Tim was at club ice again last night. Man- he is an amazing skater. I was doing hockey lines* and he landed a triple-triple right in front of me, just absolutely huge. And then he apologized for landing in front of me. No apology needed! Anyhow- he once again drilled 3As- a few of them would have counted as landed (one crazy shoot the duck save), but none were clean. He told me he just wants to get a video of one clean one. Somehow our conversation got into "making it" and I said it was really motivating to watch him, and he was very modest and basically said he hadn't "made it to the top", only 11th at Nationals. I pointed out that in the grand scheme of skating, he was definitely part of the top, even if it seemed there was a long way to go. As he was denying it, two girls sheepishly came up and asked him to autograph their skates! SEE! Told you. It must be very frustrating being an elite skater. How long do you keep at it? As an adult skater, I have no schedule, but as an elite- there has to be some point where "real life" needs to begin. Tim told me "this is the year I would have graduated college" but he hasn't even started that. Skating is so demanding, and so expensive. How long do you keep at it, wondering if the rewards will come?
But then that got me thinking- where am I on that pyramid? And really, I consider myself a beginner, not that great (have you seen my jumps?) But I think that if we lined up all the people in the United States (I'm not going to focus international right now) who had ever put on ice skates (and are still alive) I think I might be in the top half. I consider the base of the pyramid to be anyone who has gone to a public session, then there is a layer of those who have ever had a lesson. Finished Basic 4 (a major cut off it seems), Finished Basic 8, taken a MITF test, taken a freeskate test. That's about where I fall (2 MITF tests, 1 freeskate). Now, anyone who has ever skated seriously is above me. But in the grand scheme of skating- I guess I'm not that bad.
*Terrifying hockey lines- the ice was so crowded last night it was impossible to skate as fast as Carson wanted me too. At one point, two girls were walking through a duet that they use hula hoops on, and I'm skating back dodging two rolling hoops- they do the thing where you let go of the hoop and it rolls back to you. But honestly with that many people on the ice- you shouldn't be allowed to let go of props like that! I actually asked the club president to have the board consider a "if X are on the ice, you cannot rehearse with props" rule. It was down right dangerous.
In interest of having a shorter post- I'll post my practice report tomorrow. But I'm much happier than I was Tuesday.
Early Autumn
1 month ago
1 comment:
I have to agree with your statement that as you get better it is hard to know when to quit. In roller it isn't quite as big a deal because it isn't like we have the Olympics to deal with and living our lives on a four-year cycle. I mean, for our top athletes we have a yearly World Championships, and we can also skate at the World Games or the PanAm games, which happen every other year, but there isn't the same sort of pressure that an Olympic spot produces.
Even still, a lot of kids quit when they go to college, or after the first year. Some people quit when they get a "real job" and some when they have a baby. Some people keep rolling through it all... I think it just depends. For the top athletes I see a lot of them stopping when they feel they have accomplished their goals, though some stop due to age, injury, etc.
It is a question I have been pondering more and more this past year. I mean, I haven't put off "life" in order to skate, but I know there will be some life changes coming in the next year or two. As for skating, I am not good enough to be considered elite, but I am certainly not a beginner. I haven't accomplished everything I have set out to do, but I am close and I don't want to quit now. On the other hand, I can also feel my body starting to protest the overuse. I am at a weird age - not old enough where I want to consider myself fully an "adult" skater, but not young enough to be a "kid" either. Most of the people in my age group are elite or have quit. I see a lot of people coming back to skating in their 40s, after they have settled, but the 20-40 age group is pretty sparse. And the other adults that age are all married and have young kids. I definitely want to stay involved with the sport (I want to become a national or maybe even world level judge someday), but I have been seriously considering how much longer I want to compete at the level I am at now, or if I want to focus my efforts on making a go at the gold medal in dance before my back (which has been having a lot of pains lately) totally gives up on me. I think I want to continue compete in figures through the adult levels though - I can't imagine quitting those, I go batty after a few days without skating them.
So, basically, I guess what I am saying is, I think it depends on the skater. There is something to be said for pursuing dreams and goals, but there is also something to be said for realizing when they are no longer realistically feasible. Even more is realizing that you are going to be willing to accept that choice and live with it. I guess I hear too many stories from the 60- and 70- year olds about how they were on their gold medal test when they were young and then didn't take it because they got married/had kids/etc. I don't want that to happen to me. But I also have to be realistic and consider that I might not be physically capable of making it happen. And I have to say, making the decision is much harder when you haven't reached your goals than when you have.
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