Figure Skaters Research Paper

I come from a figure skating background. From a very young age, most of my time was spent at the rink. Growing up, I undoubtedly spent more waking hours with my skating coach than with my own mother. This cold damp place was home. It is where I trained, ate, did school, socialized, laughed, cried, and even took the odd nap. It was as familiar as my favourite pair of lucky socks (yes, us figure skaters are very superstitious). I knew the best hiding spots, for when I needed time alone or needed to retain my title as the hide-and-seek champion; was on a first name basis with all the staff; and even if fast asleep on the bus, could wake up just seconds before arriving to the right stop as if instinct was kicking in. Still, regardless of all this, as I turned 13, something started to feel “off”. Where was that feeling coming …show more content…
You skate backward at full speed, leap in the air, try to complete 3 full rotations while in flight, and then, attempt to land on a very narrow piece of stainless steel; and most importantly, remain in the vertical position. It will not surprise your to hear that figure skaters learn about Newton’s law in a very painful manner, complimented with many bruised hips and buttocks. It is a cruel sport to anyone who is not graced with a low centre of gravity. Very rarely do you see any woman over 5’3” compete at high levels. There were a few exceptions, with the tallest one I knew of measuring 5’5”, and at that height, she was an exception, an oddity of sort! As a skater, the ultimate insult someone could say to you was: “Oh my god, you grew so much since last time I saw you”. These kind of comments would send a girl running away in tears, in your mind, it was the most belligerent thing someone could say and made any other profanity sound weak. Needless to say, I always dreaded the yearly trip back home for the holidays, where all my aunts and uncles would utter those taboo