Book review on Finding The Edge - part 2

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. This is part 2 of this book.

Gilley told Karen that the jump isn’t the scary part. It’s to land the jump. Karen would always say “No I can’t do that” when she learns a new jump but Gilley just says “Yes you can, I know you can do it”. Karen would try the jump a few times and then a few more times and eventually she would land the jump.

Her other coach Sherri was much stricter. Sherri taught Karen the best positions and flexibility. Karen’s mindset is “This is what I need to do, and I am going to do it.

When Karen was in Second grade she began practicing during the week before school and after school. In the morning she would practice from 7:00-8:30 and she would wake up between 4:00 and 5:00. Her brother would always come with Karen and play video games for hours or even throw paper airplanes in the lobby of the rink.

Once Karen was in Middle school she began school in the Principles office and get a Tardy slip because she was always late because of morning practice. Since Karen has skating after school she does her homework at recess or even at lunch.

Her mother made her dresses for her competitions and sometimes she would stay up all night to make her dress and she was a true perfectionist.

When Karen’s brother (Jeffery) was around 10 years old he decided to train like a figure skater and not just play his video games.

Karen admired Michelle Kwan and her dad found the book she wrote and gave it to Karen. While Jeffery admired Evgeni Plushenko.

Karen began entering more and more local competitions. And many doctors and Physical therapists said that she has extremely high pain tolerance, which is good and bad. It is good because Karen can push herself and it is bad because she sometimes does not listen to her body when it is telling her to stop.

In my opinion Karen’s book 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.