FIGURE SKATING

Do you like sport? I really do! My name is Julia. I

want to tell you about my favorite sport. It is figure

skating. When I was 6, my mum (a PE teacher)

brought me to the sports centre. I saw some junior skaters who did their best to perform jumps on ice. I fell in love with this sport

at once. I have been doing it for 7 years now. I am in a female single skating

group.

This sport seems to be so romantic but it is not only sweet performances on ice but also a lot of training, sweat and pain. It includes choreography, fitness and skating on ice. I have a happy lot to have strict but fair and friendly trainers. They encourage me to take part in local and all-Russian sport competitions and win. And of course, my mum is always with me, to cheer me up and give some useful advice.

In my city both grown-ups and children like to go to the skating rink. It is really popular. Do you know that figure skating became known in Russia as early as in the epoch of Peter the Great? The Russian tsar brought some samples of skates from Europe and started a tradition of skating on ice in winter.

Can you guess the origin of figure skating? Norway? Denmark? Holland? The right answer is Holland where the first iron skates appeared in the 13-14th centuries. As for me, I remember quite well how I tried my first skates. They looked so nice! My mum spent a lot of money to buy them. My skates were as white as snow, with sharp silver blades. The blades had battlements. What for? They are necessary to perform spins, steps and jumps.

In general, we can identify four basic elements in figure skating: steps, spins and spirals, and jumps. Jumping is a compulsory program element of figure skating. For me, the hardest one to do is the Loop. It took me about 6 months to do a forward take off. There were many falls, bruises and tears. Thanks to my mum – she never allowed me to give up and believed in me. Now I have got several medals and diplomas. I hope to become a champion like Irina Slutskaya, Alena Leonova, Evgeni Plushenko.

MY MUM SAYS, “A CAT IN GLOVES CATCHES NO MICE”. I AM GOING TO WORK HARD TO

WIN FAME.