For sophomore Ashley Wu, the ice skating rink has always felt like a second home to her. From the second she was introduced to ice skating, Ashley Wu has felt a sense of fulfillment every time she skates. 

“Ever since I stepped on the ice, I fell in love with it,” Wu said. 

Ashley started ice skating when she was in third grade, when her close friend and longtime teammate, Angelina Feng, introduced her to the idea of picking up ice skating as a sport. Ashley had previously only done gymnastics and wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to pursue ice skating. Eight years later, Ashley Wu is glad she pursued ice skating. 

Ice skating is typically considered an uncommon and very difficult sport as most schools don’t offer any skating programs. Additionally, skating can be very time consuming, as it requires a lot of resilience, practice, and patience. For these, and many more reasons, most high schoolers in the local areas don’t pursue ice skating as their primary sport.  Despite this, Ashley Wu has been loyal to her beloved sport and has continued to attend practices and keep growing her capabilities. 

For Ashley, the most important part of ice skating for her is making sure that she is able to perform in the best way she can. She pushes herself to strive for the best and doesn’t give up easily at all, despite challenges and obstacles.

Every sport comes with challenges, whether it be injuries, burnouts, or mental challenges, it is almost impossible for an athlete not to experience at least one challenge or obstacle in their sports journey. 

Ashley is one of many athletes who has experienced a challenge in her ice skating career. While ice skating, Ashley has hurt her ankle multiple times, which hindered her from achieving all her ice skating goals at the pace she’d like. 

“I sprained my ankle like 54,000 times, so now my ankle permanently won’t work and I have to tape my feet back together every single time I practice, and I have to take a break every 30 minutes because my feet hurt,” Wu said. 

Experiencing this setback to her ice skating career has been a huge obstacle for Ashley, but she has persevered through this obstacle and continued to keep her head up and try to be the best version of herself that she can when ice skating. 

“It’s impacted me a lot, because ice skating is probably really the most important sport in my life right now, and I really want to improve,” Wu said. 

Despite having such a challenging setback that normally would change an athlete’s attitude, Ashley is often described as a great teammate and athlete by her coaches, teammates, and anyone who has seen her in action. 

“She’s a hard worker, always learning, and never backs down from a challenge,” Coach Jenny, Wu’s skating coach, said. 

In Ashley’s mind, keeping a good relationship with the people around her is just as important, and helpful, when it comes to growing in her sport. She feels that when she is positive to those around her, they will be positive to her in return and keep her motivated to keep growing as an athlete. 

“Some qualities that make Ashley stand out as a teammate is she is always trying her best as well as improving,” teammate Angelina Feng said. 

In the future, Ashley would like to continue ice skating and overall get better at her tricks and overall performance in her sport. 

“I [would like to] land my double axle,” Wu said. 

Ashley Wu is a clear example of how maintaining a positive attitude, and persevering can have great rewards and outcomes. To anyone who is struggling with their sport and the obstacles that come with it, she offers a bit of advice. 

“Just keep on practicing, even if it hurts, get some water and keep on practicing, You just got to get over the pain,” she said.