Photo by: Allison Shaw

Hannah Katz pulls the laces of her skates tight before knotting them into a perfect bow and then rises to glide on to the pristine white surface of the Joy Burns ice rink. She sails across the ice almost every morning, at a time when most are just rising to get ready for their 8 a.m. classes. “I get the sensation of flying through the air,” said Katz, a junior at DU and also the president of the club figure skating team. “It is a really cool sport.” Katz joined the team her freshman year, and has progressively moved up in skill level since then. Katz joined club figure skating because she could not bear to give up the sport when she graduated from high school. The majority of the other team members said the same. “I wanted something to keep me in shape, skating just happens to be fun too,” said Katz. Club figure skating at DU has existed for 12 years, winning the National U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA) competition twice in the past. For the past two years DU has sent competitors to the National Tournament, and anticipates another appearance this year. “We have a really strong team,” Katz said, “our team is almost all junior and senior level skaters.” USFSA conducts evaluations nearly every month, where figure skating officials test skill, and assign level status based on performance. Senior level is the highest, and junior follows. USFSA sponsors three skating competitions each year, where skaters earn points for their teams. Those teams with the most points compete at the national competition, which in 2009, is set to be at DU. At nationals, DU skaters compete with schools from Dartmouth to Berkeley. Skating nationally attracts very loyal participants, but in the past, not so loyal fans. “Figure skating is not considered an NCAA sport,” said Katz, “so, a lot of people just don’t know about it.” Figure skating, according to the USFSA cannot be considered an NCAA sport because it is not gender segregated; competitions are coed. The USFSA is actively putting forth effort to appeal for the induction of figure skating as an NCAA sport, but the process is long and difficult. Some members of the team feel that not being recognized as an NCAA sport is part of the reason awareness about their competitions is low among students. DU club figure skating will compete in their first regional competition, the Tiger Challenge, in November and Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Team members fund all their travel themselves as part of the club fee. DU figure skating also does fundraising for competition where greater travel is necessary – imagine sending nine skaters to California or Michigan. Despite their struggles with becoming an NCAA sport, figure skaters at DU continue to show more dedication to their sport that some students show to their early morning classes; but then again there is a difference between the sensation of gracefully flying through the air, and rapidly scribbling down notes for a midterm.