As graceful as figure skating may seem, it takes years of dedication and practice to become skilled in what is simultaneously a sport and an art form.
Three SunDevils, each with different experiences, all have found a love for figure skating: seniors Caroline Orr, Cambri Sams, and Annalee Barton.
“My favorite memory…is just getting back on the ice every time. I have this giant uncontrollable grin when that happens and I think that just speaks to how much I love to skate,” said senior Caroline Orr, who has been skating for 13 years.
Having won three gold medals for skating skills, pattern dance, and free dance, Orr is a very successful skater, but she never stops trying to grow.
“I’m always trying to “find my –er,” said Orr, as she was first told to do by Olympic Team Coach Audrey Weisinger. “Spin faster or jump higher or skate on deeper edges. It’s kind of a vague goal, but it works so well because there’s always something new to find my –er in.”
Not all figure skaters have to compete. Senior Cambri Sams describes her skating goals as having fun and enjoying physical activity.
“The first time I got on the ice and didn’t fall was probably my favorite memory,” said Sams. “No big leaps or spins, but the feeling of gliding on the ice for the first time. It was so surreal. I had never ice skated a previous moment in my life until then. I am sure my dance and roller skating experience really helped me on my journey.”
Sams quickly advanced through seven levels of testing within just two years of figure skating. Despite having to stop skating regularly, she still holds the art close to her heart.
“I haven’t traveled anywhere for figure skating, but every time I do travel I always bring my ice skates with me in my suitcase, I never miss an opportunity to try and get on the ice no matter where I am,” said Sams.
However, figure skating doesn’t just cultivate a love of skating, it also brings people closer together.
“Annalee and I met when we were six. It was her second time ever skating and I had been skating for a couple of years. We’ve been skating together ever since. In seventh grade, we had two sleepovers where one of us was seriously injured at a time,” said Orr. “When I had my last knee injury at synchro camp, she dropped everything to go sit with me until we had to go, and the second time, she helped carry me off the ice.”
Senior Annalee Barton has been skating for 11 years and is Tidewater Figure Skating Club’s first quadruple gold medalist with US Figure Skating and a High School Ambassador for US Figure Skating who works to promote skating opportunities to high schoolers.
“My favorite memories from figure skating originate in Hershey, Pennsylvania. [They are] memories of skating a clean program, a routine, at a competition there and taking home the gold medal as well as skating with the Beach Blades, my synchronized figure skating team, every year at Hershey since I was 8 years old,” said Barton. “I will miss my team dearly since they have been my family on the ice for as long as I can remember.”
In Barton’s future, she aims to skate on a varsity team in college and continue long after, professionally choreographing, performing, and coaching.
“I can’t imagine my life without a connection to the ice. It is my therapy, my second family, and my source of inspiration,” said Barton.
