted over two days — a Thursday afternoon and a Friday — and by the end of it, we knew that it would work and that we would have some- thing special between us. I remember taking Timothy’s hand and feeling so calm, and I gained strength from knowing that we were working together. I had missed this feeling. The following Monday, we received an email from U.S. Figure Skating congratulating us on our partnership, and by Thursday, Timothy had officially moved to Dallas. The past four months have been a whirl-
wind. They have been filled with hard work, tons of laughter, opportunity and lots of
learning. Up until September, I was deter- mined to compete in two disciplines again; I had never done senior pairs and senior ladies at the same time. I knew it was going to be hard, but I wanted to be that girl again, the one who could do two disciplines and be suc- cessful. Then came the time to try pairs and sin-
gles at the same competition at Mid-Atlan- tics. The exhaustion I felt was incredible and I knew in my heart that I would not be able to continue both pairs and singles at such an elite level. I felt that I couldn’t dedicate 100 percent of myself to both disciplines, so I made the difficult decision to focus solely on my pairs career with Timothy. Luckily for me, I have the most incredible support sys- tem around me who have been by my side through everything. I now move on to the next chapter in my
skating. Timothy and I are enjoying every part of this process and we are so honored to be representing Team USA this season. As I re- flect on my skating career — the past and the future — I think of this quote, “You may not always end up where you thought you were going, but you will always end up where you are meant to be.” Don’t be afraid to embrace change, to
see how far you can push yourself and be a little scared sometimes. Everything happens for a reason and in the end all you can do is allow yourself to grow and enjoy the journey.
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