As the clock strikes 5:45 a.m., freshman Hawkeye Mitchell begins his daily ice skating practice at Kansas City Ice Center. The energy seems calm as each skater glides around the rink doing various jumps and tricks.

“[Ice skating was] a little weird at first but I got used to it,” Hawkeye said. “It’s not something you can learn overnight.”

Mitchell’s involvement in the sport began in 2011 when his father, Greg Mitchell, made a deal to pay him to start ice skating. Through the deal, Hawkeye’s love for the sport grew.

“I saw the talent and decided to push him into it,” Greg said. “It’s something incredibly neat and if he continues to skate he could go far with it.”

Hawkeye performs two types of routines, solo and partner, but he especially enjoys the partner routines, which he performs with his sister.

“There aren’t many people in the skating world you can partner up with,” Hawkeye said. “I like partner [performances] better because it’s a higher wow factor.”

Competitions become very sparse throughout the year because of the cost to compete. Ice skaters pay for skates, ice time, coaches and uniforms, which add up to over $1,000 a year for Hawkeye’s family.

“The skating world is very expensive and you can’t have competitions randomly all the time,” Hawkeye said. “You need to learn to skate well over time.”

According to Hawkeye, few people compete in ice skating because it tends to be a very difficult sport. Hawkeye said even large team sports, like football and baseball, are not as demanding as the time and effort that goes into ice skating.

“You have to be very strong, mentally and physically, more than any other sport,” Hawkeye said. “It’s the truth but most people wouldn’t agree.”