I had spindly little ankles, and growing up in Canada, I couldn't skate. I was no good at any sports so was very much a pariah through those adolescent years.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We grew up very poor, and I hated being poor. I was the oldest of five kids, and I never got a pair of skates until I was nine. It was very difficult to get an education back then and play junior hockey.
Even in Canada, I never even played ice hockey. I never skated in my life; I always did rollerblade street hockey.
As a kid in British Columbia, going back a long way, I learned to skate.
I was nine-years-old when I first put on skates.
I tried all kinds of sports when I was a kid, like soccer and tennis and golf, and, in fact, started skating to be able to play hockey.
I was an athlete when I was growing up.
I was a natural skater, but I also took private lessons to enhance my skills.
Luckily, I discovered ice skating when I was eight and a half years old. There were two wonderful ponds within walking distance of my house. After all the physical activity the summer provided, I craved movement in the cold of winter. I had no skates, so Mom stuffed socks into my brother's old ones.
When I was a kid. I had traveled the world by the time I was 13 years old because of all the competitions I did for inline skating.
I started skating when I was six years old.