Ice Dreams

Rachel Johnson is an 11 year old competitive figure skater. She is a rising six grader at Crowders Creek Middle School. Rachel has been figure skating for four years and is in the pre-preliminary level. For Rachel, practice begins early in the morning for an hour before school starts. That really means for a long day!  Rachel says, " The best part of going to practice early in the morning is that I can pursue other activities after school, like playing on the soccer team." Choices have to be made  carefully so that some activities don't interfere with practice, competitions and schoolwork. This year she received the A/B Honor Roll Award, Perfect Attendance Award and the Character Award for Courage.

This skaters' favorite part of figure skating is the free skate portion of competition, because as Rachel says, " you can show off more skills and emotion because you are skating to music." Her routine lasts for one minute 35 seconds. Rachel says that she enjoys the "footwork" part of skating because it is fun and energetic. She has two coaches. Jeff Warters is her primary coach and Pam Fultz is her secondary coach. "They are both great coaches and I admire them both. They teach me my programs and new skating moves, as well as jumps." Her most memorable moment at a competition was winning first place at her first competition at the State Games of North Carolina. The best part about figure skating according to Rachel is that "you get to show off your grace, beauty, skill and emotion." Right now, her goals are to "improve on all the skills I know and to land my doubles and triples and maybe one day compete in the Olympics!" Rachel skates for the Pineville Ice House located at 400 Town Center Blvd. Pineville, NC 704-889-9000.

As well as being a figure skater, Rachel has begun to pursue other sports. Her most recent accomplishment was to get certified to be a scuba diver. It took two weeks of courses and practice before she could achieve her certification. Her first dive was at the American Rock Quarry at Lake Norman and her first depth was 22 feet. "Now I can dive with my dad." touts Rachel.

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