Brynn Dery

How is your involvement with both synchronized skating and freestyle figure skating, valuable to your undergraduate experience?

I think itís valuable in two ways. Itís a great social tool; a great opportunity to meet people from various majors and places. From the academic standpoint it teaches a lot about time management and budgeting. I must say that Iíve also learned a lot about multitasking as well.

How do you balance studying and all the time you spend practicing and competing?

A lot of times we bring homework with us to competitions. While other things are going on at the competitions, almost all of us spend some time in the stands doing our school work. I also usually sit down at the beginning of a semester and lay out all my syllabi and my skating schedule for the season. I do this to figure out what Iíll have to do early or later and so that I can talk to my professors right from the start. It involves A LOT of planning in advance.

Would you say that figure skating is more artistic or more athletic?

It really depends on what part youíre talking about. But if I had to pick, Iíd say mostly athletic. We do a lot of weight training and mental training, and there is a lot getting up at 6am to go on the ice for a few hoursÖin that sense I feel itís a lot like other sports or athletics.

If you believe there is an artistic side to figure skating, can you explain the artistic elements you feel there are?

Well, for one thing the scoring is based on both a technical mark as well as an artistic mark. Certain levels look at creativity and artistic ability more than others, but in any case it is still considered. I feel like in the last couple years there has been a move towards the artistic side of skating. There has been a lot more emphasis on emotion through various themes. For example, the music will match the make-up, dress and skating style.

While you are skating do you feel like more of an artist or more of an athlete?

I feel like more of an athlete. In competitions though, my expression and artistic talents come out because after so much practice it is as if the athletic part is put on auto-pilot.