December is here, and that can only mean one thing: a bevy of Winter and Christmas themed posts for the next month or so! I hope you are all looking forward to a whole lot of holiday history lessons, cookie taste tests, and carol misinterpretation, because that is what you are getting for the foreseeable future. Enjoy!
5 Important Life Lessons Figure Skating (ie. the Best Winter Sport) Taught Me
1. Physical Awareness and Athleticism
This is an obvious one, as figure skating is well-known for being a highly physical sport in which the athletes twist and turn and jump and generally fly across the ice. Skating involves incredible balance, posture, flexibility, and muscle control as well as the incredible ability to avoid dizziness after spinning like a top, the latter of which seems to be the only skill which I did not hold onto in my post-skating life.
I can still touch my toes like nobody's business though and good balance has never served me better than when attempting to navigate through a crowded room carrying a tray of drinks. My sense of spacial awareness also means I can snake through London crowds with ease, a skill which, apparently, no one else in this city possesses.
Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz (here in 2003) are prime examples of the incredible physical feats skaters can achieve. I remember meeting them at Skate Canada. They were super nice.
2. Elegance and Effortlessness (Even When in Excruciating Agony)
You've just witnessed the incredible acrobatics of two of my favourite figure skaters, and let's admit that they make it look so easy. That being said, the injuries figure skaters acquire during training (broken bones, sprains, stress fractures, cuts and bruises) would often be enough to make a less dedicated person give up the sport. The true sign of a figure skater, however, is the ability to persist through hardship and pain and to do so with a smile on your face.
When Isabelle Brasseur broke her rib in training, she fought through the pain to compete at the Olympics. When Jessica Dube took a blade to the face, she was back on the ice as soon as she was recovered. Some may say this is madness, but the dedication and positivity it must have taken these and countless other skaters to return to the ice post-injury is admirable and makes me shake my head in disgust whenever I see a lazy footballer faking an injury on the pitch. Shame on you, you sad, lazy Arsenals.
3. Self-Motivation and Discipline
A lot of people don't really understand self-motivation, and interpret this phrase to mean 'anything that motivates oneself''. What self-motivation really means is 'internal motivation' (ie. that you are motivated by the desire to succeed due to thirst for knowledge or personal excellence or by some other private, personal factor and not by lots of money and fancy cars), and anyone who is a figure skater knows that the rewards that come with landing your first Axel or being able to contort yourself into a Biellmann Spin are not material. These achievements take dedication, hard work, and a strong sense of personal goals, and while competition with peers may play a small role, the competition to achieve a new personal best is the primary motivation for most skaters - especially ones like me who never competed on a global level.
48 hours after her mother passed away, Joannie Rochette competed in the 2010 Olympics, stating after that her mother would have wanted her to achieve her dreams. Not only did this performance illustrate my previous point, but it also showed that personal dedication to achieving your goals will get you far (and sometimes, a bronze medal at the Olympics). The reward for doing anything in figure skating aside from the obvious of winning medals and endorsement deals are solely personal, and having learned the value of self-motivation at a young age has allowed me to follow my dreams and maintain my dignity (or at least some of it) in my adult life.
4. Love for Aesthetic Creativity
Elegant movement, elaborate costumes, classic pieces of music, and physical prowess are just a few of the aesthetic pleasures that accompany figure skating. My involvement in this sport for so many years allowed me to gain an appreciation for beauty in a world that can oftentimes be harsh. Figure skating allowed me to experience the joy of performing but also the sheer pleasure of being able to entertain others and help them forget their problems for a few moments.
Take Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, for example, who are a pair that excel technically but never fail to put on an incredible show. When these two get on the ice, it's easy to forget the mice squeaking underneath the kitchen cupboard, the icy wind howling outside, and your flatmate stuck in the lift because the joy they are experiencing during a performance is contagious. When I watch performances like this, I want nothing more than to slap my skates on (or head to karaoke or write a silly skit to post on this blog) in order to pay forward my happiness.
5. Teamwork and Collaboration
Figure skating may appear to be a sport undertaken by an individual or a team of two, but there are many coaches, trainers, choreographers, peers, club administrators, and family members who play a massive role in the skills development of any skater. A figure skater needs to be able to take direction, absorb advice and criticism, and be open to collaboration in order to reach her or his full potential. Besides, teamwork can be fun!
This clip is from my favourite Stars on Ice of all time, and it not only demonstrates that working together is awesome, it shows that figure skating can be fun, silly, musical, beautiful, and sexy. Great job, team Hamilton!
For more figure skating happiness, I recommend Kristi Yamaguchi's performance to '100% Pure Love' which is quite possibly the most iconic gala performance EVER in my mind, or some Brasseur and Eisler - they do a killer 'Copacabana' peppered with daring tricks, Patrick Chan, Kurt Browning, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Sasha Cohen, Jeffrey Buttle - I'm going to stop myself here.
Just go watch some figure skating. You'll learn something - I promise!
