School, Prejudice and Survival

Chapter 3, Part 1

Chapter 3: My Only Passion

The clink of metal upon metal works its way into my ears as the blinding lights of the ice rink welcome me into my own personal little haven. This, right here, is the reason that Saturdays are my favourite day. As I walk along, I breathe in the distinctive smell of the ice. Call me crazy, but in my mind ice is not odourless.                                                                                                                                                                                     I cannot describe how much I love being here. Ice skating is my favourite thing of all. Waking up at six in the morning is difficult, but the minute I arrive at the ice rink early every Saturday, I no longer care. I would give anything to be able to skate everywhere, there is nothing I do not like about it. Okay, there is one thing. The people that come here during the public sessions can be extremely annoying, especially the ones who just come to show off. However, watching an annoying showoff fall over in the middle of a trick is just another plus to the whole sport!

 The majority of the rink is empty this early in the morning. Aside from the people training in the levels higher than me, I can only see a few people here. Most of them are in my group, but I do not know their names, ages or lives. I'm here to skate, not to make friends!

I busy myself putting my clean, white figure skates on after sitting on the same blue bench I always sit on, in the hopes that people ignore the fact that I come here alone despite being visibly young. I don't think anyone really cares, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about these sorts of things. I don't know why.                                                                                                                                                                                   Even from the distance I can currently see them from, most of the people in my group look friendly. Some of them have even said a sidelong joke to me in the past, but I still make no effort to get to know them. I'm sure they are all nice people- even if most of them look around 20 years old- I just have no interest in making friends here. Ice skating is my alone time, where I can be myself without caring what people think.

Time moves pretty slowly, but eventually it's time for my group to get on the ice to train. Immediately, I am surrounded by my group as they step onto the ice and skate after me towards our current coach. In reality, there is only about 6 other people in this level, but it still doesn't mean I'm not overwhelmed by the high talent I see happening all around me as they all warm up. My own warm up is pretty straight-forward. After a few simple anti-clockwise laps of the rink, I twist to face backwards and practice my backwards crossovers. These are one of my strong points, and I should really be working on my spins, but I don't really want to fall over- or straight up fail- this early in the session.

My coach calls us into a small semi-circle and I am once again reminded that I am the youngest person here. The only person who comes close to my age is a brown haired boy who looks to be around 17. When I pointed this guy out to Harriet and Annie a few weeks back, I realised I made a mistake. Since then they have been constantly talking about him, trying to figure out his life and deal. Apparently he is good looking. I just never really noticed or cared. I snap back to attention as my coach begins talking.

" Mornin' everybody! As you all know the level five test is next Satu'day, an' that means that this week we will mos'ly be looking to improve your weaker points." he says in a half-sleepy voice. I don't blame him for being tired, I think we all are, but you'd think an ex-gold medal winner and a coach would be used to it by now. He begins to point at each person, making his decision on who he will need to assist and what he needs to check from each person.                                                                                                                   "You, I just need to check your spread-eagle, backwards single-foot, outside edge glide from you, I need to help you with your spins..." he decides, pointing at each individual person. I think it's great he knows who need help with what, our last coach didn't make an effort to get to know us at all. By test week she had to ask us for our names when the examiner started writing out the certificates. In level 5, we have to be confident with our backwards crossovers, backwards single-foot glide (on an outside edge), spread eagles, twists and basic single-foot spins. I picked most of this up pretty quickly, but over the last two and a half months I have been struggling with spinning. I've gotten better, but I'm not all that confident just yet.

After a long time of spinning randomly at the edge of the rink, my coach finally comes over to me. He nods as he begins speaking to me, "You're defina'ly improving, but it just seems to be a matter of confidence. If you don' let you'self spin for more than a few secon's, you won't know how long you can hol' it. Jus' try spinning, but this time, don' put your foot down." he says.                                                     I nod and distance myself from him before spinning. I line myself up correctly, and push myself round with my right foot to allow myself to spin on my front-left rocker. I know my coach is still watching me, and this just adds to the pressure. I take his advice and keep my right foot raised even after I begin to panic. But (rule 2, learning from my mistakes), I level my weight out over my leg and hold steady. I stop being scared. I no longer feel any pressure, because I am doing it. All the freedom and grace I feel when I skate comes rushing back, and I know I have just learned a new skill to practice and perfect. I know I am doing it well, and I feel beautiful and talented. I wish Naomi could see this- she's always asking how my lessons are going. She must have perfected spinning ages ago.

As I slow down into standing still again, the fear comes rushing back. I bet everyone is watching me, and laughing at my failed attempt to do anything. My coach is probably going to give up on me now, tell me I'm not good enough and send me home before I can embarrass myself any further.                   However, as I come to my senses, I realize that nobody is laughing. My coach is nodding approvingly, and the people watching me are smiling. Then my ears work again and hear the claps of the people watching me from the benches. Probably sarcastic. What my coach says next is the last thing I expect to hear.                                                                                                                                                                                           "Amazin'! See what a li'l confidence can do? That was perfect!" he praises in a higher tone of voice than he usually uses. I wasn't expecting that. I thought for sure I looked like an idiot.

I hope you liked this part! I know it may be a bit boring reading about Indigo skating, but it has a huge effect on the overall story. Please leave me comments on how I can improve, it would help me a lot, thanks!