My Girl (Jonathan Toews)

11

Alexis

I got my first pair of ice skates when I was four years old. My parents never had a lot of money but they worked overtime to get me those skates. I had it in me that I wasn't going to let them down, I was going to take those skates and make them so proud, but not even I could have imagined what was about to hit us. Back when I first started I used to watch videos on the internet then go to the local rink and try things out from those videos. I was pretty smart, I was able to figure some things out all by myself and I became quite the skater. I taught myself all the tricks I watched and perfected them before I could even find a coach. Eventually someone noticed this little girl who never seemed to leave the ice and they had to take me in. I got a good coach and I trained with some amazing kids coming up through the system here in Chicago. But from the start they pointed me out of the bunch and focused on me. And I didn't want to let them down either, I took my craft very seriously and I loved what I did. To be able to be art in motion, it meant the world to me.

That's why when I lost skating, I lost myself. Everything fell apart when my knee did and now I'm trying to build myself up again. One little step at a time.

"Are you ready" Jon asks as I stand at the end of the ice. I let out the longest sigh of my life as I stand there.

"As ready as I'll ever be" I admit.

I hit the ice at Johnnies where they guys practice when the UC is taken up and Jon joins me at ice level. We mess around for a little before I get down to it. I have Jon play one of my old tracks and I skate around. I mark the stuff first to make sure I wasn't going to obliterate myself by just jumping into it, then by the second time he played the music I get pretty confident that I could do this routine.

When to comes time for my muscle memory to kick in it does. It feels like first nature being out here doing what I love. I know I had the biggest smile on my face as I danced along and glided across the ice.

I get to the last skill in this routine and stop. It was the one where I tore my acl and I was getting a bad feeling about trying to do it now after all this time. They say history repeats itself and I didn't want that to happen to me. The music suddenly cuts off as I stand there frozen and Jon comes out on the ice.

"You were doing amazing! What happened" he asks.

"That last skill is the hardest one in all of women's figure skating. If you do your harder skills later in your program you get more points for it, and doing this skill last was always a risk I was willing to take. But I don't know if I can anymore. I can't get hurt like that again" I sigh.

"Have you tired it again since you got hurt" he asks.

"No" I admit.

"Then how do you know you'll have the same fate? You've done that skill many times before the time you got hurt, it was just that one time where something went wrong. You're stronger now than you were before, you've learned from that instance and you know that since this skill is at the end of your routine then you'll really have to give it your all" he says.

"And what if I fall" I ask.

"What if you fly" he counters and I smile.

"Alright Disney man. Play the music again" I say and he smiles.

"That's my girl."

He goes back to the sound booth and I go back to the center of the ice. I go through the routine again but this time when I get to the last part I don't freeze, I go harder than I have ever gone before. I leap into the air and spin three times before landing on one foot. The trickiest part of this skill is the landing and not the turning itself. Since I take off facing foreword there's another 1/2 turn after the three rotations that's for the landing. When I tore my ACL it's because I didn't complete that 1/2 turn and tore the ligament in my knee when my foot landed but my body kept rotating.

But this time I finish the half turn with plenty of time and finish the skate. I hit the final pose and I could feel the pressure be lifted off of my chest. Four years of burdens were gone, I could finally breathe again.

"That... was... AMAZING" Jon says as he rushes out to where I was standing. He comes over and nearly tackles me to the ground as he picks me up. But he softly lays me down on the ice before climbing on top of me. He quickly presses his lips to mine and my eyes slam shut. "I'm so so so proud of you! That was incredible" he claims as we break apart.

"Felt pretty good" I admit.

"So what now, we sign you up for a bunch of competitions then you qualify for the Olympics" he asks and I giggle.

The way that you get into the Olympics for figure skating is you get put on the committee by competing at national competitions. Once you're put on the USA national team they trim the roster down to 9 men and 9 women by February and those people will compete in next years olympics. So you don't have to qualify through international competition, but you're competing through rankings and attention.

"There's a lot more than that" I insist.

"I don't care what we have to do. We're going to show the world that not only is Alexis Martin back, but she's better than ever" he says and I get chills. Mostly because we were laying on the ice but partially because this man inspires me to be better than I ever dreamed.

"Am I though? I don't even have a coach" I say.

"Well..." he trails off.

"What did you do, this time" I ask.

"There's someone who wants to meet you" he says and I just shake my head.

He helps me up off the ice and I follow him down the tunnel. In the stands sitting there watching this whole time was Frank Carroll, one of the best coaches to ever be a part of the winter Olympics. Anyone who has made a name for themselves in this sport has worked with him before. He was supposed to be my coach until... well... you know.

"Well if it isn't the legend herself" he starts as we walks over to him and I smile.

"Look who's talking" I say.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. To actually meet you this time" he says as he shakes my hand.

"The pleasure is all mine" I say.

"You know, only eight other women in the world have competed that trick you just did. And I promise you that if you ask those girls to do it four years after they last competed that skill the couldn't do it" he claims.

"This sport is my life. Everything it is, everything it's going to be, I want to be a part of it" I say.

"I want you to be a part of it" he claims and I smile.

"You want to coach me" I ask.

"I didn't drive all the way here because I didn't believe in you. When Jonathan put out that you were thinking about training again and was looking for a coach, well there's no way I was going to miss that chance. Not again" he claims.

"I'm not that same girl I used to be" I say.

"Good. Because that one gave up because she was scared. This one is doing it anyway because she knows this is where she belongs" he says.

"It's going to be hard, isn't it" I ask.

"We have a lot to do in not a lot of time. But I watched you your entire career, no one skates like you do. I think we can make this the best story for this upcoming Olympics" he claims and I smile.

"You think I can make it there" I ask.

"I think you can win it" he says with a smirk.

"Well you got me convinced. When do we start" I ask.

"How about now" he questions and my eyes go big.

"Now" I gasp.

"You're going to get one shot at this, just one. We have one chance to show the Olympic committee that not only are you back. But you're better" he says and I nod.

"Then let's get started."