College Skaters- need to hear about your experiences

[CanAmSk8ter]

I'm writing an article for one of my classes about collegiate skating in the U.S. Any skaters here who are in college or graduated fairly recently and continued to skate and compete/test while in school, I'd love to hear about your experiences, specifically any or all of these questions:

How old did you start skating? How many years had you been skating when you went to college?

Why did you decide to continue skating when you went to college?

What were some of the things you feel you had to sacrifice?

How did you handle it financially? Did you work/coach?

How did you handle the time committment? (i.e., did you do homework in advance, go to bed early most nights, etc.)

What were the logistics for you? Was there a rink on campus?

Were you far enough from home that you had to change coaches at school?

Did your school have a synchro team and/or collegiate skating program? Did you participate in either?

Have you ever done one of the USFSA Intercollegiate competitions and/or Collegiate Nationals and/or an adult competition in the YA age group? If so, what was the experience like?

It's possible I'll be trying to get Skating magazine to publish this at some point, so if you're ok with it I need your real name, where you go/went to school, year of graduation, and USFSA skating level. Feel free to PM me if you'd rather.

Thanks in advance everybody. As a group I think we tend to be overlooked, at least in parts of the country where the intercollegiate events haven't taken off. I'd love to show the USFSA that there are more of us out there.

[rinsk]

Thought, I'd try contribute. Just skip my answers if I don't count (I'm not in the US...)

How old did you start skating? 14

How many years had you been skating when you went to college? 6 I think

Why did you decide to continue skating when you went to college? Couldn't give it up. I loved it too much. First, I just wanted to finish up my gold dances then I rediscovered competitions and have stuck to it for that.

What were some of the things you feel you had to sacrifice? Sleep, lots of sleep. I don't stay out as late on weekends because I skate early Saturday and Sunday mornings.

How did you handle it financially? Did you work/coach? Parental contributions and working/coaching. I've had summer jobs up until the med school stopped giving time off for summer (between 2nd and 3rd year). I still coach.

How did you handle the time committment? (i.e., did you do homework in advance, go to bed early most nights, etc.) Really good time management: working ahead, figuring out when I'm not going to have time to study and finding other time to compensate.

What were the logistics for you? Was there a rink on campus?
There is a rink on campus that I don't really use. My appartment is a half hour away from the rink by bus.

Were you far enough from home that you had to change coaches at school? No.

Did your school have a synchro team and/or collegiate skating program? Did you participate in either?
I did for about a month until my shoulder got dislocated in a synchro accident.

Have you ever done one of the USFSA Intercollegiate competitions and/or Collegiate Nationals and/or an adult competition in the YA age group? If so, what was the experience like?
I've done adult competitions at the regional and provincial levels. I had a blast and really loved the atmosphere. I wasn't as prepared as I'd have liked to be for the competitions (school schedule allowed me 1 practice in the week or 2 leading into provincial competition and I've got great video footage of me ramming myself into the boards on my solo Arg to prove it (camera catches me head-on in close-up: think Midori Ito...).

[synchroskates06]

How old did you start skating? How many years had you been skating when you went to college? I started skating when I was 4, so I had been skating for 14 years when I went off to school.

Why did you decide to continue skating when you went to college? I actually picked my college based on which ones had SKATING, which is kinda sad, but that's what I did. I printed out a list from USFSA and sat down with that list and considered my options that way. THOSE were the schools I had to choose from.

What were some of the things you feel you had to sacrifice? I can't go out with friends as much I don't think (then again, the party and club thing just isn't my scene), but I don't really think I've had to sacrifice all that much, other than money, but hopefully that won't be an issue soon...

How did you handle it financially? Did you work/coach? I didn't work my first year, but I'm looking into it for this year. I figure I'll either work at the ice arena like many of my teammates do or I'm interested in working doing student-guided campus tours. Hopefully, like I said, money won't be an issue at my school for skating soon. But I do work full-time during the summer as well as fit in a couple of classes at my community college, so my summers are packed, but I refuse to use student loans, so I get through with scholarships and the money my Mom and grandfather saved up for me over the years.

How did you handle the time committment? (i.e., did you do homework in advance, go to bed early most nights, etc.) With my major, I honestly don't have that much regular homework, just papers, projects and tests. Going to bed early isn't the issue for me either, I practice mostly at night!

What were the logistics for you? Was there a rink on campus? Yep, we have a rink on campus, although I live on the opposite side of campus this year. That's not really a problem though, I either walk, take the shuttle, or drive my car.

Were you far enough from home that you had to change coaches at school? Oh yeah, I had to change coaches when I came to school, but whenever I go home, I try to squeeze in a lesson or two with my old coaches.

Did your school have a synchro team and/or collegiate skating program? Did you participate in either? Yes, my school has a synchro team and I am proudly on it!! I love my team so much!! We're doing very well this season, too, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the year holds for us.

Have you ever done one of the USFSA Intercollegiate competitions and/or Collegiate Nationals and/or an adult competition in the YA age group? If so, what was the experience like? My team participates in the intercollegiate competitions each year (there are 3 and we usually do them all, but we're only going to 2 this year). We really enjoy that because many of our girls are highly experienced dancers or freestyle skaters so they love being able to compete with the team and also to compete in their own events and have that team support there to back them up.

Hope this helps!! :D

[IceAngel725]

I'm not in college now, but i will be next year. i'm trying to decide where i want to go to school and am having some trouble deciding. i really want to keep skating and i'm not sure if i should stay instate so i can come home on the weekends or skate, or if i should try to go to a school where there's a skating club...any suggestions? I mean i know its my own decision, but i just wanted some input!

[synchroskates06]

Hi, I ended up staying instate and if money is of concern to you, I'd recommend staying in state since paying out-of-state tuition can be a real burden. However, over half of my team is from out of state and they seem really happy with our school and team and skating program. I guess it depends on where you live and what kind of skating program those schools have. So, where DO you live (just a state.)