How to Become a Professional Figure Skater

     So you want to become a professional skater, eh? Figure skating is all about glitter, glamour, blood, sweat, and tears. First of all, you’ll need lots of money to pay all the club fees, icetime fees, testing fees and coaching fees necessary for your training. I suggest that you win the lottery or inherit a large amount of money from a long-forgotten rich great-uncle. If that doesn’t work, you could rob a bank. Second, gain charisma. It is essential to becoming a professional skater – charisma will make you a better skater and eventually famous and popular as well.
     Now you are ready to start skating! Find a really good coach who will make you work hard and push you to succeed, then practice, practice, practice! If you want to be a professional, you’ll need to practice almost every day. Start out by doing both freeskate and dance. Eventually you and your coach can figure out which discipline you’re most likely to succeed in. You can continue in freeskate if you think you’ve got what it takes to land triple and quadrupal jumps, master tricky spins, and perform intricate footwork. If you decide to go into dance, you will need to be able to perform beautiful, elaborate dances with your partner, interpreting the music and doing lifts, spins, and twizzles together. There is also the discipline of pairs, which has throw jumps, overhead lifts, and scary deathspirals. It isn’t for the faint hearted. Choose wisely!
     Now you’re practicing every day and training hard. Good job! Soon you’ll be getting better rapidly and progressing quickly up the levels. What, you don’t know the levels? Well, let me tell you. Here in Canada, competitive skating starts at Pre-Juvenile. Sounds pretty low, doesn’t it? Then you can move up to Juvenile, then Pre-Novice, then Novice, then Junior! Once you’re good enough for the big leagues, you can move up to Senior. Once at the Senior level, you can go to Nationals! I recommend that you win it. But in order to skate at any level you will need dedicated, trustworthy people behind you – your parents, coaches, choreographers, and even seamstresses! Trust them and take their advice.
     You will need to travel all over the country to skate. There is fierce competition at all levels. Everyone will be trying to defeat you. To get to the top, you’ll have to be determined and perseverant, battling through injury and disappointment, all while keeping up a good public image, of course. Many skaters try, but only the greatest will succeed. Good luck, I hope you’ve got what it takes!
     So now you’ve advanced to Senior and won Nationals? Good job! You’ve come a long way! You’ll be on your way to Worlds and the Olympics soon. As a National Champion, you already can enter professional skating, but getting some medals at the Worlds or Olympics will really secure your career as a professional skater. As a World Champion, everyone will know your name at all the big professional ice shows. I think you should work on your signature – you will be asked for it a lot! Another good thing to develop would be some signature moves – like Shawn Sawyer’s trademark Y-spins or Virtue and Moir’s Canadian Goose lift. Then you can finally join the ranks of the elite professional skaters, traveling around the world showing off your skills at ice shows!

Painting by Kari Fell

All the World's a Stage

     Once upon a time, there was a group of Shakespearean actors. They were the best stage actors in all of England! People would come from all over the country to watch them perform in Shakespeare’s Globe. Every night, royalty would praise their skill, women would faint when they took to the stage, and men would dream of becoming as great as these nonpariel stars. They were admired because of their incredible abilities on stage, but unfortunately when they stepped off of the stage, they continued to play-act, merely taking on different characters. Thomas Smith, who played Prince Hamlet, acted like he was a prince off-stage as well. Sir Henry Howard, who was knighted for his superb acting in the roles of various villains, tried to pretend he was tough and mean in real life also. Phebe de Mornay was very shy and reserved, because she was unconfident in herself and wasn't used to being noticed before.

     All the Shakespearean actors were friends and hung out together, but never really had any fun because they were all trying to act, instead of being themselves. However, one day they decided to go to the festival together, and had fun for the first time in a while, because they forgot about acting and were just themselves. At the end, Phebe de Mornay said, “It’s more fun when the world’s not a stage, and when we aren’t being mere players! Let’s just be ourselves from now on!” And everyone agreed.

     Acting has it's place – on a stage! However, people like to act offstage as well. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of fun to make people abandon their masks and be genuine. A couple of weeks ago I went to Ottawa to participate in Encounters With Canada. There were eighty-four youth from every region and culture of Canada, and we all stayed in one residence together. For a week, we ate, learned, toured, mingled, and partied together. It was really awkward the first day when everyone was meeting each other, but soon everyone became friends and you could really just be yourself there. Some people who said they were shy back home were really outgoing and popular there. Everyone was friendly and accepting. Some people said they didn’t want to leave because back home everyone was just acting and you weren’t free to be yourself.

     We have to relax and not worry about what people will think about us, instead of acting and making the world a stage. That’s how to have fun and live life to the fullest!

Western and Eastern Canada

     Canada is large and diverse, covering over nine million square kilometers of land. It is the world’s second largest country and is larger than all of Europe! Thirty-four million people are spread across this massive country; approximately ten and a half million live in Western Canada, including me. Western Canada is a culture of it’s own, and because we are so far away from “Central” and Eastern Canada, we often feel disconnected from the rest of the country. There are many differences between Western and Eastern Canada, but there are also many unifying similarities. Note: I will refer to all provinces east of Manitoba as Eastern Canada. 
     Western and Eastern Canada differ politically, historically and geographically, but one of the most notable differences is the amount of French language, history and culture. Eastern Canada had many French explorers and large Francophone communities, and even experienced French rule. This French culture is still strong in Eastern Canada, especially with Canada’s growing bilingualism. The amount of French influence in Western Canada is smaller and more isolated, historically because the western provinces were established after England came into power, and modernly because of the geographic distance from the Francophone communities in Eastern Canada (i.e. Quebec). Western Canada is more influenced by other cultures, and we have different types of diversity. For example, in British Columbia, our most western province, many more people speak Chinese than French, and the Chinese culture is more influential than the small Francophone culture there. Another example is my Albertan town, which is largely Ukrainian. Where I live, to be bilingual usually means being able to speak English and Ukrainian.
     Western and Eastern Canada are very similar as well. We share a common language – English. Even in Quebec almost half of the population speaks English. Both Western and Eastern Canada love the same sports, in particular hockey. All of the non-coastal regions of Canada suffer through cold winters, whether east or west. All regions of Canada are also united under a strong government. Canadian values are much the same - we value freedom, peace, and fairness, and like to help others. When you get to meet people from all over Canada, like I did in Ottawa at the youth program Encounters With Canada, you realize how much all Canadians have in common, and how superficial our differences are. We often tend to believe stereotypes about people from different provinces, but there are Liberals from Alberta, cool people from Saskatchewan, tolerant Francophones, and really nice people from Toronto.
     The differences between Western and Eastern Canada make our country more interesting and diverse. The western provinces have the Rocky Mountains and prairies, the eastern provinces have the Great Lakes and large Francophone communities, and the northern territories have the unique tundra. I think that Canadians from all regions could better appreciate what the other regions of Canada have to offer. Everything from sea to sea to sea shapes our country, making it the true north strong and free!