Throughout my life, I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many amazing coaches and choreographers. From each individual I work with, I retain so much knowledge and so many new insights. The lessons I’ve learned through skating are so important not only for the sport but for everyday life. I’m so lucky to have coaches who truly care to help me be my best on and off the ice.

Everyone is different.

This seems pretty obvious, but it’s not as easy to understand as you might think. It’s easy to see that everyone is different: different looks, different styles. A lot of what’s different about people are things that can’t be seen. People have different backgrounds, different personalities, and different learning styles. I’ve found that with each person I work with, it doesn’t take long for me to figure out if we “click." By this “click," I mean that coaches are working with so many different students, but they need to be able to work with each student in their own way.

Each student has a different learning style, and by my coaches working with me the way I learn best, I am able to reach my fullest potential. As a young coach, I’ve learned this important lesson through my experiences.

Take corrections positively.

Criticism is the worst. No one likes to be criticized. Who wants to be told they’re doing something wrong? In the skating world and in the real world, there will always be people making corrections about anything and everything. In skating, no one can ever be perfect, and that’s really hard to accept. Sometimes, it seems like people are giving you correction after correction to be mean. One of my coaches always says to take the correction for the words, not the attitude.

If a teammate screams at me because I turned the wrong way, forget about the scream and accept that I turned the wrong way. It’s not as easy as it seems, but taking the words for what they are will make criticism a lot easier to take.

Focus on yourself.

In this world, it’s really tough to stop looking at other people and start focusing on yourself. People are always going to be better, and people will always push you. In skating, there are always people doing harder jumps than me or more difficult turns. One of my coaches told me a couple years ago that everyone gets to what they’re working towards on a different path. I just need to focus on myself and my path in order to get to where I’m going.

Tough love sucks, but it makes you better.

This is something I’ve heard time and time again being involved in skating. Coaches are tough, life is tough, but that’s just how it goes. It makes you better. My coaches have always been hard on me and their other skaters; they want the best out of us. Whenever we did double runs on one of my synchronized skating teams, one of the coaches would say, “This isn’t a punishment, this is to help you."

Another one of my coaches sometimes has me do my program over and over again when I really don’t want to work on it. She reminds me that during these hard lessons that she’s “doing this out of love." Coaches do what they do because they want the best for their athletes. Being pushed so hard but being told it will help me is something that I will take with me forever. As a coach, I always remind my students that if we are working on something that’s not the most fun or is really hard there’s a reason behind it, and eventually they will understand that.

Differences, positivity, focus, and tough love are all present in many aspects of my life. My coaches have taught me to appreciate differences, accept criticism with positivity, focus on myself and my journey, and value tough love. Thank you to my amazing coaches for helping me understand the importance of all these lessons and how I can apply them.