Star Struck
The highlight of my trip to Adult Nationals this past April was meeting my skating idol and hero, Paul Wylie. I spoke with him briefly and mentioned to him that he was my favorite skater. Paul asked me where I skated and invited me to come visit him.
I didn’t think anything of that comment and decided on a whim last weekend to contact Paul and see if he would be willing to work with me. Since Paul is a master at skating artistry, I knew that he would be able to offer me a lot of guidance for my skating.
I emailed Paul on a Friday evening and honestly didn’t think that he would respond. Well, at least not for a while. Much to my surprise and excitement, he wrote me back the very next morning and said that he would be happy to work with me!
Enter Exhibit A:
You could not have wiped the smile off my face no matter how hard you tried. I was so excited that my hero actually 1) wrote me back, and 2) said that he would like to work with me.
We have exchanged a few additional emails, and we are trying to figure out a date that would work for both of our busy schedules. Although he said that he does offer lessons via Skype, it is hard to see
one’s artistry (or lack thereof, in my case) on a computer or phone. More than likely, I will need to travel to Paul’s rink and take a lesson with him there.
If we can find a time that works, I’ll ask Paul to offer his expertise on my new Dramatic program and my existing Freestyle program. Maybe I’ll ask for some help on spread eagles too, since that was one of his signature moves.
Fingers crossed that this works out and that I get to work with an Olympic medalist this year!
