Figure skating is not for the faint of heart.
It is a costly sport. It requires dedication – often in the
wee hours of the morning before most of us are up.
It requires the grace of a ballerina and the athleticism of
a gymnast. It requires blades and boots that possibly cost more than my entire
wardrobe. It requires costumes, bedazzled with bling, and hand-sewn to fit every
inch of a skater’s body perfectly. It requires ice time and private coaches. It requires fearless commitment -- to the sport, to the ice, to the jump.
But it also requires heart – and a bond between skater and
coach.
Luckily Sarah Hogan has a handle on this relationship. Her
mother, Michelle, is a skating coach herself. She credits her mother for
inspiring her and encouraging her, as well as her other coaches Melissa Wasz
and Lars Jensen.
A skater looks to her coach for advice, to her parents for support and to the ice for inspiration.
Hogan knows this life well. As a high school senior,
she is up before most of her friends are out of their deep-sleep cycle. She is
at the rink, training, perfecting her jumps and getting up – yes, getting up … time after time, day after day, jump after jump. That is what makes her a figure skater. For those
with perseverance, success always is within reach.
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