Competitive ice skating at HHS

Students and adults have the opportunity to participate in over 28 winter sports. With so many options, students are thriving in staying active during their holiday break. Replacing her traditional shoes with sharp blades, Molly Patridge, junior, will be participating in the traditional sport of ice skating.

“Skating for Lake Minnetonka figure skating club, I have the chance of going to the Minnetonka ice arena for two lessons every week. My favorite part of skating is feeling like I’m flying, by going really fast and nothing can stop me,” Patridge said.

There are many styles of ice skating from, synchronized figure skating to freestyle.

Synchronized figure skating traditionally has 15 people per team, with practices of 45 minutes to two hours a night, twice a week. While freestyle skating classes are filled with a lot of people and only 30 mins.

“The hardest skill is an axle, meaning one and a half rotations in a single jump,” Patridge said.

Skating competitions give a chance for the skaters to dress up in customs and show off the skills they’ve been working hard on.

“I have been skating for about 10 years. I got into skating when I couldn’t skate at my friends birthday party at just six years old. I’m so thankful my friends’ sister helped me and showed how much fun it is.” Patridge said.

Competitions are not all about getting judged, but being around the team members having fun. Wearing costumes that transforms you into a performer is just part of the fun.

“The last competition we got third out of 10, one thing that stood out was I had to wear a car themed outfit that included a black collar, checker belt, red and yellow tulle,” Patridge said