What Adult Skating Is All About

This letter to the chair of the USFSA Adult Skating Committee was recently posted on several adult skating lists, and I received permission from the author to post it here. I think it says a lot about adult skating that's worth thinking about.

Dear Mr. Conte,

I want to thank you and your committee for your work on behalf of adult skating, and to tell you a short story.

I subscribe to the Internet Figure Skating Channel, and as time permits, I have been watching the Ladies' competitions at the recent Adult Nationals. To my considerable surprise, I have cried over nearly every performance. I thought, What on earth is going on here? I mean, if I'm going to cry over skating, which is rather a strange thing to do, why didn't I do it at, for example, the Olympics?

I think it was because I don't identify with Olympians, and I did identify with these women. I was deeply moved and inspired to see grown women with believable figures and good solid legs -- women my age and undoubtedly with the same adult insecurities I have -- get out there, in front of everyone, and do their best. I was proud of the countless hours of work they must have invested to get to Nationals. I was proud of the sacrifices they must have made to carve out practice time from their school, work, and family responsibilities.

Although I saw many truly talented competitors, the quality of the skating actually mattered less than the quality of the women themselves. The lady who placed last in Bronze Class 2 looked like she might have actually been a Special Olympian, and with each element she attempted, the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers of encouragement. As she finished her routine, on which I imagine she had worked for months, she beamed with pride, her face radiant, sending me scrambling for another box of tissues.

I have seen few things as beautiful as that collection of women.

Each time someone hit an element (either solidly or with a bit of a fight), or glided by with that unhurried elegance that only a woman can have, flashed a smile of pure delight, or looked up to acknowledge the shouted support of their family and friends who had come -- out of love, just for them -- the tears began to fall again. And I thought, Maybe I, too, could do this one day. I could be a strong, brave, beautiful woman like that. And a dream, a goal, began to take shape in my mind.

Seven weeks ago, my sister, my five-year-old nephew, and I joined a local ISI skate school. I literally cannot describe the amount of positive change the last eight weeks have already brought me, in terms of self-confidence and helping me redefine myself as a person who can be active. Growing up, my family was marked by significant academic and musical accomplishments, but we were not at all active, and it's led to a lifetime of struggling with my weight and with my self-confidence.

But when I got on the ice, to my astonishment, things came naturally. I discovered that there was in fact coordination, balance, and grace buried somewhere inside of me - and I slowly began to let an adventurous woman emerge, slowly replacing the painful memory of the nearsighted, clumsy, insecure girl who only passed physical education in school because of the written tests. My image of myself as "non-active" began to change.

Inspired, my sister and I both joined our local YMCAs and now exercise daily (and we've both lost about 10 pounds!). We are becoming USFSA Basic Skills members, and we just finished our beginner skating course and passed our first two ISI levels (Pre-Alpha 1 & 2). After the last class, when I skated proudly off the ice to show my nephew (who closely monitors my progress) the stars in my student record book, he flung his arms around my neck and said, "Oh, Auntie Lisa, I'm so proud of you!" And then he wiped my fresh tears with his little mittened hands.

I have *just* begun lessons with a private coach, and I even dare to dream of competing at Nationals someday. I work just a few minutes from the rink, and I practice nearly every day on my lunch hour. All the little girls there (the ones training seriously, there during school hours) know and love and help me.

On Saturday evenings, when the rink is full of families enjoying themselves, I love to help the adults still hanging onto the wall. I take their hands and go around the rink with them and tell them that they can do it. Several parents have stopped me and told me that they are inspired when they see me practicing all my little elements. "You are so brave!" they say. "Aren't you afraid that you'll fall?" And then, inevitably: "Do you think . maybe I could do it?"

And then, last week, one mother caught up to me on the ice and took my hand. "Look, look, I can stand up!" she said with a wide smile. "I've just started taking lessons. I've been watching you for weeks, and you looked like you were enjoying yourself so much that I gathered up the courage to try."

And I felt like I had just won the gold at Nationals.


Sincerely,

Lisa
Houston, Texas
Age 34