Our Adults Skate Too Skater Spotlight Series is a bi-weekly blog where you can get to know your fellow adult skaters from all over the world! For our first edition, you will get to meet Rachel! She's a busy mom of four, entrepreneur & business owner, and a Gold level figure skater who landed her axel at age 35! Read more about how she fell in love with the sport, how she balances her hectic schedule, and some of her favorite skating moments & advice!
What’s your name? Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
Rachel Saul (@foreveryoungskaters) and I'm from Clearwater, Florida. I co-founded and run a digital marketing agency headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
Tell us about your story. How did you get into figure skating?
I skated as a child from 7 - 14 doing ISI and tested up to FS4. I took 19 years off the ice - I only skated one time during that 19 year break on a neighborhood pond when living in Canada. I decided to come back to skating four years ago when I was 33 to find something personal for myself again that I could do outside of running a business and raising my four kids. So I laced up my old Risport Diamante with 19 year old Coronation Aces and realized that I still had some memory of skating in my body. I quickly fell in love with skating again and discovered that I could actually progress further in the sport than when I quit at 14. I learned axel at 35!
How often do you get to skate?
4-5x/week
What has been the most rewarding or exciting moment in your skating career?
Qualifying for final round at Eastern Adult Sectionals Silver Championships in 2018 and receiving Special Achievement pin.
What has been the most difficult moment of your skating career and how did you overcome it?
In order to be great at something difficult, you have to endure the process of refining. When feedback came back to me in a way I didn't really want to hear it one day, even though it was truth and I knew that I needed to hear it, it was really hard. It took some soul searching inside me to align myself with the goal of being better than I am today and the mental clarity of knowing where I want to go. And it made me so much stronger.
What’s your favorite element to practice?
Illusion to broken leg level 3 sit spin.
What’s your favorite off-ice exercise?
I love squats and pilates.
How has skating impacted your life?
There are many ways skating has positively impacted my life. But I think the biggest way has been making me mentally tougher and increasing my belief in myself in all areas of my life.
What’s the best advice your coach has given you?
Never pop and get angry when you do. Always commit to the outcome and what you intend to do.
What’s your advice for other adult skaters out there?
Be diligent to practice and you will see results. Many times we go forwards and then take a few steps backwards. But if you're diligent to practice and put in the effort, over time you will see massive growth.
