Caroline Park '23 — Figure Skates: The Key to Unlocking My Sacred World

Figure Skates: The Key to Unlocking My Sacred World

Caroline Park ’23

In his book Religion: The Basics, Malory Nye defines a text as “a study that encourages us to widen our sense of ‘text’ beyond the specifically written… [so] that we can understand important issues of culture, and by extension of religion” (154-155). With this definition, one can interpret figure skates as a sacred text. While they may not be a written text, my figure skates have unlocked the door to the world of figure skating. This sacred world, which can be compared to the sacredness of religion, has helped me better understand how to face adversities in the real world. The values figure skating instilled in me tremendously influence every decision I make, both consciously and subconsciously, even four years after retiring prematurely due to extensive injuries.

To me, figure skating is far more than just a sport, since the lessons I have learned from it pertain to all aspects of my life, connecting my skates to the idea of thick description. In Clifford Geertz’s essay about "thick" and "thin" description, he describes thick description as the significance of physical motion, where it has the ability “to discern meanings, to discover the intentions behind what people do, to detect the overarching significance they attribute to their rituals, institutions, and beliefs” (267). When looking into the greater significance skating has had on my life, I think of the several lessons I grasped from the ice that I would not have been able to master if I had never skated. Some of these lessons include learning how to get up after each fall, regardless of how difficult it may be, having patience with myself, finding joy in the bad days whilst remaining humble to the good days, and most importantly how to love myself and something else so profoundly, which has certainly made me a better person. Since I learned these lessons when I was young, they became some of the key characteristics that have made me the person I am today. Skating developed my resilience, physical and mental strength, grit, perseverance, and perfectionism and became beneficial to me even outside of the rink. These lessons have tremendously helped me navigate through my recent medically challenging years, and I highly doubt that I would even be alive today if it were not for the acquisition of these lessons that were exclusively obtainable from figure skating.

While my skates are certainly sacred to me, as discussed in class, sacred is not necessarily synonymous with ‘good,’ and this lack of ‘goodness’ presents itself through the toxicity of skating culture. Behind skating’s beautiful visage of effortless elegance lies a dark, unspoken truth all competitive skaters inevitably face: pain. A competitive figure skater’s reality entails constant external pressure from coaches, judges, and even fans to look a certain way, and the burden of keeping up with the sport’s seemingly endless physical and mental demands from its athletes. In the book God is Not One, Steven Prothero writes about how “religion is one of the greatest forces for evil in world history”, and these “good” and “evil” forces manifest themselves through religion’s tonicity and toxicity (9). Such “forces for evil” directly apply to skating culture; although skating appears to be tonic at first, once a skater furthers their athletic journey and becomes more exposed to the reality of figure skating, they begin to learn the intense cruelty intertwined with its culture. As a result, when skating culture is interpreted in a way that emphasizes its toxicity, skaters can feel like they are never worthy enough, which I personally know can still have a negative impact even several years after quitting.

Regardless of the adverse effects figure skating’s toxic culture had on me, I would still do anything to return to the ice, a yearning that feels thematically in-line with James Baldwin’s relationship with the church growing up. Looking to escape the many adversities he had faced throughout his childhood, young James Baldwin sought solace through religion and turned to the Pentecostal Church for comfort. As Baldwin became more involved with the church as he aged, he increasingly realized the hypocrisies and contradictions embedded within the backbone of Christian faith (34). This idea relates to my relationship with figure skating. Similar to Baldwin’s connection to the church, figure skating is far more than just a sport to me; the ice is my home, and my skates unlock a world of freedom, the same way the Holy Bible was the key to unlock Baldwin’s sacred world. However, as I became more competitive, the hypocrisies of skating, such as crossing the line where a sport becomes unhealthy and athletes become unhappy, started revealing themselves to my naive self. Therefore, while the ice may serve as a space of comfort, there is an underlying reality that not everything is perfect in this sacred world, and once these contradictions begin to surface, it becomes too late to turn back.

Despite skating culture’s toxic aspects, skating has also taught me unconditional joy and love through its tonicity. Referring back to God is Not One, Prothero also states that “Religion is also one of the greatest forces for good” (9). These “greatest forces for good” present themselves through the unforgettable thrill and small moments of pure happiness and liberation I was blessed enough to have experienced during my short time as a skater, and I still replay these moments in my mind and reflect upon them today. Skating curbed my anxiety when I was younger, and the lessons I mentioned earlier continue to influence every choice I make while making me a better member of society. When interpreted in a positive light, I genuinely believe that figure skating’s teachings can be personally beneficial for the body and the mind while improving one’s contributions to the greater community, making the world a better place for all of its inhabitants.

Viewing my skates as a religious text has helped me deepen the understanding of my relationship with figure skating. It enables me to understand how lessons I learned from the sport continue to influence all aspects of my life in a meaningful way, even after quitting four years ago. Regardless of some rough patches I faced along the way, I would not have wanted my childhood to happen any other way. Figure skating and the morals I derived from it are definitely defining traits of the Caroline Park I am proud to be today.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Vintage International, 1993.

Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as Cultural System.” Eight Theories of Religion, edited by Daniel L. Pals, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2006.

Nye, Malory. “Texts.” Religion: The Basics, Taylor & Francis, 2008, pp. 152-61.

Prothero, Steven. “Toxic and Tonic.” God is Not One, 1st ed., Harper-Collins Publishers, 2010.