Right step, left step, right and left now hold your knees

Move right, move left

Move right, move left, step right, step forward, step forward, step forward, step up, step left, step up, turn up, step right, step left, step When I first started ice skating, these were the first rules I knew. I was possibly no more than five years old. We didn’t have a hockey rink near my place, so my mom would drive an hour every Sunday for me to take ice skating lessons. My childhood was filled with these extracurricular events, ranging from horseback riding to snowboarding; my parents inspired me to fill my spare time with all of these extracurricular sports. Ice hockey, on the other hand, was the only sport I held as a long-term hobby. Now, it has been almost thirteen years since I started it and I see so many more years to come. While some may consider ice skating as just a mere pass time, to me, it is more than that. The lessons and life skills I have acquired from ice skating are a fundamental part of who I am today. Ice skating helped me to shape my personality by teaching me how to be patient, focused, and determined.

When I was a little kid

When I was a little kid, I was extremely energetic. I would wake up as early as six in the morning to go ice skating and wouldn’t stop until bedtime. I was the first daughter and granddaughter in my extended family, and therefore my parents and relatives raised me in a spoiled manner. They always got me everything I asked for. However, after I started taking ice skating classes, I learned the virtue of patience. When you begin ice skating, first you have to find your balance. I spent months just learning how to stand on the rink without falling. Next, I wanted to learn how to flip and jump and slide fast; however, I had a long way to go to get there. I had to wait each week to learn something new. To achieve my goal, I had to practice patience and get better each day. This made me a very patient person. It taught me to work patiently towards my goals because the good things in life take time.

With each practice

With each practice, skating on the pure layers of ice and the freedom it made me feel attached me deeper to my new hobby. I was extremely excited to fulfill my long waits during weekdays on weekends as I could not skate on weekdays with school and everything. As a teenager, I get distracted easily. One minute I can be doing a task and the next I have already forgotten about it and I start daydreaming or doing an entirely different task without finishing the previous one. Even in class, sometimes I find myself drifting away from listening to the lecturer and focusing on very silly things like starring outside the window or even focusing on the lecturer’s handwriting on the board rather than the content. However, ice skating has helped me deal with this problem. In ice skating, if you get distracted even for a second, you can find yourself on the cold and harsh surface of the skating rink. You have to focus every single second while ice skating. You have to plan your next step and move to get a smooth and safe ice skating. This has taught me to focus my attention in life to what is important. Thanks to ice skating, I get distracted less in class and if I find myself getting distracted I have a habit of reminding myself what happens on the ice if I get distracted. Other than school, when I have a task to undertake I give it my full attention and ensure I finish before moving on to a new task.

Lastly and most importantly

Lastly and most importantly, this pure and endearing hobby taught me to be determined. I always considered myself as a determined person, but I realized I also used to get discouraged and disappointed over minor failures and negative comments. But with ice skating, I learned not to give up in any situation, and no matter how many times you fail, if you keep trying, in the end, you will succeed. I remember dozens of times coming home with bloody knees because of falling and sore feet as I could not find my balance. Whenever I get discouraged, knowing that I will succeed if I try harder encourages me in to push harder. Now whenever something pulls me down, I remember how bad I was with backward skating and how good I am now. My coach used to get mad at me for not being able to stay in balance during this style, but now I feel so pleasant whenever I race with him in that same style.

In conclusion

In conclusion, ice skating is not just a sport for me as it is for many people. I have derived some of the most important lessons in my life from ice skating. I am more willing to wait for my turn at a Starbucks queue or wait for my hard work to bear fruits thanks to ice skating. I am also more focused and determined when undertaking anything in my life because I know hard work does pay and staying focused gets the job done in less time. Ice skating will forever be a source of inspiration and life lessons for me.