Tales of a 30-something figure skater

I celebrated my 30th birthday just a few weeks ago on 9/20.

Approaching and now living in my 30s has brought on a mix of feelings. Some feelings that I've had a great life and I've got much to look forward to. I've been able to share the past several years with a great man and I'm so lucky to be able to share and build a lifetime of experiences and achievements with him.

I also sometimes feel like I've missed several opportunities to accomplish more in my 30 years, like already having a family that includes small children and have a more decisive and thought out career plan.

That's life and I think everyone goes through some of those times and maybe it's more pronounced right now.

One item of my life that has been constant over most of my decades has been a love of a crazy sport, figure skating. My 30th birthday was actually the 20th anniversary of my first time ever skating. I had begged my parents for several months after watching the 1988 Olympics and reading all of the related Sports Illustrated articles over and over to take me skating. I finally got to go on my birthday and I've never really stopped since. I skated as competitively as you could for growing up in Lexington, KY from the age of 10 to 17. In college, I started coaching. Since getting my bachelors degree and starting salaried 9-5 occupations, I've coached intermittently and consistently practiced even less. Still, I attended my first ever PSA conference this spring and passed two coaching "exams" (Power Skating & Hockey I). This fall I've started practicing even more. I joined the local adult synchronized skating team in Louisville, KY.

I was never a great skater but it gave me a lot of satisfaction and taught me a lot about setting goals, creating short term and long term plans to achieve goals, how to win and how to lose, some sense of "listening" to my body, and an ability to be in front of people. I learned a thing or two about classical music and dance, Cold War politics and understanding Russian accents along the way as well. The tiny voice in my head that says, "You've practiced this, you're OK, just breathe, think & have fun" that pops up before an important presentation comes straight from skating. I was reminded of all of this when I realized after my synchro practice on my birthday that I'd been skating for 20 years.

I don't think I'll ever end up coaching full-time or getting too involved in competing and performing again, but skating makes me feel great and I would still like to follow and contribute to the sport. Here's to another 20 years....