most people would not expect that when
you put a child in a sport at 4 years
old that it is something they will do
for the rest of their life this however
is a common occurrence in the world of
figure skating figure skating is freeing
it is movement artistry hard work and
perseverance it’s easy right you just
have to stand on four millimeter blades
throw your body into the air and land on
one foot with more than five times your
body weight right even after 18 years of
experience this is never easy yet
despite this physical challenge at no
point in my adolescent life did I
consider myself an athlete athletes play
a game there on teams and as far as I
knew there were no such thing as teams
in Figure Skating this turned out to be
far from the truth
in 1956 the first synchronized figure
skating team was formed in Ann Arbor
Michigan synchro is the most popular
branch of skating you have never heard
of with the upcoming Olympics people
will start talking about figure skating
again but synchro gets little media
attention and is not yet an Olympic
sport at age 9 I joined my first team
physically connected to 15 other skaters
performing in unison in a combination of
all divisions of skating becoming a
synchronized figure skater is what
challenged me to call myself an athlete
the pinnacle of most sports occurs in
one day whether it be the world
championships
Super Bowl or Olympics one day can
define an athlete successes and failures
we know that in reality success can be
defined in a number of ways we all set
goals and for some these goals remain
the same throughout a lifetime when we
set goals it can be easy to set a path
that you must follow to achieve them yet
throughout history it’s hard to pinpoint
two individuals that arrived at the same
destination in the same way maybe this
means the only true way to
our goals is to throw out the so-called
path to success and get there on our own
terms my sophomore year of college I was
immensely distracted by a goal I had
abandoned to compete at the elite level
of synchronized skating I saw two change
and decided to take a year off of school
to fully immerse myself in this goal
after the spring audition process I was
named as a member of Team USA with the
crystallites in Dearborn Michigan this
is what I always wanted to be valued as
a skilled skater and to be a part of a
group that cared about the advancement
of our sport like many teams only 16
skaters are on the ice at one time
leaving four members at the sidelines at
every given competition my goal for the
season was to not sit at the sidelines
but to be a performing member of this
team and above all be valued as an asset
to our overall success no doubt training
with Team USA is hard work I was
thrilled by the challenges it posed my
strength endurance and flexibility
always wanting to learn more until
during summer training I found myself in
the emergency room for the first time in
my life I had pleurisy an inflammation
of the lungs eventually diagnosed with
asthma but hiccups like this happen all
the time
I wasn’t defeated I bundled up and I
went to practice and I sat there for 4
hours for one day I was on the ice in no
time and continued to excel and
demonstrate growth until just three
weeks later after a minor fall I had a
fractured ankle this for a figure skater
is what we call devastating Hiab routed
my life moved hundreds of miles away and
broke the very thing that facilitated my
goal I was worried I’d lose my spot on
the team but it was only summer training
there were still plenty of weeks to get
back on the ice in time for the season
so I committed to my
every I bundled up and I went to every
practice for four hours a day for 70
days finally a year ago on this very day
I would return to the ice adrenaline
filled my veins and I wanted nothing
more than to show my coaches and my
teammates that I was ready I could do
this within 10 minutes of the warmup
after a collision with another skater
I had a Coley’s fracture to my left
wrist days later I would have a plate
and seven screws holding me together in
more ways than one
my heart was broken the years of
commitment seemed worthless I kept
asking myself why what was it all for am
I even good enough for this why am I
still here I need to go home but I
didn’t go home not after the first dr
visit not after the second so I wouldn’t
after the third my entire perception
around this goal had to change it could
no longer be about skating in the
program every day but just getting to
the rink so I remained committed to my
team i bundled up i went to practice
every day for four hours totalling 140
days during this time my mind was
riddled with self-doubt and when I
returned to the ice I questioned my
ability every day my head was wrapped
around this idea that I had to perform
and for months I battled with the fact
that I may never perform only when I let
go of my definition of success did I
find the confidence to move forward
success no longer meant performing at
every competition but just getting on
the ice no matter the outcome and
enjoying it this
is what I came for this is what made me
an athlete
throughout the season our coaches told
us to remind ourselves of this I am a
member of my team I rely on it defer to
it and sacrifice for it because the team
not the individual is the ultimate
champion my team was thriving learning
from my struggles as much as I was
learning from theirs for the first time
in history the crystallites won a gold
medal at the dr. Porter Classic and I
was honored by standing on the podium
later we travelled to Berlin Germany and
we received a bronze medal at the Berlin
Cup we followed this by traveling to
Iran France where we competed against
some of the best teams in the world at
the French Cup and we continued our
season at the u.s. national
championships
we received a silver medal garnering a
spot as Team USA – at the is huge world
championships in Colorado Springs this
was among one of the most driven teams
in the world
placing ninth of 24 teams from 19
countries there was a lot to be said by
my actions last year I had experienced
the highest highs and lowest lows of an
entire career I was three times the
skater I once was and had achieved goals
that I didn’t know I had the world
championships was the Olympics of our
sport and I never thought I would be
there much less after a hundred and
forty days off the ice for each failure
you succeed at something new achieving a
goal you may not know you had goals can
change in the process of achieving them
and sometimes conquering defeat is the
key to reaching your destination thank
you
[Applause]
you put a child in a sport at 4 years
old that it is something they will do
for the rest of their life this however
is a common occurrence in the world of
figure skating figure skating is freeing
it is movement artistry hard work and
perseverance it’s easy right you just
have to stand on four millimeter blades
throw your body into the air and land on
one foot with more than five times your
body weight right even after 18 years of
experience this is never easy yet
despite this physical challenge at no
point in my adolescent life did I
consider myself an athlete athletes play
a game there on teams and as far as I
knew there were no such thing as teams
in Figure Skating this turned out to be
far from the truth
in 1956 the first synchronized figure
skating team was formed in Ann Arbor
Michigan synchro is the most popular
branch of skating you have never heard
of with the upcoming Olympics people
will start talking about figure skating
again but synchro gets little media
attention and is not yet an Olympic
sport at age 9 I joined my first team
physically connected to 15 other skaters
performing in unison in a combination of
all divisions of skating becoming a
synchronized figure skater is what
challenged me to call myself an athlete
the pinnacle of most sports occurs in
one day whether it be the world
championships
Super Bowl or Olympics one day can
define an athlete successes and failures
we know that in reality success can be
defined in a number of ways we all set
goals and for some these goals remain
the same throughout a lifetime when we
set goals it can be easy to set a path
that you must follow to achieve them yet
throughout history it’s hard to pinpoint
two individuals that arrived at the same
destination in the same way maybe this
means the only true way to
our goals is to throw out the so-called
path to success and get there on our own
terms my sophomore year of college I was
immensely distracted by a goal I had
abandoned to compete at the elite level
of synchronized skating I saw two change
and decided to take a year off of school
to fully immerse myself in this goal
after the spring audition process I was
named as a member of Team USA with the
crystallites in Dearborn Michigan this
is what I always wanted to be valued as
a skilled skater and to be a part of a
group that cared about the advancement
of our sport like many teams only 16
skaters are on the ice at one time
leaving four members at the sidelines at
every given competition my goal for the
season was to not sit at the sidelines
but to be a performing member of this
team and above all be valued as an asset
to our overall success no doubt training
with Team USA is hard work I was
thrilled by the challenges it posed my
strength endurance and flexibility
always wanting to learn more until
during summer training I found myself in
the emergency room for the first time in
my life I had pleurisy an inflammation
of the lungs eventually diagnosed with
asthma but hiccups like this happen all
the time
I wasn’t defeated I bundled up and I
went to practice and I sat there for 4
hours for one day I was on the ice in no
time and continued to excel and
demonstrate growth until just three
weeks later after a minor fall I had a
fractured ankle this for a figure skater
is what we call devastating Hiab routed
my life moved hundreds of miles away and
broke the very thing that facilitated my
goal I was worried I’d lose my spot on
the team but it was only summer training
there were still plenty of weeks to get
back on the ice in time for the season
so I committed to my
every I bundled up and I went to every
practice for four hours a day for 70
days finally a year ago on this very day
I would return to the ice adrenaline
filled my veins and I wanted nothing
more than to show my coaches and my
teammates that I was ready I could do
this within 10 minutes of the warmup
after a collision with another skater
I had a Coley’s fracture to my left
wrist days later I would have a plate
and seven screws holding me together in
more ways than one
my heart was broken the years of
commitment seemed worthless I kept
asking myself why what was it all for am
I even good enough for this why am I
still here I need to go home but I
didn’t go home not after the first dr
visit not after the second so I wouldn’t
after the third my entire perception
around this goal had to change it could
no longer be about skating in the
program every day but just getting to
the rink so I remained committed to my
team i bundled up i went to practice
every day for four hours totalling 140
days during this time my mind was
riddled with self-doubt and when I
returned to the ice I questioned my
ability every day my head was wrapped
around this idea that I had to perform
and for months I battled with the fact
that I may never perform only when I let
go of my definition of success did I
find the confidence to move forward
success no longer meant performing at
every competition but just getting on
the ice no matter the outcome and
enjoying it this
is what I came for this is what made me
an athlete
throughout the season our coaches told
us to remind ourselves of this I am a
member of my team I rely on it defer to
it and sacrifice for it because the team
not the individual is the ultimate
champion my team was thriving learning
from my struggles as much as I was
learning from theirs for the first time
in history the crystallites won a gold
medal at the dr. Porter Classic and I
was honored by standing on the podium
later we travelled to Berlin Germany and
we received a bronze medal at the Berlin
Cup we followed this by traveling to
Iran France where we competed against
some of the best teams in the world at
the French Cup and we continued our
season at the u.s. national
championships
we received a silver medal garnering a
spot as Team USA – at the is huge world
championships in Colorado Springs this
was among one of the most driven teams
in the world
placing ninth of 24 teams from 19
countries there was a lot to be said by
my actions last year I had experienced
the highest highs and lowest lows of an
entire career I was three times the
skater I once was and had achieved goals
that I didn’t know I had the world
championships was the Olympics of our
sport and I never thought I would be
there much less after a hundred and
forty days off the ice for each failure
you succeed at something new achieving a
goal you may not know you had goals can
change in the process of achieving them
and sometimes conquering defeat is the
key to reaching your destination thank
you
[Applause]
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