Speed Skating
PASSION FOR SPEED
How I got started in Speed Skating
I discovered my passion for the ice when I was five years old. Our neighbor would take us skating at the Cumberland arena after school. She saw how driven and fast I was for a five year old and told my parents about speed skating. We had never heard of speed skating before in our area so we decided to try it out when I turned six.
Speed skating combined two things I loved, ice skating and going fast, or what I thought was fast at the time. I spent the next three years speed skating. I moved up quickly in the categories and was doing well but started to have some frustration, and as a result, I decided not to enroll in the program the following season. Instead, I spent the next winter learning how to alpine ski race with my older brother.
During the ski season I realized that something, a feeling, was missing. The next season I decided to get back into speed skating.
In the winter of 2004 and 2005 I was eleven years old and I told myself that if I was coming back I wanted to be the best. Instead of being disappointed when I would lose in races, I found motivation to work harder. If somebody else could do something, then there was no reason that I could not do it too, if I worked hard and tried my best.
Some people said I was stubborn and others told me that my goals were too big. All I could think to tell them was that there was no point in doing something if you do not plan on giving it your best effort.
Even today I tell myself I want to be the best. The only difference is that now I know it doesn’t come overnight and that there is still alot of work to be done. One of my proudest memories was winning the Canadian Olympic trials at 19 years of age.
Speed Skating Athlete Profile
