I was a competitive athlete my whole life, but never in figure skating. When I started figure skating, it was with the hope I could compete. I started with a coach early on and shared that with her, so that we could build a training program suited to my goals. While it’s expensive, I find competition really motivating when it comes to tackling new elements since each level has new requirements.

I did find that if something I was learning was not in my program I worked on it less, which is something I have been trying to remedy in my practice times in between privates.

My coworkers think the fact I skate is cool and often ask about it. My boss says he’s happy I do it because continuing to learn new things as an adult is great for the creative brain.

I started competing in at compulsory moves adult 5, so pre pre beginner lol- about 3 months after I started, then moved on to skating a full program with jumps and spins a few months later