I want to take a moment to address something I hold truly dear to my heart.
Since the age of 4, after watching a video of figure skating, I fell in love.
I was so drawn by the grace, the beauty (yes, the costumes had SOMEthing to do with it), and fun factor I could get from spinning. Trust me when I say that I kept spinning right after that... The spinning often drove my parents insane. Haha.
After years of bugging my parents (mom), I had the great fortune in taking lessons from the age of 13. Since then, for a solid 6 years, I was lucky enough to participate in competitions and had the chance to "climb" the skating ladders until I left for university.
Fast forward to September of 2017, I was lucky enough to get a job at a rink that feels so much like home. The woman who had coached me for most of my skating years is now my "boss" and still treats me like her student. She continues to provide me (and the other coaches) training not only to become a good coach, but also to improve our skating skills.
Some days, I have really bad days, and some days, I feel like I am flying on the ice.
Two days ago, I had to tie & untie my skates so many times, until I settled with two sore feet. The kind that felt more like a tight squeeze you get from a corset, and was not really having it.
However, today in particular, was a great day:
For starters, my skates were in the perfect fit. No pain, and not too loose.
Secondly, a guest coach is visiting and today we worked on some really useful dance steps, which we then had to incorporate that into our jumps afterwards.
Granted, I fell a couple times, and I slipped even more.
But it was so fun, the hour flew by so fast, and I didn't want it to end at all.
After the training, we stayed back a little for some spins, and I saw the progress that I was making. Even after a decade of absence from the ice, finally being able to come back to where I left off was truly rewarding.
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I know, lots of people don't see skating as a sport. They don't think it compares to "soccer"/ "football", or *inserts some sport*. Growing up, I have dipped my toes in many many many sports. You name it, I've tried it. Sprinting, long distance running (it didn't take long for me to say goodbye), basketball, volleyball, football (soccer), badminton, tennis, squash, high jump, American football, swimming, rock climbing, ballet, gymrama.. the list goes on. And don't get me wrong, I enjoy some of them thoroughly.. Even the ones that had me saying "THAT WAS PAINFUL" are still like little pieces of my smelly pillow etched on my little fragile heart. Looking back, I have fond memories of myself participating in those sports.
However...
Figure skating, by far, takes the cake in my sporting life, despite getting teased, made fun of, and confidently told that skating is an "easy" sport, or "not even a sport at all".
So! Like everything, even with food, I dare everyone (especially those teasers) to [come by the rink and] give it a go. I will be more than happy to watch you prove your point.
Needless to say, this sport will have a huge part of my heart. That little 4 year old that fell in love is still very very much in love. A love hate sometimes. But oh so in love.
Today was a really really good day.
