Professional Ice Skater
Elliott Swink
Pursuing Ice Skating in college
To pursue ice skating in college it will be very difficult, but with strength and determination it can happen. There are only seventy-five schools at the college level with figure skating as a sport. All sports in college are difficult to get into at the division one level, which I will have to pursue to fullfill my dreams. This task of playing a division one sport will also be exceptionally hard considering the few amoiunt of teams having ice skating as a sport. Even though I plan to go to college for skating I am unsure about my major. My focus now is primarily on improving my skating skills and not so much the academics. College skating is the first step in many on making my way to the olympics.
Olympic Figure Skating
Olympic figure skating is the first real step of making the Olympic skating dream become a reality. Although many may think its impossible for me to make it this far in my skating profession I believe if I reach for the stars I can accomplish anything. In the Olympic Figure skating competition the event I would perform in would be the ice dance duo. For this competition there are 24 duos selected from throughout the world. Each duo then performs their acts and let it up to the judges to decide the scores of each performance. Duo figure skating is scored in two different ways, the 6.0 or old system is judged on technical merit, required elements, and presentation. While the ISU system which adds points to the scores for each individual component of the performance.
Olympic Speed Skating
Olympic Speed Skating is the final step in my career in completely fulfilling my dream. Speed skating has always been my favorite form of skating. The speed required to be good is what makes this my favorite form of skating. There are five different men's speed skating events from the 500 meter to the 10,000 meter races. To make it to the Olympics I must be in the top 40 in the world in the previous year to be invited to the Olympics. The top 40 in the world then race in preliminary races to eliminate members of the field until there is few enough for a championship performance. The winning time for the men's 500 meter race in Sochi in 2014 was 34.59 seconds.
Questions
- What sort of training do you need? - Advanced skating, strength training, aerobic and anaerobic endurance
- What sort of skills do you need? - Enhanced posture and body positioning, skating speed and power, fast rotations on jumps
- Is there any room for job advancement? - Young elementary ages to Olympic Skating
- What is involved with this career? - Strict dieting and training, strength training, daily skating practice
- What is the job outlook and salary? - No original salary, job field is difficult to get into
- Why do you want to go into this career? - Because there is no other feeling on the world like having the rush of the wind go by your face while skating
- What might people not know about this career? - It requires much more strength then most may think
- What does a day in the life of this career look like? - A strict diet at each meal, strength training in the morning, and skating practice later in the afternoon.