Love is...

Figure Skating

“When I grow up, I wanna go to the Olympics and win a gold medal!”

That is your dream. And now, as you stand waiting at the boards, you remember that dream. You remember hours and hours of practice and a mother gently kissing skinned knees and hands. You remember getting dressed in your car, in the dark, in order to make the early morning rehearsals where you weren’t quite awake, but still did it anyway. Emotions surround you- thrill, anxiety, hope, joy-but you push them away. Your program runs through your head; you know every jump, turn, and spin by heart. As the announcer calls your name you enter the rink, preparing for the performance of a lifetime.

            You raise your arms in the welcoming warmth of the crowd and smile. “I can do this,” you think. You take your starting pose, your heart racing, and the music begins. Your body feels every beat, every note of the music. You glide confidently over the ice while your mind floats on an emotional high. You feel nothing, yet everything. Your first jump, a double axel, comes with ease. You come out of it with your leg raised high for your spiral sequence. By now you are psyched and flying higher and higher. The next jump combination is the easiest of the combinations, a triple Lutz- double loop. The transitions into it are smooth and intricate, and you vault into the air high and quickly. You can’t relax yet, though; ahead of you is the triple flip- triple toe combination.

As you pass the judges, you smile confidently, leaning backward on outside edges in a beautiful spread eagle. Your footwork is fancy and quick, and your body twists and dips with flair. The speed for your next- and last- combination is there, and the transitions feel right. Your body turns backward, forward, and then backward again. “Here goes nothing!” you think. You thrust your toe pick into the ice and turn one, two, three times. No stopping now!  You do the very same thing again, and land it with a precisely bent knee. Joy and relief seem to burst from you, and the crowd goes wild with encouragement. You fly through the rest of the elements knowing every movement with perfection. Here you are, finally, on Olympic ice, and to be doing so beautifully. This was your wildest of dreams, and now you are in the midst of it. You soak up the beauty of the arena and the Olympic experience. Although your legs are tired and numb, you go for it all, and do your spin combinations with every ounce of you. Flying camel, layback, Biellmann, corkscrew, and new artistic spins are your finishing elements. When the music stops, you strike your final pose, exhausted, but overjoyed. You don’t stick it for long, however; ecstatic energy overtakes you and you race across the ice, with arms pumped in the air. The journey of a lifetime is over.

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Figure Skating:

         n:  Ice skating consisting of one or more planned sequences of required and optional spins, jumps, and dancelike maneuvers, originally consisting of a program in which the skater traced prescribed, usually elaborate figures.

            Figure skating is a sport that involves not just athleticism, but beauty and expression. It is a worldwide sport, using music, which is considered the universal language. Figure skating originated in Northern Europe in the ninth century as a means of travel for hunting. It wasn’t until later that it was considered a leisure activity. Ice skating blades were first made of bone, and then later evolved to iron or steel. It was Sonja Henie’s short skirts and white skates that made it appealing to the world in 1928, when figure skating was previously added as an official Olympic sport. Since Henie, many other talented skaters have appeared in the limelight: Dick Button, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Sergei Grinkov, Kristi Yamaguchi, Kurt Browning, Tara Lipinski, and Michelle Kwan are just a few.

            The sport of figure skating is not just a sport, but an art and a form of expression. Just like any other activity, skating can be used as a way to express yourself. It’s been said that, “A beautiful skater paints on the ice.” Just like an artist conveys their feelings on canvas, a figure skater can reveal their emotions on ice. Knowing that, it makes sense that half of their score is technique, and half is artistry.

Figure skating is a sport filled with drama and excitement. Your four and a half minutes on the ice have to be perfect, in order to be the best. If your concentration is even the slightest bit off at a competition, your whole program could go down the drain. Your body must memorize every muscle movement, every turn, spin, and jump, in order to balance on the few millimeters of blade separating you from the ice. It takes confidence, yet not cockiness. It takes power, but not overexertion. You must have grace, speed, agility, and flexibility to win a gold medal. But most of all, you just have to love figure skating.