Collegiate skating offers more than competition. It cultivates community and builds confidence while teaching important life skills. The lessons learned on the ice help skaters thrive in their careers and relationships long after graduation. Current and former collegiate figure skaters reflect on the important life lessons they learned from their time on the ice that continue to shape their lives both personally and professionally
Scott Brody: University of Michigan skater (Class of 2016)
The first thing that comes to my mind is the work ethic, determination and grit that were initially fostered while training. I work in life sciences consulting where I am often faced with complex problems to solve. When a challenging problem comes my way at work, I attack it head on, the same way I would on the ice.
Sherry Chen: Senior at Barnard College, Columbia University
Like many other figure skaters, I was always a perfectionist growing up. I demanded the best of myself in every aspect of my life. I took a long break from skating in high school and my freshman year of college, right as our team was being built. At my first competition, I was frustrated with my placement (I was somewhere in the bottom three). After years of competitive dance, anything below first place seemed like a loss to me. However, collegiate skating made me rethink my approach to athletics and other parts of my life, including school and work. If we were all perfect, we would all be the same. I work to remain humble and resilient in my training. Instead of aiming to be the best one in the room, I always strive to be the most improved version of myself. I am incredibly proud of the improvements I have made in skating and at school, all thanks to the consistent support of my teammates. They are always around to teach me new moves, pattern dances, or help with schoolwork. Now, as an upperclassman and a leader of the team, I aim to return the same kind of dedication to my younger peers.
Ting Cui: Senior at Middlebury College and Team USA athlete
[My time as a collegiate skater has taught me that] time management is huge and learning to balance that in college is going to take me far in life. Knowing that I can do both figure skating and be a full time student, especially in a place in rural Vermont, makes me feel really good and prepared for what comes next.
Joon Soo Kim: University of California, Los Angeles skater (Class of 2021)
Having seen my figure skating career all the way through to what is likely now the end, I find myself using my skating experience as a paradigm for understanding the highs, the lows and the overall progression of my career in medicine. I'm currently entering my third year of medical school, so I'm very early in my training to become a doctor. When I think back to the various slump, bad performances and embarrassing moments I had in my skating career, I remind myself that it was because - not in spite of - those challenges that I was able to grow as an athlete. I also like to remind myself of the qualities that I had (or wish I had) that helped me progress in skating early on: consistent dedication, taking breaks, asking for clarification, finding good mentors, welcoming critical feedback and losing gracefully, to name a few.
Ashley Korn: Miami University synchronized skater (Class of 2010), ice chair of the Collegiate Synchronized Skating Subcommittee and coach for the University of Michigan synchronized skating team
I was never the best skater but being the coach’s kid, I knew I had eyes on me a lot and struggled with that pressure at times. That pressure was definitely self-created so I’ve always tried to be conscious to not try and create that pressure for my athletes. My goal for them is to ultimately grow each day at practice, to do one thing better than the practice before. Working with college-aged athletes, I know that 100% for someone can vary every day and being aware and respectful of that is important so that the teams know that my goal for them is growth, not perfection. I want to empower my athletes to recognize when and where they aren’t their best and how they can grow from that because that’s how life outside the ice is. I want to empower them to be confident yet cognizant, and most importantly to uplift one another. I want to foster an environment both in my program and in the collegiate skating realm in which women uplift women and while competition is at the core of what we do, we do it in a way that creates a positive shared experience.
Kelvin Li: Senior at the University of California, Berkeley
To succeed in skating is to get up and learn from every fall, to take each element one at a time, and to make the most of every moment in a program. I’d say these are exactly the skills that it takes to get through a PhD: pushing through the experiments that give negative results, trying to improve each reaction that I set up and making sure that I’m being efficient and thoughtful with my time. In the same way that I've made peace with the fact that not every program run through is going to be flawless, when I'm in the lab I've sought to aim not for perfection but for doing my best, which is in my control and achievable.
Meghna Shankar: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign synchronized skater (class of 2022), U.S. Figure Skating official and member of the Collegiate Skating Subcommittee
I gained so many valuable skills from competitive figure skating that I continue to use every day. I learned the value of hard work and how to collaborate with others. Currently as a graduate student I utilize the foundation that I formed as a competitive skater to help me reach my personal and academic goals.
