- interview

Back a couple of months ago I had the pleasure to watch Courtney Hicks compete at the LA Open at Pickwick in Burbank. After she saw a tweet where I complimented her we managed to get together to arrange for this email Q&A. Special thanks to All Year FSC and the USFSA for their clearance on this interview.

> Hi Courtney! Hey I noticed you have a web site to enable sponsors to help defray the costs of competing -- this seems like a great idea. Do lots of skaters do this and is it helpful?

I think a lot of skaters do. . . and it has helped over the past few years!

> You have many unique flourishes to your moves. How does a skater stand out, and what are the plusses and minuses of such creativity? Where do you get ideas for these moves?

Thanks! A skater can stand out by doing things that other skaters don’t, even if that’s just great edge quality or fast spins. Simple things help judges remember a skater and leave a favorable impression on them. Skaters can also come up with different moves or transitions that are new and different.

Some of the plusses are better recognition, better PCS scores, and getting the crowd more interested in your skating. Some of the minuses are that the jumps can become harder to do, and you might lose speed during your program.

A lot of the moves that I’ve done were just random things that I thought would be fun to try; my Twhicks spin was something my mom thought up during practice one day.

> How do the hours in your typical training week break down by activity?

I usually spend about eighteen hours on the ice and six hours doing off ice workouts at home or with my personal trainer. I also spend about 3 hours a week stretching at home.

> You have "jumper's thighs" . . . you are probably one of the three highest female jumpers I've seen in L.A. Do you think you were just born with good genes or did you develop your thighs from focused exercise? Is there a down side to this... does it impede other moves?

I think it was a combination of both! I’ve had high jumps since I was little, but I have done a lot of strength training to make sure my legs could handle my big jumps. I have very tight quads and hamstrings, so some flexibility moves are hard for me. I’m not sure if my average flexibility is from having strong legs or if it’s just natural, but I have to stretch a lot to maintain the flexibility that I have.

> Is Hurd video really everywhere? Do you ever buy video tapes of your skating?

Hurd is definitely at all the Southern California competitions, at least! I’m not sure about other places but they’ve been at every local competition that I’ve ever done since I started skating. I buy my competition videos every once in a while.

> What type of off-ice training have you found to be the most valuable, and why?

I find that workouts with my trainer are the most useful to me off ice because it builds and maintains the necessary core, leg, and arm strength needed for skating.

> Since skating is so physically demanding and everyone looks pooped out after their free skate, should skaters do more endurance training, like running a mile? Or might that be counterproductive?

The best thing I found that helped my endurance was sprinting up the hill to my house. I used to run 3 miles almost every day, but that would just make my shins hurt and I never noticed it helping my skating (it actually usually made me more tired for skating). I think running a really fast mile or running as fast as you can up a hill is probably the closest to doing a program. Anything much longer than that and I feel like you are just overworking yourself.

> Besides a coach, choreographer, and ballet teacher, what other trainers have you found valuable over the years?

I’ve never really had any other trainers than those, but I’ve found that getting a massage once a week is REALLY HELPFUL because I get tight so easily and then I have a lot of pain.

> Do you follow any sort of special training diet? Do you consult with a Nutritionist?

I avoid carbs like bread and rice, and I also don’t eat junk food like ice cream or candy. My mom is basically my nutritionist! She researches everything and knows a lot about what’s good and what’s not good. I do get a meal each week with whatever I want though!

> How does a skater balance her focus between athleticism and grace?

I’d say that athleticism can be shown through grace. It’s always important to move beautifully, but you can still be fast and powerful with athletic movements and still carry those movements gracefully. It makes it look effortless.

> What books have you found to be the most motivating?

I thought that Mind Gym was pretty good. It helped me realize how heavily the mind influences what you do.

> Should we (not specifically you but American skaters in general) try to skate style-wise more like the Japanese?

Even though it’s probably good for every skater to have the flow and ice coverage the Japanese have, I think it’s more important for each skater to find a style that fits them; they need to find the most beneficial style for themselves.

> What are some of the more interesting elements you've seen?

I think a hydroglide is really cool and I wish I could do one! I also think cantilevers look really neat. The skater does sort of a sitting spread eagle and leans back all the way with their back parallel to the ice; I want to do one so badly!

> What are the biggest things to consider when deciding if you want to strive for being a National skater?

Definitely the cost and the effort. Skating gets really expensive as you get better, and it also takes a ton of effort and time. Basically, you have to be totally committed to skating and training full time.

> Plushies or flowers?

Ooo, that’s hard! I love plushies but I have sooo many of them! They’re awesome and I love stuffed animals, but they take up so much room! I also really love flowers and always try to take home the ones that I get at competitions.

> Do you care about audience size? Do you have to prepare differently mentally when the audience is large?

I always love big audiences. The bigger the better! It’s great to feel the energy from the crowd and it helps me perform better too. I don’t really do anything different for larger audiences.

> After you finish a big national competition, do you get to have fun? Share some of the silliness.

Always! When I was in Omaha, some of my family was there and we went to the zoo. I was climbing around on vines and monkeying around; I also held a butterfly! We also always go out to eat somewhere after I compete, but since the competition was over so late in Nebraska we ended up using the drive through at McDonald’s and eating in our hotel room.

> How often do you buy new skates? Do you have to time the purchase to your competition calendar?

I usually get new skates every six months. When the old skates break down I always try to have a spare pair handy so that I don’t have to use duct tape until the new ones arrive. Lately I’ve had some skate issues and been forced to use the "spare" pair immediately when the new ones got finished. One pair buckled in three weeks!

I don’t really time purchases to my calendar because I break skates in so quickly -- I could basically get new skates a week before competition and still be okay.

> We used to drive an hour to a certain guy in Arcadia to get my daughter's blades sharpened. Is a private sharpener worth it and how do you find a good one?

It’s great to find someone that does skates really well! I only ever go to one person for my sharpenings and other boot/blade issues. It helps because after a while the person that deals with your skates knows a lot of your issues and can have a better idea of how to fix any problems you might have. The best way to find somebody is probably word of mouth. Ask around and you’ll probably find someone really good!

> What are some of the strangest rink environments you've skated in? Are there certain things you wish more rinks provided?

There’ve been a few rinks where it gets really foggy inside and it’s like skating in a cloud. Those are definitely the weirdest because it makes it hard to see the barriers and other people, plus it’s harder to breathe! It is kind of fun though just because it looks really cool. It’s always nice when there’s a warm room for skaters to put on their skates. It’s a lot easier to stay warm and ready to get on the ice when you’re not sitting in the cold for ten minutes.

> Okay shout out time: who do you want to acknowledge? Websites we should visit?

Well definitely my family! I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am without my sisters, Kylie and Kelsey, and my parents Gene and Nelisa. Same goes for my aunt, uncle, cousin, and Baboonya, who’ve been to every U.S. Championship with me.

I don’t really visit any websites in particular to help with skating or anything, but it’d be great if you could check out my website! It’s www.courtneyhicks.com.

> Awesomeness. Actually I have some questions for your mom too! Hi Nelisa, say I used to always get terribly nervous before my daughter competed, maybe even more so than her. What do you do about your nerves?

I usually am good and calm until she leaves to go compete. Then when I get nervous I walk out of the rink and try to go to a place by myself.

> Say a few words about how to cope with the hardships of skate parenting: tricks of the trade.

I don’t really have any; I like to keep it real. This sport is not easy and we all know it. We believe in hard work and a lot of prayers.

> Once your kid gets on the cusp of skating nationally, how do you prep yourself and your family for what lies ahead?

It seems to be a natural progression. It’s very exciting, but I believe that setting goals to achieve really helps. The whole family does have to be onboard with it too. At times the whole family changes their schedule to accommodate what is needed.

> What are the biggest things to consider when deciding if you want to strive for raising a National skater?

I didn’t strive for this -- I just told Courtney that if she wanted to do this sport, or any sport, there were going to be some work requirements to stay in it, whether she made it nationally or not. I think if you are going to do something you work hard and good things will come out of that.

> How much influence should a parent exert over a skater, compared to the coach?

I believe it is a working triangle; each person is important to the overall goal. Sometimes a parent can see something the coach doesn’t because they are with the skater all the time. It definitely is best when everyone can work together.

> Thanks so much to both of you for taking some time to share your thoughts with the blog readers and me! We love to watch you skate.

- stuck

On her most excellent skating blog, Xan recently offered some pointers for what to do when your skater appears to be reaching a plateau. Her post has a couple of intertwined ideas that I'd like to unravel to examine. The first concept is if and how a skater may be "fulfilling whatever potential people . . . see in her." A second concept is more Tony Robbins inspirational, platform changing. And perhaps a third concept is how a parent, coach, and skater each have different preconceptions of a life path for the skater.

Frankly this business of "potential" is frightening stuff. It plays directly on the pride of being a parent. It's the same marketing approach that Phoenix University employs to lure students -- Achieve your potential: spend money on our courses and we'll help you get there. It seems to be pandering to everybody's ego of how good they think they can become.

You know there's natural talent and there's hard work; put them together with good coaching and you'll get what you get. Along the way there is luck and misfortune and a constantly changing body.

Dreams of grandeur are motivational, but they also lead to great disappointment. Listen when somebody compliments your skater -- smile and say thank you -- but judge your kid objectively against other skaters her own age and avoid having your ego "played upon."

Having said all that though I've seen plenty of instances where a skater isn't going anywhere, then they take off the summer, and then they come back as completely different skaters. What happened? Did something "click?" Special off ice training? A new attitude? Who knows? It does seem to me that skaters pass through some magical discontinuous skill points, rather than just gradually getting continuously better.

Finally, "stuck" is a life lesson. It's one that parents already know about and skaters will learn. Everybody goes through it whether you're a chess master or a basketball jock or an aspiring guitarist. Indeed for a parent part of the value in skating is to teach their kids that yes, people are all different and each possess various limits. Most parents recognize that their kid won't be making a career out of skating.

Yet all parents also know that their child must recognize this for themselves.

- longing

Maybe it starts as a dull longing, a sense that it really is time for me to pay a visit. Not so unlike a slowly surfacing awareness of a nagging dietetic mineral deficiency, or a sense that it's been a long time since I've seen my aunt. I need to go watch some figure skating in person. So I check an online schedule, see that Valley Ice has two hours of freestyle at 9:30, fix my hair, shave, and toss a scarf into the car. It's a ten minute drive. On the way I stop for a Starbucks espresso and spend a few moments of writing in the coffee shop, pondering over the nature of this psychic hunger. Deep down inside I know what it is but I am unsure of how to capture its bones into an essay, plus I fear that once I share the beast I may end up killing it by exposure.

I hop back into the car and drive the last minute to the rink. As I enter the smell of the cold air spins my brain: ice rinks have a scent that instantly binds me to all their common memories. I gently take a seat on the bench where I always sit, at center ice. The skate moms cluster on the bench twenty feet to my left under a space heater. Today I'll be able to sit quietly and observe by myself; this is a bit of a relief as when I sit with others inevitably a nearby mom asks "who's your skater?" When I say l have no kid skating the next question always seems to be "Why are you here then?" The person asking seems to imply that watching a kid in their junior level sport is more of a parental obligation. Outsiders must be suspicious weirdos.

I shrug and give a short excuse for my answer: my daughter used to skate and I thought I would duck away from the heat and enjoy some inexpensive entertainment. Why just this simple excuse instead of the truth? It’s because sharing the hard truth is both nakedly revealing and too embarrassing.

The hard naked truth is that back twenty years ago my daughter's figure skating saved my life. Oh we all go through various phases in our lives, childhood, teen angst, mating, raising kids. In my mid-thirties I found myself divorced, in poor health, lonely, and broke. But I did have my daughter's skating to look forward to. It seemed like several times a week I sat on the hard bleachers, or slowly ambled about the rink, or warmed my hands around a cup of coffee in the heated snack cafe. I watched tiny tots shimmy on the ice, six year olds proudly don their first club jackets, and eleven year olds hone their Axels. I witness coaches with seemingly infinite patience teaching the same skills repeatedly to an endless stream of students.

And from this I recognized that hope springs from hard work, patient practice, and constant learning. Success comes from dedication, strength of personality, creativity, and avoiding pitfalls. My life would turn around with these same principles. As I spent more time at the rink I saw what enabled all of this: it was the love from the coaches and the skating parents. As I became a more proficient observer the skaters would love me for the insight I provided to their shortcomings.

When I enter the rink and catch the unique mixed scent of exertion, frozen mildew, and skate leather, I am reconnecting to everything that we build to be better people. Sure my short answer is that I'm here to cool my heels and be entertained a bit; the long answer is that skating is my church: it reminds me of what it takes to be a good human. That nagging longing is for the skaters' love to get there.

- reference

Just a shout out to some nice technical articles at Lambco.

- style

How do you learn new elements and still develop a style of your own? Surely it's easiest to learn by watching another skater as she performs a move, ask your coach to teach you the technical execution, and then strive to copy them. When most of the skaters follow this course it leads to a "fashion," whether that be a Bielman or a butt-up spin. (Sidenote: I never saw butt-up until a couple years ago and now half the gals try it. You know what? It look farcical: it turns you into a paper clip. Please don't do this move).

Mimicking an elite move is different though from replicating a style. Physics fairly limits the full set of possible elements, so mirroring an elite move isn't necessarily unoriginal. When you try to imitate somebody else's style however you come off as "phony" -- you need to express your own personal style.

To some extent, style is what you tack on top of a foundational move. Additionally though you reflect your style in the type of music you choose, the programs you like to skate, the fluidity of your movements, the projection of your attitude, and your treatment of fellow skaters.

I've seen skaters express a full range of personalities using their arms, their footwork, hand embellishments, their carriage, facial expressions, costume, and attitude -- they can be unselfish, silly, eager, rustic, coy, daring, decorous, droll, demure, mirthful, virtuous, stimulating, wise, elegant, and winsome (to name just a few traits).

Your skating style is more a reflection of your personality combined with methods that you've developed for how to express it.

You should strive to make each move your own. Watch for variety and allow novelty to impress you when you happen across something new to your eyes. The goal however is not to mirror the elites' style: it's to be graceful, inventive, and to express your own spirit.

(repost)