IndexIce Skating Experience: Introductory EssaySkating in My LifeConclusionsWorks CitedIce Skating Experience: Introductory EssayI often wonder what people are passionate about. And I mean madly in love and an enthusiastic passion towards a sport, music, topic, class, person, anything! A sort of passion that lights a fire inside them that can really be seen when they do it. This idea of passion is something to be proud of. If a person can learn to love something enough to make it a passion they should be proud! Mainly because it's not easy. When it comes to falling in love with someone or something, difficulties, struggles and disappointments are bound to come with the process. People can get knocked down so easily that sometimes it's hard to get back up. Through the sport of figure skating I learned just this. And I will say right away that it was a long and difficult journey, but ultimately being on the ice became my passion and I am immensely proud to be able to say that in an essay about the ice skating experience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Skating in My Life Skating is a very challenging sport to say the least. Skaters are expected to be perfect in every way. Every movement, every rotation, every jump must be perfect, strong, gentle and well presented at the same time. Skaters train day after day for hours with private coaches, on-ice instructors, choreographers and trainers to develop the stamina needed to get through a long program and look good while doing it. I've been skating for fourteen years and it wasn't until two years ago that my love for the sport was truly put to the test. As a skater, falling is an occupational hazard, it just falls within the territory of skating. In addition to being physically difficult, skating is a huge mental game. Fear of falling can prevent even the best skaters from attempting to launch their jumps because being injured simply means being off the ice, and that's something most of us can't even imagine. Being the risky skater that I am, I have never been afraid of falling or taking a risk and trying something new on the ice. Whether it's a new step sequence, a rotation, or an advanced jump, whatever my coach told me to try, I went out there and tried it. Life loves to throw obstacles in your way; for me life decided to get in the way of my double salchow. It sounds like a fun jump and yes, it's pronounced "sow-cow." It is a jump that starts while the skater is facing backwards and rotates twice in the air to land on her right side in a perfect landing position once again. It takes practice and, above all, repetition. I've always picked up on things pretty quickly, so when it took me longer than usual to get my double I started to get frustrated with myself. Was I not as good as I thought I was? What was I doing wrong that I couldn't get over this leap? After attempting the jump several times in a row and not getting a successful landing, my self-confidence took a VERY nosedive. One day, in the middle of training, I had what is still the worst fall I've ever had. I had decent speed starting the jump, I took off in what seemed like the right way but while in the air my body wasn't rotating properly. Instead of staying upright and slightly to the right I leaned too far to the right and in trying to fix it I ended uplean too far to the left. My lower body was in the right position and because I had so much height for the jump I was able to rotate fully. When my feet hit the ice, my right leg went to the left and my left leg to the right, and my upper body was rotated and my shoulder hit the ice with full force. It was definitely the worst fall I've ever had. Also the scariest moment of my life. The speed at which everything happens is the worst part of it all. The skaters are never present for more than a second and a half. One moment we're flying through the air and the next we're lying on the ice and feeling our bodies tingling from the force of the impact. The fall had taken my breath away. I felt like there wasn't enough air to completely fill my lungs and my hands tingled like a billion needles were pricking me. I managed to roll over onto my back but at that moment my coach ran to me and told me not to try to get up yet. Everyone at the rink knows that if I spend more than a few seconds on the ice without standing up or laughing for any reason, something must be wrong. Other skaters and coaches on the ice at the time came over to make sure I was OK. In moments of distress people often try to demonstrate how tough they are and brush it off as if everything was fine. I just couldn't keep it together; I burst into tears. The sheer pain, the frustration of not being able to land it, and the fear of being placed on medical leave made me cry my eyes out right there on the ice. They helped me up and put me in a chair so they could push me back towards the door. My parents were called and I had to be taken to the doctor's office to have my shoulder checked. Long story short, I was about an inch and a half away from dislocating my shoulder and being forced to spend at least a month off the ice. I couldn't believe how lucky I was that I hadn't seriously hurt myself. I'm supposed to be out for about a week to let my body take a break and heal, but a week isn't as bad as a month! The mandatory week I spent off the ice really made me think about my love for the sport. I thought about why I started skating and why I continued to practice so much and spend so much time on the ice. I fell in love with ice when my mom took me to my first skating lesson at the age of four. All I wanted to do was be like the older girls on the ice, spinning and jumping like it was no big deal. I continued to love the artificial cold of an ice rink as I flew through all the basic levels of skating because I picked up on things so quickly. Once I got close enough to the sport, it was time to get a private coach. Carmen Allen became my chosen coach and became my skater mom, best friend, biggest supporter and therapist. He was there for all my great achievements on the ice. When I landed the axel for the first time, she screamed with joy and hugged me so tight that I knew exactly why I kept skating. Not only was I doing something that made me happy, but the people around me would be happy to watch me on the ice. Frustration comes with sports. I thought about it and the fact that physically we have to be so precise but mentally we have to be completely focused on so many things all at once was so exciting that I couldn't imagine never doing it again. For example, during a jump we need to make sure we have.
tags