jumping. It always reminds me of that time when I was 4 years old out on that frozen lake. It’s still magic.
Finally, when I was in fifth grade, things
AMELIA HORVATH (Pre-preliminary)
When I was about 4 years old, my mom took me to my first public skate at my future club. We went to the skate rental desk and my mom picked me up and helped me tie my skates. Ten we stepped out on the ice together. Te first lap she held my hand. After that, I let go and be- came a speed demon. Later that day, my mom and I went to a
birthday party on a frozen lake for one of her friends, who was a competitive figure skater. I put on a pair of his old skates and marched out onto the ice. I was all bundled up in my snowsuit, and he helped me do my first forward strokes on bumpy ice in the chilly air. I remember how he and his skater friends were gliding, jumping and spinning around me on the lake. It was like mag- ic. When we left the party, I asked my mom if I could take lessons. I couldn’t wait to learn how to skate just like them. After that first Snowplow Sam lesson, I just
couldn’t stop skating. I started to work with a coach and got my first pair of real skates. Tey were used and not very pretty, but to me they were the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Soon after, I entered my first competition. It was a year of firsts, and I’ve been skating ever since. Skating takes so much hard work, but I
don’t mind. When I’m training, I love getting that high-five from my coach on a jump or spin well done. I even appreciate her corrections, be- cause I know they will make me a better skater. I especially love to compete and the excitement that comes from doing my best. I love the roar of the crowd after I finish my program, and the dis- appointment and the happiness that goes along with finding out where I place. I look ahead to how to improve and learn how to be a gracious loser and winner. Probably the thing I love most about skat- ing is making new friends. I made so many when I participated in the opening ceremonies for the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Champion- ships held in Greensboro, North Carolina. I was even able to get the autographs of some of my skating idols on that first pair of old, used skates that my mom kept for me. While they still aren’t very pretty, they are priceless to me. It was the best day of my life and an experience I will never forget.
Tere is so much I love about skating. I love the feel of the wind blowing through my hair, the cold nose and toes, and the thrill of spinning and
ALEXA PAUL (Preliminary) “We’re given minutes on this planet. Take
advantage and live those minutes.” When Scott Hamilton shared this in the movie RISE, it really struck me. It could not be more true. You should spend these seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years . . . doing what you love to do. For me, that is skating. After watching Sasha Cohen on television
eight years ago, I decided that I was going to do exactly what she did; I was going to skate like her. My mom took me to a nearby rink after she saw that I had an interest in the sport. Little did we know that the rink would become my second home.
My love for the sport was simple back as a child. I thought it was cool to slide instead of walk, and I also enjoyed doing unique things. Just like Peggy Fleming shared, it was fun. Tat’s what I thought as a first grader who stood on the edges of the rink. I was shy, just like Dorothy Hamill, scared to get hit or in the way of someone speed- ing around lightning fast, landing doubles like they were nothing. Soon after I started lessons, my love for skating changed. Now all I wanted to do was skate and wear the pretty dresses. I would show up to practice in a sparkly pink dress that I changed into at home after jumping around the house. I would get my skates laced up, with my mom’s help, of course, and I would step onto the ice, somehow always getting in someone’s way. I feel like that is the skater I was for a number of years, the one that was either standing at the wall or nearly getting killed, as I would stand in the middle of the rink and just watch others. Now, you may be wondering why I stuck with the sport at this point. I honestly do not know; I just loved the feeling of being on the ice. I started working on jumps and spins and my first moves-in-the-field test. Fleming shared my feel- ings exactly when she said that it was “smooth and magical” to be out on the ice. I just lost focus of everything outside of the rink, which might have been a bad thing for an elementary school student, but I liked it. Plus I was a strong student, so it was OK.
clicked. I started moving away from the girl who stood at the wall and transformed into the one that skated around and looked like she knew what she was doing. I would proudly skate my back crossovers into a waltz-loop combo. And when we started working on Axels, my love for the sport grew even more. I always heard the announcers on television say, “Here’s the double Axel,” and was finally trying an element that was one rotation less of the jump Sasha Cohen had in her competition programs. I would work on these Axels every day, even at my house. If the ceiling of the kitchen (right below my room) ever falls apart, I will not be surprised. All this work, all the effort, and I was getting
little in return. I had been working on this Axel for more than a year and I still could not rotate enough when I was off the harness. At this point I started to reconsider the time I was putting into the sport. I started to think that maybe skating was not for me and that there was something else out there that I was destined to do. However, my coach never gave up on me. I would be nowhere without her. My coach is someone I know I can always reach out, one to whom I look up to. Just like the coaches in the movie, like Maribel (Vin- son Owen), she wants her students to do great and will help guide them until they achieve the goals. Unlike Maribel, though, my coach does not throw chairs at me when I do not land some- thing! She supports me, explains my mistake and I try again. Tis tactic I have found helpful, as it reinforces self-discipline and helps me to achieve success. When I was frustrated with my Axel, she explained that she would not spend her time teaching someone something she thought they would never be able to learn. Tis gave me hope and it helped me land that stubborn jump. I landed the 1.5 rotation jump! At that point I knew that this was my sport. Not only did I feel accomplished after landing it, but I knew that the process had taught me many different import- ant aspects of life, including patience and focus, and there was no other way I would have rather learned it. From there, my skating has been un- stoppable. Skating is currently my life. I spend most of my days doing homework and at the rink. I am now working on double-doubles and my skating has never been stronger. I love being in school and knowing that I have skating to look forward to later that day.
When I step onto the ice I forget about ev-
erything. No longer do I have that test to study for after the session or my brother’s baseball game. Besides, I am no longer the kid who stands on the side of the rink who everyone underestimates. I am the kid who holds her own. I am the kid who loves skating, and that is how I am going to live the minutes of my life.
SKATING 37
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