One more set of “skater’s shuffle” tales, and then I’ll take a stab at tackling some of the bigger stories making the rounds in the rinks right now. You probably know the ones I’m talking about already…
First up is news that 2006 Olympian Emily Hughes is doing the polar opposite of Curran Oi, Brittney Rizo and Katrina Hacker: she’s reportedly taking next year off from her studies (at Harvard) so that she can focus on her skating and try for the 2010 Olympics. The only way I’ve heard about it thus far is via this mention in a roundup post at IceNetwork.com… if it turns out to be legit, I’ll be extra curious to know what will become of US Grand Prix assignments next season.
What I have more a little more info on is the retirement of U.S. Senior Mens competitor Braden Overett. Maybe, like me, you’re more familiar with the name than with the skater himself—though he competed at the Senior level for many years, his best finish at Nationals was 7th place, back in 2004. But unlike many, he chose to talk very openly and directly about what it means to leave the competitive world behind—and he did so quite nicely, in a piece that ran in the April issue of SKATING magazine. While I don’t know of an online version of the article, scans of page 1 and page 2 are available. From the second page:
All signs point to a career within skating. For many of us, that doesn’t fit the mold. We feel like we must make a definitive choice between a life in or outside skating. This awkward period is when we sit back and figure out where we fit into the world, or where we want to fit in, or where skating fits in, if at all. Is this my quarter-life crisis?
Perhaps it is, but in any case, look out if Overett ever decides to join the ranks of us skloggers (skating bloggers)—he’s quite the writer!
His 2007 Midwesterns FS is the Clip of the Day. Note how he actually opened with his straight line footwork—not sure if I’ve ever seen that done before.
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