Passions
I’ve always been a busybody. Though I am passionate about my marketing work, I’m also passionate about skating and dance. I find it deeply moving to express emotions and tell stories through body movements. The pure strength and flexibility it takes to create lines and shapes with our bodies are inspiring and uplifting. Through these passions, I’ve improved in areas of mental strength, such as envisioning creations, focusing under pressure, and building faith in situations out of my control.
Coaching artistic roller skating has become the passion project that never quits!
I was introduced to this niche sport by my neighborhood best friend when I was 7 years old. I stayed with it for a few years but eventually quit due to burn out. I returned in 2015 and fell head-over-heels in love with it.
In 2019 I formed our first show and precision team, called Lone Star Unity, which I still manage to this day. My team has more than doubled in size since our beginnings, and we continue to compete on a National level and bring home the medals!
I am responsible for recruiting, choreographing, coaching, performing, and managing all show and precision team efforts. It has been insanely rewarding to coach kids of all ages and put on our best performance together.
Skating’s Influence
Artistic roller skating has significantly impacted my life these last few years. Coaching team skating comes with a lot of responsibilities, expectations, and organizational skills. Here are a few life lessons that coaching has taught me:
I must show my commitment level to the team if I want it in return. This means consistently showing up to every practice, putting in the hard work, and sacrificing some personal wants if they don’t benefit my team.
Strong communication is critical to having a tight-knit, bonded team. It’s essential to keep the kids and their parents well-informed about contests, internal events, and the status of the group’s progress. This helps build trust and manage expectations.
Stay patient and keep the faith. Pursuing long-term goals is essential, but realizing it takes a lot of work and encouragement to get the team there is the other half of the puzzle. Building the skills, muscles, and mindset to make a winning team requires much patience and faith.
Dance is the ultimate core of all my passions.
I enrolled in dance classes when I was 14 years old, and continued to dance on drill teams in high school and college - where some of my best memories and friendships were made.
A lot of my choreography and team-building methods come from my time on drill team. I love the fire dancing ignites in my body, and the open interpretation it speaks to music. If I weren’t skating today, I’d definitely be dancing at a studio somewhere!