Experience Tells You What to Do . . . Confidence Allows You to Do It

A quick glance at our campers shows a wide variety in age. Their ages range from 7 yo 15 years. For the next three blogs, I will interview our campers by age grouping, to better describe their camp experiences and goals, both long and short-term related to skating and other aspects of their lives.

Tonight, I spent time with our most senior participants, Sajya Singh, Harper Lundgren and Nick Moor. Both Sajya and Harper have skated for many years and compete often. Nick is not a skater, but his sister Lauren is and she is amongst our campers, also. Nick is active in karate and looks forward to joining the cross country team in the fall.

The commitment required of the skaters at the level Sajya and Harper skate at is highly intense. According to Sajya, waking for and attending early morning skating practices and off-ice training is as natural to her as breathing. Harper finds the sport addictive and that once you get a taste of all the sport can provide both physically and mentally, you do what it takes to continue. Both girls indicated that it is an honor to be able to compete at a high level. It takes an awful lot of time, commitment and talent to improve to more senior levels and, since not many can do it, when you can do it, you feel very empowered.

Nick was excited to participate in this camp experience to get into excellent shape for fall sports. All three enjoy the mental toughness that the camp is providing them. They feel that, if they can endure these two weeks, they can endure most anything related to their sports. The days are long and the workouts are hard, but they feel as though each day is becoming more manageable as their endurance and strength grow.

As the girls explained the intricacies of the camp experience as it related to skating, Nick chimed in that he really enjoys the great food (Thanks Nick! We moms needed that!) Both stated that their favorite camp exercises are those that concentrate on jumping technique. Nick enjoys the challenge of the warm-up runs, however, the running has collectively been both the most dreaded and most intriguing exercise of camp for all three runners.

Each practice, the older campers run approximately 3.5 miles, from their camp site to a hotel and back, making for 10.5 miles of running daily. Sajya, Harper and Nick all shoot to better their previous times, but each finds different motivation to accomplish the goal. Sajya plays music in her head to avoid thinking about the activity. Nick is motivated to improve his time and endurance specifically for fall cross country and for his ultimate goal of joining the military. Harper envisions a large doughnut on the side of the hotel that she is running toward. Yum-O! I personally like Harper's coping mechanism. :)

Regardless, both Sajya and Harper commented that there is no room for complaining. Premier FSC skaters are trained to own their success and that hard work will bring them to their goals. The expectation is to do what is asked. Period. Additionally, these older participants are proud to serve as role models for the younger skaters, and they want to provide a good example for them.

All three commented about the role that their families have played in their skating experiences. They are doing well here, but do miss their parents and siblings - even their pets. They view their participation as quality time spent honing their skills and, despite the grueling schedule, are happy to be here.

Sajya's goal at camp is to run from their camp site to the second hotel and back without getting winded. She would like to go as far as possible with her skating, but recognizes that there are some aspects of the sport that are out of her control. She is comfortable with being the very best that she can be as a skater. Sajya would like to do a little coaching someday and eventually become a marine biologist.

Harper wants to become more comfortable with the endurance exercises, specifically the distance running, while here at camp. She wants to go to the Olympics to represent the U.S. as a figure skater. She has a desire to coach and become a journalist or magazine writer.

Nick desires to keep trying his hardest to reduce his splits for the endurance runs. He looks forward to participating in cross country and possibly lacrosse this next year. He plans to join the military, perhaps the Marines or a military academy.

It is obvious that our older campers' experience has helped to lead the younger skaters to develop the confidence necessary to follow in their footsteps.