By: Hannah King
I remember the exact moment I fell in love with the sport of figure skating. I was watching Ice Princess for the first time and after the final scene I was hooked. I watched that movie countless times before my mom completely banned it. When I got a flyer at school about an open house for the local figure skating club, I handed it to my mom as soon as I got home and asked her if I could go and sign up for lessons. Almost instantaneously, my mom rejected this proposition. However, I wasn’t going to give up that easy. After all, I played every sport she ever signed me up for, like soccer and swimming. This was the first time I ever felt passionately about playing a sport. So, for the following weeks, I continued to pester her about signing up for lessons. Eventually, she agreed to let me sign up for figure skating lessons.
The first time I stepped onto the ice figure skating instantly became my first love. Even to this day, I have yet to find something that gives me the same feeling as skating on freshly plowed ice does, or the feeling of mastering a new jump. Thus, when I broke my ankle playing softball in the spring, I didn’t want to quit despite my doctors telling me otherwise. They were adamant that my ankle would never be able to regain the strength it once had. Being my stubborn self, I wasn’t going to let a couple of doctors get between me and figure skating. Despite my doctors’ and my parents’ opinion on the matter, I signed back up for lessons in the fall. I was determined to not let an injury prevent me from doing the one thing I loved. I wish I could say I proved the doctors and my parents wrong, but they were right. My ankle couldn’t handle the strain figure skating put on it. After two seasons, I made the decision to quit. I went on to fulfill my time with high school sports.
When I made the decision to put figure skating behind me, I stopped going to the rink all together and forced myself not to think about it. All my time and energy was spent playing volleyball, swimming, and track. I never thought I would be able to bring myself to be able to go back to the rink. However, this summer that all changed. On a chance encounter with my old coach’s mom, she brought up how Molly bought rink time and was looking for someone to split it with. She gave me Molly’s number, and the next thing I knew, I was figure skating once again. I had given up on figure skating a long time ago simply because I thought I would never get to the level I wanted to be at. When I made this decision, I forgot all the reasons why I loved figure skating. I didn’t love figure skating because I loved the feeling of competing. I loved figure skating because I loved the challenge of trying to tie a skate as tight as possible. I loved the feeling of landing a jump or completing a spin. This summer I was given the opportunity to rediscover my passion, something not everyone has the chance to do.
Kommentare