Blog # 3

                              Marissa Scheiner has had a very unique hobby for the past fifteen years. Different from most hobbies such as soccer, cheerleading or playing an instrument, Marissa is an ice skater. This is an activity that I find pretty awesome since I would never have the coordination to take up ice skating. Her hobby began at the age of three while following in her two older sisters’ footsteps. She loved to watch her sisters twirl with grace across the ice, and ever since her first time on skates, she was stuck.

                From the basic two footed spins to the more advanced salchow jump, Marissa did it all. She practiced five times a week for about three hours once she was at the level for competition. In order to make it to this level, she had to go through a lot of training so that she could pass the required levels of skill. While Marissa was at practice, you would find her wearing tight black pants so that her coaches would be able to perfect every angle of her body. She competed against three girls in many competitions around the New York state, placing first or second in every one.

Most of the competitions Marissa competed in were individual competitions, but there were also some team competitions. This is call synchronized skating teams. These teams practice even more during the week in order to perfect the routine so they all look identical on the ice. This took a lot of grace and patience to get an entire routine ready for a competition.

Throughout her career, Marissa had a few obstacles. During the competition season of her freshman year, she suffered stress fractures in her left foot. Stress fractures can cause a lot of pain, and can take up to a few months to heal. This did not stop her. She was determined to get back on the ice and perform better than ever.

Although she did not like the pressure that was put on her for competitions and the amount of commitment the sport took, she competed until sophomore year of high school. After that point, she could not keep up with her social life, school and skating. This caused her to stop competition skating. Her coaches were very upset to hear that she would not be a member of the team anymore since she was one of the best they had.

Even though the competitions ended, her skating did not. Marissa went through even more training to be able to teach young girls how to skate. She enjoys coaching a lot, but also said, “It can be very dangerous because they fall a lot. The parents are always watching, and it can be a huge liability.” The fear of the five year old girls and boys does not hold Marissa back from teaching them everything she can. She loves to watch them improve with every lesson, teaching them for complicated tricks day by day.

Ice skating takes a lot of practice, grace and commitment and I respect Marissa for having the passion and courage to be a competitive skater.  Marissa would like to use this unique gift to open her own ice skating school, and I hope the very best for her.