Ice Skating

Ice skating is one of the most famous winter activities. It’s almost a cliché—you know, the snowy scene with the frozen pond and figure eights before a cup of hot chocolate?

Well, that’s not my version of ice skating.

For eight years I was a competitive figure skater. When asked what sport I “played”, I’d proudly answer, “I ice skate!” Sometimes the response I’d get would be a few blinks and then I’d be asked what I did in the summer.

Uh…it’s called an indoor rink.

In fact, I think I’ve skated on an outdoor rink all of twice. I know winter and ice tend to go together, but a figure skater can’t train only two months a year, especially on uncut ice. Figure skaters are athletes—the real ones skate all year. And yes, figure skating is a sport. Some people question this, but I can attest that during my (long) time as an ice skater I conditioned, competed, was injured, was nervous, and accomplished many goals on my skates. Yes, it’s an art, but it’s an intense sport too. Unlike in dramatized movies like “Ice Princess” (my personal least favorite), no one skates a few times on their backyard pond, whips off a few triple loops based off physics equations, and goes to nationals within a few months. Figure skating is…nothing like “Ice Princess”, which is kind of a huge fail of a movie. Skating takes guts, endurance, and strength. It also mandates that you get over that aversion to launching yourself through the air and landing on a thin metal blade.

Even though I’m not skating anymore, I still have what it left me: experience with competition and nerves, a tolerance for low temperatures, strong legs, and the knowledge of how much I dislike wearing makeup. I watch the winter Olympics for the skating, and in my opinion it’s one of the best winter sports out there.


Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
www.kierynnicolas.blogspot.com
My novel, RAIN, will be released as an ebook February 15th!