The alarm blares at 6:30 a.m. and junior Avery Swickard gets ready to start her hectic day. She goes to school for a day full of honors and AP courses. Then, she either goes to her personal ice skating coach or to work. After that, she goes home and proceeds to do homework for the next few hours. She goes to sleep and repeats the process the next day. Swickard has been using ice skating as an outlet since she was 3. Even though Swickard is juggling many different obligations at once, she sees the ice as a place to let out her stress and express her emotions. Although her ice skating career started at a young age, Swickard really started to get serious once she joined the Mercy ice skating team freshmen year. 

“I always knew I wanted to be on the team at Mercy,” Swickard said. “My  teammates and coaches have pushed me to a deeper level of engagement in skating.”

Although she enjoys moves the most, she participates on the A team in all three of the categories offered: moves, jumps, and spins. 

“I am constantly training to learn new tricks and pass new higher levels,” Swickard said. Within each category, there are many different requirements to be met to be considered a gold medalist. This aspect of the sport makes it unique compared to most sports. Swickard is a gold medalist in the moves category.

Swickard plans to continue skating on the Mercy team and is undecided on what her plans are for the future involving skating.

“I’m so excited for the rest of the season, [especially] to continue to better my skills and pass more levels,” Swickard said.