Kids glide easily into figure skating; some become skilled competitors

Have you ever watched figure skating competitions during the Winter Olympics? If so, you’ve seen some powerful jumps, dizzying spins and fancy footwork performed by skaters who make it all look graceful and easy.

It’s called figure skating because skaters originally did patterns, such as a figure “8” on the ice. Before the Civil War, when Jackson Haines, known as the father of figure skating, first combined skating with dancelike moves, skating officials did not approve. It took many years for the exciting sport we know today to develop.

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(ANN CAMERON SIEGAL/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) - Raheel Levine, 9, stretches to do a \"catch-foot\" spin.

(ANN CAMERON SIEGAL/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) - Ruby Dankmeyer, 10,uses a harness held by her coach, Julia Grisar. for a jump.

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Different moves require using different parts of the skate’s blade. Toe picks are used to help take off on jumps. The blades also have two edges. The side of the blade facing your other foot is the “inside edge.” The “outside edge” faces away from your feet.

Ruby Dankmyer, 10, began skating for fun three years ago. “I watched the big kids, and it inspired me,” she said. Now she enjoys competitions. Recently, after six months of practice, she landed her first axel. (It’s named after Axel Paulson, who invented the move in 1882.) She starts off on an outside edge, makes 1¹ / ₂ revolutions (turns) in the air, then lands on the outside edge of the opposite skate. Impressive!

“It doesn’t come easy,” said Ruby, who is working on a routine to the theme song from “Grease.”

Routines, where numerous moves are combined into a continuous flow set to music, are used in competitive skating.

Reston eighth-grader Oleksiy Melnyk, 14, just earned a chance to compete in January at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in California. That’s one of many levels of competition he has to succeed in if he wants to be in the Olympics one day. He practices five or six days a week, while keeping up with his schoolwork.

But you don’t have to spend that much time, compete against others or be on a team to enjoy figure skating, Oleksiy said. “It’s really about setting goals for yourself and having fun reaching them.”

For example, beginners practice one-foot glides or a beginning jump called the “bunny hop.”

Advanced skaters might work on a “spread eagle” — a two-foot glide where toes point in opposite directions. They also practice jumps that require good height for multiple revolutions while in the air.

Kailyn Geter and Gabby Gallant, both 12, skate for Bowie’s Ice Skating Institute team. Kailyn said, “Even when I’m tired, figure skating makes me feel better.” Gabby said, “Figure skating really makes you feel free. If I have a test coming up in school, it relaxes me.”

Annandale skater Raheel Levine, 9, says, “Figure skating isn’t a consistent sport.” By that, she means you may land a jump several times in a row, then you might go splat! But even Olympic skaters take unexpected tumbles.

“Everyone falls,” says Julian Fernandez, 8, a beginning figure skater from Bowie. “It’s not game over — you just keep on trying.”

— Ann Cameron Siegal