Keri Blakinger and one of her partners, Mark Ladwig, skate away! J. Barry Mittan photo.
So you want to be a figure skater? It’s that time of year where, amidst the ice and snow, dreams of figure skating thrive, especially in little girls. Of course, being a competitive figure skater isn’t all sequins and glory — it’s a lot of hard work. (Plus sequins are so passé; the skating dress decoration of choice these days is usually Swarovski crystals.)
I was a competitive figure skater for about ten years and I eventually went on to compete at Nationals, so you might say I know a thing or two about the hard work involved in becoming a figure skater.
When I first started out, I took Learn-to-Skate group lessons at the local ice rink in Lancaster, Penn. After a year of that, I decided I wanted to take it a step further. I saw the older girls twirling around on the ice and doing all sorts of jumpy, spinny things, and I wanted to be able to do that, too.
Keri Blakinger on the rink. Photo provided by Keri Blakinger.
The next step was taking private lessons, which I started some time around third grade. Fortunately, that was also available at the rink in Lancaster, although not all rinks offer private lessons. Private lessons also meant coming to practice more often instead of just the weekly Saturday morning Learn-to-Skate classes. As I improved, practices went from three days a week to five, and soon my parents and I needed to start looking for better coaches than the ones available in my hometown.
The next step was training in the Hershey and Harrisburg area, traveling 45-minutes each way to practice. In fourth and fifth grade, I started attending early morning practices, rising at 4:30 a.m. some days to get to the rink. My dad — a competitive wrestler in his youth — never once complained about my requests to go to the rink at ungodly hours of the morning. As a former athlete, he understood the force that was driving me.
By sixth grade, I was leaving school about an hour early to get to practice in time. Initially, my parents were reluctant to let me miss school for a sport, but they saw how passionate I was — and I think that passion infected them, too.
Keri Blakinger and one of her partners, Mark Ladwig, skate away! Paul Harvath photo.
After sixth grade, when school ended for the summer, I went to “skating school,” getting up at 4:30 a.m. five days a week to travel to Harrisburg and train until 11 a.m. One might logically wonder why I got up so early only to be done before lunchtime when I had all day free over the summer. At bigger rinks, figure skating practices are divided by ability so that beginners don’t get run over by elite skaters. Over the summer, the practices for the better skaters were in the mornings — after all, beginners probably aren’t as likely to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the rink.
During my middle school years, I started skating pairs, which I generally describe as “that stuff you see on TV where the guy throws the girl around and it looks really dangerous.” Pairs meant more time spent at the rink because now I had to practice both alone and with a partner. I loved every minute.
Then, in eighth grade, I began traveling 1.5 hours each way to University of Delaware to train at one of the best training centers in the country. My first pair partnership ended and I continued training as a singles skater.
In ninth grade, I began leaving school between 10:30 a.m. and noon every day to get to the rink and train. I did my missed work on my own, took some classes by independent study, and managed to keep my grades up. That same year, I mastered a double Axel. That’s a huge step in a skating career. It’s a stumbling block for a lot people, but if you can land a double Axel, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to learn triple jumps.
Keri Blakinger on the rink with one of her partners. Photo provided by Keri Blakinger.
With a double Axel under my belt, I was able to find another partner and together we qualified for Nationals two years in a row. For me, that was the high point of my career, although my partner — Mark Ladwig — later went on to compete in the Olympics.
Ultimately, my skating career ended when my pair partner decided to branch out and find another partner. Given how many more females there are in figure skating than there are males, he found a partner easily and I did not. Many of the skaters I grew up with are still in the sport, either coaching or performing in show.
For me, I’m content to leave skating in my past, although it’s something I will always fondly remember and distantly miss.
Note from the Editor: Keri Blakinger is a freelance writer for the Owego Pennysaver.
