Book review on Finding The Edge - part 1

I have come across an amazing book that I just found. It is called Finding the Edge by US National Champion, Karen Chen!! The book is about her journey as a figure skater and it is a really good book in my opinion.

Karen was born in Taiwan on August 16, 1999. But she moved to Fremont California eventually. Karen has 1 younger brother named Jeffery and her parents are Hisu-Hui and Ken. She also has grandparents that live in Taiwan.

Karen started skating when she was 5. Her parents wanted Karen and Jeffery to try something new and exciting. Her teacher for that time was Crystal Araujo and there were about ten first time skaters in her group lesson. The rink is located in Dublin, California about a half an hour drive from their house. Crystal called some students spaghetti skaters because they were wobbly but not Karen.

Even though Karen learned to skate in California she would sometimes skate at the rink in Taiwan near her grandparent’s house.

Crystal went from Karen’s first teacher to her first coach. Crystal was one of the only coaches that encouraged her students to practice off ice.  Karen was a fast learner and she would always practice at home and she would stretch a lot.

Crystal choreographed Karen’s first program which Karen performed it at a small showcase at her home rink in Dublin and then when she was 6 she had her first ever competition in San Francisco but she was competing against older girls. When Karen went to warm up on the ice she did not know what to do so she just did some single jumps and a spin. At the end Karen had got her very first trophy!!!

When Karen was 6 she started skating with a personal coach named Sherri Krahne- Thomas and her mentor coach Gilley Nicholson took Karen’s skating to the next level.

In my opinion Karen’s book so far is amazing and it is cool to read about what happened in her life. I wish I would have started competing at a young age so I could get used to performing out there.