Grace, Grit, and Glory: Victoria and Figure Skating

When I asked her why she kept trying after falling so many times, she replied, "It hurts to fall, but it's worse never to try."

Her light posture is coordinated and powerful, every movement on the ice shows her burning passion for jumps, extreme turns, and the art of gliding. As strong as the wind, as natural as the water, as enchanting as the scenery. When I asked her why she kept trying after falling so many times, she replied, "It hurts to fall, but it's worse never to try." Figure skating brought that brief period of beauty, like a flower blooming so magnificently that people forget the pain and effort behind the flower. This is perhaps the charm of figure skating, to enjoy the fleeting beauty on the ice.

I met Victoria at primary school and always know that she is an active member at school and has various interests and passions outside of school. She is a skilled pianist, flutist, and ballerina. At the same time, she is a registered figure skater in China and a member of the Toronto Cricket Skating Club, one of the world's best figure skating clubs. Today, Victoria, a Canadian-born Chinese girl currently studying in Toronto, shares her story of 11 years of figure skating and how it has built up her resilience - improving her behavioral flexibility and adaptability to external and internal demands.

“My interest in figure skating began when I noticed that many people were skating in Canada. I chose to start skating and found that I loved it. For me, skating is a process of correcting mistakes, and I have learned to overcome challenges by analyzing my training videos and pinpointing areas that need improvements.”

Victoria during her practice

Victoria is particularly interested in learning new movements such as the triple lutz and triple somersault. Her role models are figure skating champions like Yuzuru Hanyu, Boyang Jing and Alina Zakatova, who motivate her to train intensively every week. Through years of training, her dedication to figure skating has helped her develop resilience, confidence, and a calm approach to life's dilemmas. But before she developed all these skills, she had to keep tripping and falling on the hard ice floor, had to confront moments when her expectations and reality fell short, or experienced times when she sprained her ankles so badly that she had to stop training for a while...

But these moments did not stop her from continuing to dance on the ice.

"As a female athlete, I find that being a figure skater gives me the confidence to showcase myself and the beauty of the sport. I believe that my self-confidence was developed along with the support from my family, friends, and coach, which has contributed to my success in figure skating. "

"Behind every success, there are people unseen, I also want to show gratitude to the people that supported me. Without them, I might not stand where I'm at now."

“With 10 years of experience in figure skating, the sport has become a big part of my life. For me, figure skating is a process of correcting mistakes. There was a time when I felt I was progressing very slowly on the ice. So, with the help of my mother and my coach, I started recording my training videos so that I could closely monitor my performance and examine possible mistakes. By analyzing my movements, I was able to pinpoint tiny details where my movements were not up to par. For example, toe jumps are usually higher, which was not the case for me. I should have pressed the toe of the skate into the ice, while both my feet should have been on the ice at the time of the jump. This would have helped me immensely to correct all my jumps and body movements after each training session. However, after regular practice, I could see from the videos that my jumps had really improved. I was able to control my movements better than before. "

In the end, the advice from Victoria to other female athletes who want to participate in any sport is to be confident, remain calm during challenges, and trust that things will get better. From her years of training in figure skating, Victoria has learned that dilemmas are a normal part of life and that facing them calmly and with determination is the best way to overcome them.

Just feel confident and don't fear any challenges, remember your confidence and resilience!

Victoria (right 5) and her friends