Freshman Delaney Konen started ice skating five and a half years ago, now she competes in freestyle and synchronized skating competitions, sometimes performing during halftime in hockey games.
Freestyle ice skating focuses on performing skills like footwork, jumps and spins in front of judges. The routine is set to music and the ice skaters are judged on their presentation, choreography, difficulty level and execution. Synchronized skating is set up the same way, however, it is performed with a group of skaters and focuses more heavily on footwork.
A big part of Konen’s success in her skating came from her coaches’ support. However, her first coach’s approach to teaching caused more harm than good.
“I used to have a coach that would only focus on what I wasn’t doing correctly, and that [made] my mental health take a bit of a fall,” Konen said. ”[At the time] I was recovering from a sprained ankle, but she made me skate and do my entire program on it. In the middle of the program, my ankle gave out. She [ended up] getting mad at me because I was in pain and started crying. [After her], I had no dedication at that time to [keep] skating, so I took several months off.”
After her months off, Konen took a synchronized skating class with her friends. She liked it so much that she hired a new coach, her current coach, to help her pass the test to get on a synchronized skating team. She ended up passing the test with the help of her new coach.
“[Because of passing the test], me and my current coach bonded. Now I’ve been skating with her and she’s really supportive,” Konen said. “She gives criticism in a good way, not just saying ‘You can’t do that, you suck at that.’ She says what I did well and what I need to fix.”
Konen’s current coach, Cassie Ford, strives to support each of her players and help them succeed.
“I talk with each skater and see what they want to achieve and we set goals to work towards,” Ford writes. “I support each skater in those goals and cheer them on as well as teach them the needed skills to achieve those goals.”
