“In skating, I’ve learned early on how to overcome the challenges I face”

Charlotte Law: “I started figure skating as a sport when I was young, around five or six, because when I first went to the ice rink for recreational purposes I fell in love. I saw those really fast, wonderful, splendid skaters during a public session and I fell in love and wanted to be like them someday. So my mom signed me up for figure skating lessons and the rest is history. 

Overall, I really enjoy the skating and competition experiences. I really hope to be able to experience [them] again, but because of COVID, that hasn’t been possible. I really missed the collaborative, really high spirited atmosphere. There’s no elitism. No one’s like, ‘Oh, I’m [a] higher level than you,” and everyone’s friends with each other. We all support each other and I really hope to live that experience again if it were to be possible. 

In skating, I’ve learned early on how to overcome the challenges I face, such as trying to improve myself and not being able to accomplish something. During middle school when I started learning axess and doubles, I struggled really hard on those because it was obviously difficult. I always thought that other people can do what I should be able to do, but I learned to not compare myself to others because we all have a different learning curve. Some people pick up things more easily than others, [so] I decided to just focus on myself. By doing that, I was able to overcome that mental block. I was able to get my jumps and my doubles in practice without having the pressure of trying to fulfill someone else’s expectations. I created reasonable expectations for myself and fulfilled those instead. That just also made me happy and it’s made me fall in love with the sport even more.

I plan to continue skating in college. As for the Olympics, it would be too much time commitment and they’ll be taking skating to a professional level. I think with my skill sets I’ll be well off if I tried to do it in college. I know U.C. Berkeley does have a skating team that travels and competes and so does Cornell [University], so those are some possibilities I might look into to continue taking my skating further.”