Crystal Chik — figure skater and nursing student — on how figure skating improved her focus while at school, and how dancing helped her rediscover her love of skating[:zh]戚紫瑩- 花樣滑冰選手及護理系學生- 談談花樣滑冰如何改善學習專注力及跳舞如何令自己從新愛上溜冰

Crystal is a competitive figure skater representing Hong Kong. She has competed all over Asia, in the US and in Italy. When she’s not practicing or competing, Crystal is a nursing student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, graduating in 2019.

Crystal started figure skating at the age of 3. One day while passing by the ice-skating rink at Festival Walk with her parents, they noticed her attention was drawn towards the pretty dresses worn by the figure skaters. Soon after, her parents asked if she wanted to learn the sport and she’s been skating ever since. 

The sense of joy and enjoyment that Crystal experienced from figure skating was irreplaceable with other activities; in fact; learning the sport taught Crystal to pursue everything else she does with vitality and enthusiasm. While in secondary school, Crystal was so eager to practice every night after dinner that she learned to become efficient at finishing her homework.

Outside of studying, practice and competition, Crystal also coaches figure skating. She also enjoys hanging out with friends.

You’ve been skating since you were 3 years old. How did you know at age 3 that this was the sport for you?

Actually, I didn’t think about if I enjoyed it or not; at that age skating was more like playing for me. I was so young, I simply wanted to spend time with friends and play. It was after several years of skating that I began to take it more seriously.

Growing up, aside from figure skating I had other pursuits. My father asked me to make a choice. He encouraged me to pursue fewer activities but to do them well, so I chose figure skating and because of that choice, my dad expected me to work hard. To some extent, while I made the choice to figure skate, my dad did also encourage me to spend time practicing outside of “play time” with my friends. For example, after class when my friends could go off and mess around, my dad would ask me to go to a corner and practice the moves over and over again. Initially it was hard; I wanted to go and follow my friends instead of be in a corner on own practicing. However, after a while, I really began to enjoy the practice and the process. Don’t get me wrong, my dad didn’t force me; I was always passionate about figure skating.

Can you share your experience of fitting in daily practice while you were a student?

I went to quite a traditional school, one that didn’t allow me to take time off to compete; they didn’t understand what I was doing. Sometimes there were monthly competitions and I would need to take 3 days off and though I wasn’t supposed to, I took them off anyway. After a while my school let me, but I became known as the “student who never showed up to school.”

I would also bring a suitcase to school – not because of traveling, but because after school I would go directly to the skating rink. People would be curious as to why I was always carrying a suitcase to school. I would bring all my things with me so I could study and do homework at the skating rink before figure skating practice, and practice till about 11pm or midnight. Then I’d wake up at 6am to go to school and my day would start again. It was hard, and on days when it was cold and it rained and I hadn’t slept enough I would think, “Do I have to do this?” But I did. I was hardly ever home, basically I went there just to sleep.

I know some people think it’s a terrible experience; it wasn’t bad for me because I enjoyed figure skating so much. I wasn’t that social anyway, and on weekends when my friends would go and hang out at the mall, I’d be home catching up on sleep.

And despite feeling sleep-deprived during the school day, I never slept during class, unlike some of my classmates. One day, funnily, the principal asked me why I never slept in class and I said it was because I was too busy absorbing all the information being taught in class! My goal was to do less revision after school and spend more time on the skating rink. So you can say, figure skating taught me to be really focused academically too. 

How do you persist with the ups and downs of practice, competition and falling a hundred times in order to hit a new move?

Figure skating is physically trying and for each move — and there are many moves — we have to practice hundreds, thousands of times, and fall over and over and over again. I’ve also been through injury and the sadness and the lows come from not being able to do what I most love and enjoy. The upside is that because figure skating is an individual sports, I have to learn to be able to recover quickly. Especially in competition, if I fall, the music is still playing so I have to just move on and not let mistakes affect me. For a while, injury and feeling I wasn’t progressing enough did make me sad enough to question my skating and whether or not I needed a break.

Then I went dancing (outside of figure skating). I had always loved to dance too, but focused more on figure skating. I rediscovered myself in dancing. I learned to enjoy the music and in learning to love the music, I also learned to relax, and move with more ease and flow to the music. It’s really helped me with my skating.

When you’re competing, or performing a routine, the spotlight is all on you. How do you deal with the pressure?

Actually when I was young, I didn’t enjoy the spotlight on me. I didn’t like it when people were looking at me, and I just wanted to hide amongst the crowd. But that’s impossible in figure skating as there’s only one person skating each time. So now I like my music to play loudly, and I choose music that helps me more easily get into the role that I need to perform. The loud music helps me to focus.

You’ve been skating for 15+ years and you say figure skating has brought you a lot of joy. Has this changed for you over time?

I still love figure skating and it still brings me a lot of joy. What has changed over the years is my attitude towards figure skating. When I was younger, I was focused on accomplishing the moves, being able to do a certain spin or certain jump. Right now, I skate for the pure enjoyment. And I want to bring joy to the people I’m performing in front of, the people who are watching me.

Figure skating competition rules have also changed over time and these rules have allowed me to better express myself. Before we were only allowed to use music with no voice, but now we can so I can choose music that suits me. And as I’m older, I can now choose my own music, my own outfit and own choreography. I like that I can show my own style on the skating rink.

One player I really like to watch is Ashley Wagner. She has such individuality on the skating rink. I love her style. I’m in favour of everyone being able to express themselves on the field.

My own style is that I’m not a “typical” figure skater; one you’d expect to be elegant and gentle. I love to play. I love to eat. I love “boy” sports and I’m actually quite tomboyish. For example, I’ve always wanted to climb a tree but it’s not something we get to do in Hong Kong. So a month ago when I was in Yunnan I climbed a tree. It was fantastic and so much fun.

Do you find figure skating to be a lonely journey?

I wouldn’t consider figure skating to be lonely. There were times when even if I told people what I was going through, they wouldn’t understand. And sometimes, if I was unhappy, I couldn’t tell the people around me. For example, there was one jump — the double axel — that took me over a year before I could complete it. I felt like I had hit a plateau and it was so frustrating that I couldn’t hit that jump. I fell so often in that process, but all I could do was keep trying, and falling again. I think though that it has instilled a sense of independence in me, learning to deal with my emotions and feelings.

And while I sometimes do skate with friends, in practice, everyone does his or her own thing while on the rink; we don’t talk much. Even if we do, if we’re mid way in conversation and we see an open space to complete a jump or spin, we grab that opportunity. I wouldn’t say figure skating is lonely, because there are many people around me going through the same thing and I have many friends from the skating rink. We’re all dealing with our own challenges and emotions at the same time, but we’ve just learned to process them ourselves. We have similar experiences, going through peaks, troughs, plateaus, falls, wins … and when someone is able to finally complete a new move, I’m extremely happy for them.

Why does figure skating matter to you?

First, it gave me a sense of accomplishment. After so many falls and so much practice, it was satisfying to know I could finally complete a new move. I enjoyed minute improvements and found it an opportunity to be happy. It felt like giving my parents and myself a present each time; it was so special.

Secondly, I also found my identity from figure skating. It was something else to be, aside from being a student and an elder sister. Now I can say I’m a figure skater. It was something else to be that was special to me.

Thirdly figure skating has given me the experience of being able to travel overseas and make new friends in the skating circuit. I have friends all over Asia such as Japan, Malaysia, and Bangkok from competition. My schoolmates had asked me how I have so many friends from overseas. In competition these friends are my “competitors” but off the field, we’re friends and we chat, we go eat and we hang out together.

Lastly, I’ve also learned from figure skating the importance of making no excuses and learning not to avoid. One time, after the field had been cleared, I was meant to go onto the field to skate. It was just me on the rink and I didn’t want all the people standing by the rink watching me. I made an excuse that my stomach was hurting so could I go to the bathroom and my coach said, “Do you think in competition the judges will allow you to do that?” So I sheepishly went onto the rink and skated, and it was okay. After that, I stopped making excuses.

Are there any figure skating stereotypes that you want to dispel?

Figure skating is still somewhat stereotyped. For example, there is still a perception that figure skating is for girls and boys learn [ice] hockey or other ball sports. I’ve experienced this myself through some of the students I coach: the sister learns figure skating and brother learns hockey.

However, at the elite professional level now, men perform just as well. In the past, the style and expectation was that women figure skaters skated elegantly and with more flexibility, while male skaters did so with speed and power. Figure skating was considered more of a female sport. Nowadays, male skaters skate with flexibility too and female skaters with speed and power. And in fact, sometimes male skaters have more advantage on the field as many of the technical jumps require speed and power to build momentum to jump higher and complete more rotations in the air. [Imagine 4 spins in the air, a full 720-degree spin and if interested you can watch the biomechanics of it here.]

There is a subtle difference in physique: Asian skaters such as from South Korea and Japan tend to be more slight while skaters from North America and Europe are slightly more muscular. One is not better than the other. It’s about finding a style and strategy that works best for you.

Now that you also have some students, what words of encouragement do you have?

I want to teach not just the technical skills of figure skating, but also the mindset of sportsmanship. I want to encourage a mindset that it’s not about skating to become the next representative on the Hong Kong team. I sometimes see students who give up because they’re not good at the sport or when they find out they won’t make the Hong Kong team. It’s about loving the process and not the outcome or result. The results come when you love the process and you’re willing to put in the action to achieve what you want and love. I recently read a book and one thing the author wrote really resonated with me: that success is not about accomplishment or good results but climbing back up after falling down. I think it’s important for my students to learn that.戚紫瑩是位具競爭力的花樣滑冰選手，並曾代表香港到亞洲各地、美國及意大利比賽。在練習和比賽的時間外，戚紫瑩的身分則變回將於2019年畢業的香港中文大學護理系學生.

紫瑩自三歲起便開始學習花樣滑冰。起初是因爲與家人經過又一城溜冰場時，家人發現她深深被溜冰場上的選手的英姿所吸引。隨後，家人問她想不想學溜冰，自此便開始了花樣滑冰的生涯. 

紫瑩從花樣滑冰中體驗到的快樂和享受並不能在其他活動中找到。事實上，在學習這運動的過程中教會了紫瑩用熱情去追求每一件事。在讀中學的時候， 紫瑩在吃完晚飯後都巴不得去練習，而這亦令她每次也能很快地完成功課.

除了上課、練習和比賽，紫瑩也有教授花樣滑冰。另外、她亦十分享受與朋友外出玩耍.

從三歲起你就開始滑冰。 你是怎麼在三歲的時候就知道這項運動很適合你呢?

其實三歲那時我並沒有想過我是否享受這運動，在那時候滑冰對我來說更像是一種好玩的東西。我那時太小了，我只是想要跟朋友一起玩耍。直到幾年後我才開始認真地看待滑冰.

長大之後，除了滑冰外，我還有其他消遣 。我爸爸讓我自己選擇。他叫我只選擇幾項事情去做，然後把它們做好。因此，我選擇了滑冰。而正正因為這個選擇，我爸爸非常希望我可以在滑冰上多下苦功。某程度上，當我決定要滑冰後，爸爸希望我要多放時間在滑冰上，而不是和朋友玩耍。比如說，下課時朋友們都會去不同的地方走走，但爸爸就會要我去角落一直練習滑冰的動作。最初，我覺得很困難，因為我想跟朋友出去而不是在角落旁自己練習。但是，不久後，我真的開始享受練習的過程。別誤會，爸爸並沒有強迫我，我只是真的常常對滑冰充滿熱情.

可否分享一下在當一個學生的同時如何兼顧滑冰呢?

我在一個頗傳統的學校裡讀書，那所學校並不允許我抽取課堂時間去比賽，因為老師們都不瞭解我在做什麼。有時，每個月都會定期有一些比賽，而我需要三天不上課去準備賽事，但他們就不允許我這樣做。雖然如此，但我還是不上課而去了練習。一陣子後學校批准我可以為了比賽而不去上課，但我就變成了同學口中所形容的「隱形學生」。

我上課時也會帶著行李箱，這並不是因為要去旅行，而是因為放學後我要直接到溜冰場。人人都很好奇我為什麼要常常帶著行李箱去學校。我帶行李箱是因爲我會把所有東西都帶上，因此我可以在訓練完結後直接在溜冰場那邊溫習和做功課。我早上六點就會醒來去回校上課，然後再去溜冰場，日日如是。這是挺辛苦的，尤其是在又冷又下雨的日子而我又睡眠不足時我就會想：「是否要去呢？」但我還是去了。所以我當我回到家，我就直接去睡覺。

我知道有些人會覺得這是個可怕的經驗，但我並不這樣認為，因為我非常享受滑冰。我不是很擅長社交，所以當在週末時朋友都會在商場裡行逛，但我就寧願回家睡覺。

而除了在上課日子中覺得睡眠不足外，不像有些同學，我並不曾在課堂中睡覺。有趣的是，有天校長問我為什麼我不曾在課堂中睡覺，我就說我忙著吸收課堂知識。我的目標是下課後可以用少一點時間複習，把更多時間投放在溜冰場上。所以你可以說，滑冰也教會了我在上課時變得十分專注. 

你是甚樣在練習的成功與失敗，比賽及不斷跌倒中堅持，而至去練好一個動作呢?

花樣滑冰非常講求體力，它有非常多指定動作，每個動作，我們必須練習幾百次、幾千次，然後重複一遍又一遍。受傷、悲傷和低谷我也一一經歷。最痛苦的時間通常都是因為無能力做到自己最喜歡和享受的事情。雖然有低潮，但好處是因為花樣滑冰是個人運動，所以我必須學會快速恢復。特別是在比賽中，如果我跌倒了，音樂還在播放，我就必須繼續前進，不要讓錯誤影響到我。曾有一段時間，傷病和沒有進步的感覺讓我很難過，開始質疑自己的能力及在想著是否需要休息。

接著我便去了跳舞（不是花樣滑冰）。透過舞蹈，我重新了解自己。我學會了去享受音樂及學習愛上音樂。我也學會了放鬆，更輕鬆地與音樂融合。這對我的滑冰有所幫助.

當你參加比賽或者表演時，你是全場的焦點。你如何處理壓力?

其實我年輕的時候，並不喜歡成為焦點。我並不喜歡被人注意的感覺，我只是想躲在人群中。但在花樣滑冰中，這是不可能的。因為每次只有一個人在滑冰。所以現在我喜歡我的音樂大聲播放，而我也會選擇可以助我更容易進入角色的音樂。嘈雜的音樂更有助我專心.

你已滑冰了15年以上，你說花樣滑冰帶給你很多快樂，但這是否隨著時間的遞進而改變了?

我仍然喜歡花樣滑冰，它依然給我帶來很多的快樂。這些年來的變的是我對花樣滑冰的態度。當我年輕的時候，我著重於完成這些動作，做一些特定的旋轉或跳躍。現在，我滑冰為純粹的享受。我想為面前的觀眾及正在看我的人們帶來歡樂.

花樣滑冰的比賽規則也隨著時間而改變，這些規則能讓我更好地表達自己。以前，我們比賽時只能使用統音樂，但現在我們可以選擇適合自己的音樂。而隨著年齡的增長，現在我可以選擇自己的音樂，自己的裝備和用自己的編舞。我喜歡我可以在溜冰場上展現自己的風格。

Ashley Wagner是一個我十分喜愛的運動員。她在溜冰場上很有個性。我愛她的風格。我很贊成每個人都能夠在場上表達自己。典型的花樣滑冰運動員帶及人優雅和溫柔的形象，但我不是。「典型」的花樣滑冰運動員並不是我的個人風格。我喜歡玩、喜歡吃、喜歡「男孩子」的運動，我其實也挺頑皮的。例如，我一直想爬樹，但鮮少人在香港會這樣做。所以一個月前當我在雲南的時候，我爬了一棵樹。這真是太棒，太好玩了.

你覺得花樣滑冰是一個孤獨的旅程嗎?

我不認為花樣滑冰是孤獨的。有時候，即使我告訴人們我正在經歷的事情，他們也不會理解。有時候，如果我不高興，我也不能告訴周圍的人。例如，我曾為了一個跳躍的動作－雙軸 ，花了超過一年的時間去練好它。我感覺自己已經盡了力，但卻停滯不前。無法做到這個跳躍動作讓我感到非常沮喪。在那個過程中，我經常摔倒，但是我所能做的就是不停嘗試，然後再次跌到。我認為它是一種獨立的感覺，令我學習如何處理我的情緒和感受。

雖然我有時會和朋友一起滑冰，但實際上，每個人都在溜冰場上做自己的事情，我們不多交談。即使我們這樣做了，如果在談話的中間，我們看到了一個開放空間可用來完成跳躍或旋轉，我們會把握這個機會。我不會說花樣滑冰是孤獨的，因為我身邊有很多人經歷同樣的事情，我亦有很多在溜冰場上認識的朋友。我們都在同時處理自己的挑戰和情緒，但我們已經學會了獨自處理。我們也有類似的經歷，經歷了高峰、低谷、瓶頸位、失敗、勝利……當有人終於完成一個新的動作，我會為他們感到非常高興.

為什麼花樣滑冰對你很重要?

首先，它給了我成功感。經過這麼多次的跌倒和練習，知道我終於可以完成一個新的動作，我會很滿意。我喜歡細微的進步，我覺得這是一個讓自己快樂的機會。感覺每次都像是給我父母和自己一份禮物，這感覺很特別。

其次，我也從花樣滑冰中找到自己的身分。除了學生和姐姐外，還有其他的身分。現在的我可以說我是一位花樣滑冰運動員，這對我來說十分特別.

第三，透過花樣滑冰，我擁有更多海外旅行的經驗，而且我認識更多滑冰界的新朋友。我有很多朋友都來自亞洲地區，例如日本、馬來西亞和曼谷。我的同學都問我怎麼有這麼多海外朋友。在比賽中，這些人是我的「競爭對手」，但在場外，我們是朋友，我們會聊天、吃飯和一起出去玩耍。

最後，我也從花樣滑冰中學到了不要為自己找藉口及學習不要迴避困難的重要。有次，在溜冰場清場後，我打算到場上滑冰。場上只有我一個人，我不希望所有的人站在場邊看著我，所以我找了個藉口說肚子疼，想藉此躲進洗手間。我的教練說：「你認為在比賽中裁判會讓你這樣做嗎？」之後我便怯怯地到溜冰場溜冰，也沒有什麼事情發生。之後，我便停止為自己找藉口.

花樣滑冰有沒有一些刻板的定型你想消除?

花樣滑冰依然有一點兒被人定型了。例如，人們仍然認為花樣滑冰是女孩子的運動，男孩子應該是學冰上曲棍球或其他球類運動，有些被我執教的學生正是如此：姐姐學習花樣滑冰而弟弟學習曲棍球。

然而，現在在精英水平上，男士表現也一樣好。以前，花樣滑冰風格和期望是女子要優雅而靈

活；男子則講求速度與力量。花樣滑冰偏向被認為是女性運動。如今，男子選手也很靈活，而女子選手也有速度和力量。事實上，有時候男選手有更多的優勢，因為許多技術跳躍都需要速度和力量來產生動力，來跳得更高和完成更多的空中旋轉。 [試想像一下在空中旋轉4圈，等於完整的720度旋轉。如果感興趣，你可以在這裡觀看它的生物力學。]

每人的體格都有微妙的差異：來自韓國和日本的亞洲滑冰運動員往往比較輕盈，而來自北美和歐洲的滑冰運動員則略較健碩。沒有說某種體格特別好，關鍵在於找到一個最適合你自己的風格和策略.

現在你有自己的學生，你有什麼鼓勵的話想對他們說?

我想傳授的不單單是花樣滑冰的技術技巧，更想教授體育精神。我希望學生不只會想著成為下一個香港隊的代表。我有時會看到那些因為不擅長某項運動而放棄的學生，或是當他們發現他們不能成為香港隊而放棄的學生。但是，我們應該著重在於愛上它的的過程而不是結果，當你享受過程及願意為了達到想要的目的而採取行動時，自然就會有結果。我最近看了一本書，當中作者寫的一句使我有所共鳴：成功不是一種成就或是獲得好成績，而是跌倒後再次爬起來。我覺得我的學生很需要去學習這一點.