When most people think of sports, football or basketball are usually the first that come to mind. While it may not be among the most common of athletic activities, ice skating is a sport that several students at West devote countless hours to in order to perfect their triple axel jump and skate with grace on the ice.

“When preparing for an upcoming competition, I usually start preparing with my coaches two months in advance, in order to get back in the flow of running my program,” junior McKenzie Brouk said. “I would sometimes have to rearrange my program in order to add new tricks to be able to compete in a specific competition.”

Ice skating is a sport that requires long hours of practice in order to perfect skills and be prepared for performance. This means that dedication and commitment is necessary in order to be successful.

“I skate every morning before school for an hour and a half, waking up at 4:50, and skate six days a week excluding Sundays,” Brouk said. “I also skate in the afternoon on Thursday for an additional hour and a half.”

With such early practice, some starting around 6:30 a.m., it can sometimes be hard for the skaters to be well rested. Having to manage schoolwork and practices can sometimes become overwhelming at times.

“It’s hard to wake up so early and go to school,” senior Alex Bonet said. “I balance skating and school by trying to get to bed early and managing my time well.”

While younger skaters tend to be more focussed on skating as a form of entertainment, as they become more advanced, they start competing more seriously to move onto to higher level competitions

“As I’ve gotten older, I don’t do as many events but it is more serious,” Brouk said. “If I do well in these competitions, I can qualify for regionals and then sectionals.”

Many skaters start training from a young age, having been intrigued and inspired by other skaters.

“I started skating at age three,”junior Claire Gilmore said. “I loved watching the skaters at the Galleria and I really wanted to try it out. The first time I went skating was with my dad and we skated around the tree at the Galeria and it was magical.”

Gilmore now helps other girls at ice skating, where she helps them clean up their tricks and perfect their routine.

“When I was younger, I trained at the Galleria,” Gilmore said. “Now I coach there.”

Brouk loved to watch other skaters engage in the activity when she was younger.

“I got into skating mainly because of my mom,”Brouk said. “She was a figure skater, so I sort of fell into her footsteps. I also had always enjoyed watching it on television.”

There are many different teams and clubs that the skaters can join, which is where they compete for different types of competitions.

“I’m a part of the Texas All Stars, my Synchronized Skating Team, which is a group of 14 girls,” Brouk said. “We were National Champions for our division last year. I’m also a part of the Ice Skating Institute (ISI), United States Figure Skating (USFS), and the Stars Figure Skating Club of Texas.”

Even though ice skating is an individual sport, all the girls who skate with each other are close.

“I consider the girls who I skate with to be a part of my team,” Bonet said. “We all support each other at competitions.”

There is more to ice skating than just winning competitions. The skaters truly love the sport and the influence that it has on their lives.

“My favorite part is just being out there on the ice,” Brouk said. “It is not about winning for me, but rather enjoying my time and having fun. The feeling I get when I skate is hard to put into words.”