On Tuesday, May 10, 2016, I was informed that the topic of Figure Skating would no longer be part of the About.com network due to a mass restructuring of the About.com website.
Figure Skating is one of many
subjects that will be discontinued, but I am hoping that the hundreds of
articles I wrote in my 10 years with About.com will still be live and available
for those who want to learn about the sport I know so much about.
It was sad
for me to hear the news from About.com, since I began my journey as About.com’s
Figure Skating Expert in June of 2006 and it has been a wonderful,
productive, and rewarding 10 years! I
have enjoyed writing for About.com so very much and I’ve met so many wonderful
people in our sport because of this writing adventure.
Anyway…
I’ve decided
to list some of the favorite articles I’ve produced so
that those interested in figure skating can travel with me on what I consider
to be a wonderful writing and skating adventure!
Enjoy my
list which is below.
Happy
Skating!
May 13, 2016
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Figure Skaters - technotr – E+ Collection / Getty Images
The figure
skating world is certainly a “crazy world.”
I joke about this sometimes, but the figure skating world is somewhatlike Harry Potter’s world since figure skaters live in the “usual places” and
look just like everyone else, but sort of exist in a parallel existence! And…figure skaters are linked in some
unusual and magical-like way. (They even
have their own lingo!) Family and
friends may ask, "Why are you doing so much skating?"
Harry Potter can’t
fit into the "normal" world and the same goes for those involved with
figure skating. A
skater's parents sometimes have two or three jobs so they can financially
support a child's figure skating dream.
They put off retirement. Family
dinners around a table rarely happen.
Adults that ice skate are not understood in the “real world” since they may skip eating lunch to skate during their lunch hour. There is no doubt that every figure skater’s life is “very different.”
Adults that ice skate are not understood in the “real world” since they may skip eating lunch to skate during their lunch hour. There is no doubt that every figure skater’s life is “very different.”
Below are 10
things that you may not know about the figure skating world that I discuss in Ten
Things You May Not Know About The World of Figure Skating:
A Young Ice Skater -
Westend61 / Getty Images
An
accomplished elite figure skater and skating coach asked me to put together an
article about how
much a figure skater needs to skate and train that also explained how much
money would be needed to pay for every level of a skater’s training.
It is
shocking to hear about how very expensive figure skating is and how much time
it takes, but this piece has been one of the most widely read articles ever! (In the first week it was published, I
believe it was read over 6,000 times!)
The cost of
ice skating for beginning ice skaters is reasonable and manageable, but parents
of serious figure skaters can expect to spend at least $20,000 a year on figure
skating, but may spend much more.
Ice Skating Is Fun!
- Jo Ann Schneider Farris
Personal Skating Photo Collection
The average
length of a “figure skating life” is about 10 to 15 years, but I’ve skated much
longer since I have skated for over 50 years!
My own story, My
Skating Life: Fifty Plus Years of Skating, tells how I began to ice skate as a young child
and how I became a double-gold medalist and competed and medaled at the
national level. I went on to become a
skating coach and passed on my love of the sport to others including my own
three children. And… as About.com’s
Figure Skating Expert, I had incredible skating adventures since I met so many
people that love our sport as much as I do.
I especially enjoyed meeting and interviewing Olympic
figure skating champions and the stars of ice
skating shows!
Jo Ann Schneider Farris Skating With
Her Daughter Rebekah 1998 – Schneider-Farris Family Personal Skating Photos
Are you a figure skating parent? Are you prepared to give up a “normal life”
and spend hours and hours in an ice rink, do a lot of driving, and spend a lot
of money? Then, the job of being a
skating parent may be right for you!
My own three children became
accomplished figure skaters and US
Figure Skating Gold Medalists. (My
two daughters earned multiple gold medals in fact! And…my son went on to perform professionally
in Disney
On Ice: Frozen.) I loved every
minute of being a figure skating parent!
Parents from all over the world who have
read my article on how to be a figure skating parent tell me much of the time
that they really don’t want to know “what they are getting into,” since my
article warns them of the commitment (and money) involved, but they are also glad
to know that all parents who have children who skate seriously love their kids
very, very much!
Olympic Figure Skating – Matthew
Stockman / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
I went to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver as a member of the media. Before that Olympics, I began writing
articles about Olympic figure skating and put that content in one place so it
would be easy for my readers to learn everything about the sport.
The most popular of my Olympic figure
skating content is a list of the most
famous Olympic women figure skaters in ice skating history since women’s
figure skating is the highlight of every Winter Olympic Games.
Disney On
Ice: Frozen – Photo Courtesy of Feld Media
The 10 bits
of figure skating trivia I list in 10
Figure Skating Trivia Facts are just
a few interesting tidbits about figure skating.
There are many more.
Did you
know that before Sonja
Henie appeared in the figure skating world, female ice skaters wore black
figure skates? She was the skater that introduced the idea that women
and girls should wear white ice skating boots.
Tonya
Harding and Nancy Kerrigan 1994 Olympic Winter Games – Pascal Rondeau/Getty
Images Sport/Getty Images
The Tonya-Nancy
figure skating scandal could be the most bizarre story in figure skating
history since that saga involved lying, cheating, the FBI, and even a get
away car and a hit man! It really did
happen! In my “Step-By-Step
Tour Through the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan Saga,” I take the reader
through the highlights of what should be a fictional movie, but was and is very
real.
Jersey On
Ice – Photo Courtesy The Learning Channel
The ice
skating reality show, Jersey
On Ice, featured three coaches in New Jersey. The show aired on The Learning Channel on
Wednesday, December 12, 2012. After the pilot, the figure skating world was in
uproar.
I was in a
minority since I really enjoyed the pilot television show! Although the skaters were not high level
figure skaters and the coaches seemed to not act “perfectly,” what I saw was
somewhat realistic.
Also, what was
not shown in the TV pilot was the incredible “journey” of one of the coaches
featured. Figure skating coach Deana
Sroka had begun a weight loss journey.
Later, I wrote an article about Deana
Sroka since she lost over 200 pounds!
In 2016 Deana triumphed even more when she competed and qualified for
the US
Adult National Figure Skating Championships. Her daughter, Valerie, competed and qualified
for the US
National Figure Skating Championships in 2016, so that meant that both a
mother and daughter qualified for the US Championships during the same year!
Christian
Hendricks – Personal Photo
I have been told that my writing changed a figure skater’s life!
I have been told that my writing changed a figure skater’s life!
As a
competitive figure skater, Christian Hendricks competed nationally and went on
to be a successful ice show skating star. Tragedy struck his life in 1993 when Hendricks
found out he was HIV Positive, and in 2009, “full-blown AIDS” took over his
body.
Hendricks
had been very sick. Before the inaugural 2015
World Figure Championship which took place in Lake Placid, New York, he’d
been confined to a wheelchair. He was
told he’d never walk again.
Then
something magical happened! Christian
Hendricks was invited to compete in the 2015 World Figure Championship and
somehow was able to get out of his wheelchair and back into his skates.
When I
heard about Christian Hendricks’ determination, I interviewed him and I put
together an article called World
Figure Championship Gives an AIDS Sufferer Hope: Figure Skating Returns to
Christian Hendricks Life. That article helped Christian get enough
financial donations which made it possible for him to compete and he told me
that I helped change his life!
Figure Skating Helps
Hockey Players. Hero Images / Hero Images
Collection / Getty Images
In 1998,
the US Women’s Ice Hockey Team won gold at the Winter Olympics. After their win, I decided it was time for me
to learn about ice hockey and give skating in hockey skates a try.
I was
surprised. It was so easy for me, a
figure skater, to skate in hockey
skates. I began fooling around on my
hockey skates and came up with a very extensive list of drills that I have used
to help hockey players learn to skate and gain power.
Of course,
I enjoy fooling around with my son, Joel, (who is a hockey player and also a
figure skater) at Sticks and Pucks sessions. All figure skaters should try skating in
hockey skates, but hockey players should know that figure skating skills help
hockey. Enjoy
my list of ice hockey skating skill secrets!
Jo Ann Schneider Farris Personal
Skating Photo Collection
I have
signed every weekly Figure
Skating Newsletter that I’ve written for the past 10 years with “Happy
Skating!” My goal was to share my
knowledge and love of our wonderful sport with the entire world and I believe
I’ve succeeded.
I received
the following letter from one of my readers in 2015:
“Hi Jo Ann, I'm happy
you write so many articles about figure skating! No one else does. I can never
find much about ice skating in the book stores. You address it all! Keep up
your good work. I can no longer skate, but still enjoy learning about it
through all that you write! Thank you!” – Joanne Dillon Coyle
The above
thank you letter showed me that my goal of spreading the happiness of skating
through my writing and extensive knowledge of “all things skating” has
certainly been met!
I’ve made
hundreds of skating friends through social media, and I invite you, the reader,
to follow me on Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest. Also check out my personal skating blog or email me at
joannfarris@yahoo.com.
Happy
Skating!
Further Reading:
- Figure Skating Moves on Ice Hockey Skates
- A Lesson on
Forward Crossovers
- Difference
Between a Hockey Skate and a Figure Skate
- Figure
Skating Jobs and Careers
- LA Kings
Valley Ice Center, Panorama City, California
- 2014 Sochi
Olympic Figure Skating Results
- The Way
Figure Skating Is Paid For Must Change!
- Figure
Skating Clothes Have Improved
- Figure
Skating Costs and Training
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