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I grew up in Canada, man - we all had rinks in our backyards because we'd ice down the grass with a hose and build a skating rink.
Being surrounded by hockey, I got forced into it as a kid. I started skating when I was 4 and had a rink only 10 minutes from my home. In my town, we had one outdoor rink and one indoor rink, so you could skate all year long. I lived by a lake, too, so we did a lot of skating on the lake.
I was passionate. I found something that I loved. I could be all alone in a big old skating rink and nobody could get near me and I didn't have to talk to anybody because of my shyness. It was great. I was in my fantasy world.
I was a serious competitive figure skater and still ice-skate as much as I can. Anyway, I once brought a date to the rink to have him experience what I was into. So all is going fine, and then - bam! - he bit it extremely hard! Skate time was over. His bruises were scary. I felt so bad.
I'm used to a very busy schedule. Right now it revolves around training and preparing for Nationals in January. I'm usually at the rink from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and then I attend public school for two hours, three times per week.
I was really a spoiled brat when I was a kid skating. Meals are cooked for you, you are driven to the rink, they make costumes for you. Your parents sit around and watch admiringly while you skate. You don't have to think about anything but skating. You're just plain spoiled.
I took group lessons at a rink near my home. We first had to learn how to stand up on the ice wearing skates. Eventually we learned to move forward, but soon found out that it was not that easy to stop! So that was our next important lesson.
When I was a kid, I played sports a lot. My mom and dad were divorced, but I hung out in the neighborhood a lot, and it was all about sports. I would be out all day on the sand lot or on the hockey rink. My dad would take me to baseball games, but he worked so hard, and he would always fall asleep.
Although it's hard some days to wake up an hour earlier to do the gym workout as opposed to other skaters who just show up to the rink, I know that if I don't do it, my day will be much worse. I might as well not even skate, actually.
Hair wax is my go-to. When it comes to shampoo, I use whatever is at the rink.
