Carly Donowick

Hello to the skating world from Buffalo, New York!! Two years ago, my family and I had to make a very difficult decision. After nationals in 2004, my partner, Leo, had decided to pursue a degree at Princeton and I had to decide whether to fly home and reconnect with my family or pursue another partner and continue on with competitive ice dancing. Well, I think you’ve probably guessed what the outcome of that decision was!!

I had a lot of catching up to do after my 3 years of competing and training. When I came back home to Buffalo, I was enrolled in the local high school and was reunited with a lot of friends from elementary school. I cruised through the rest of my sophomore year, played lacrosse and picked up two jobs. I spent almost everyday of that summer at the beach, working at night, and spending quality time with my family after being gone for so long, especially since my family is extremely close.

Junior year is definitely as hard as everyone says it is. Studying for the dreaded SAT’s, looking at colleges, and balancing my work schedule. My days seemed pretty stressful at times, especially when lacrosse started in the spring. It was a good year though – I was named captain of the lacrosse team, was awarded the coaches award and inducted into the French Honor Society.

The summer went by all too fast and my parents were saying goodbye to yet another child. My sister Emily left for college in August and is playing Division 1 hockey for R.P.I in Albany, NY majoring in engineering. I’ve been there several times to visit her and watch her play hockey. All I can say is – I can’t wait to go to college.

Here I am now, a senior in high school, applying to colleges, playing lacrosse and still working my 2 jobs. I coach 4 days a week and work at the snack bar 3-4 days a week. I’ve applied to 6 colleges and my hopes are to major in Elementary Education and minor in Russian. I’m crossing my fingers that I get into SUNY Albany or Michigan State (but will be happy to get into any of the other colleges that I’ve sent applications).

After some long talks with my parents, they’ve decided to once again let me follow my dreams and defer from whichever college I decide on (and I get accepted into) and try out for Holiday on Ice. If I’m chosen to skate in one of the shows, I plan to skate in Europe at least a year and then return to normal life again and attend college. Who knows, you may see me at Lake Placid one summer returning to competitive skating – I haven’t ruled that out either.

Well that basically raps up my life since I made the decision to leave the skating world. I’ve kept in touch with some of my national and international competitors – some of whom have also made the decision to stop skating competitively. I think what I miss the most about competing is traveling and meeting new people (and competing of course).

I’ve also kept in touch with my coach Sergei and will sometimes send him a random “hello” while I’m sitting in one of my classes. Leo and I have kept in touch. He’s doing extremely well at Princeton, which I knew he would. Leo was always very smart, almost too smart, and succeeded in everything he did, except for cooking.

I sincerely miss my training group – who if not for them, I would never have survived my life away from home. Their support will never be forgotten. Whether it was watching out for me (John, Andrew, Brent), making me laugh in practice (Andrew and Sarah), helping me learn how to work with someone that’s the exact opposite of myself (Leo), or just letting me cry on their shoulders (EVERYONE). I’ll never forget any of you. Also I’d like to mention that I’m extremely happy for Brent and Caitlin for doing as well as they are, keep it up guys! A big thank you to Daphne for exposing Leo and I and creating and maintaining our website and just her constant support and undying love for the sport. That’s all for now I suppose, so goodbye again ice-dance world, ill keep in touch – or keep in touch with me – my e-mail address is [email protected]

Carly Donowick