Carrie Becker might not have any childhood stories about winning Little League tournaments or scoring the goal that clinched a game. But even though she wasn’t athletic as a child, she hasn’t let that dictate her interests as an adult. “When I lived in Chicago in my late 20s, I thought it would be fun to get involved in Roller Derby,” she says. “I did that for two years, and it really piqued my interest. I wondered what else I could do besides skate forward!”
Becker decided to give ice skating a try. “I liked the team dynamic of Roller Derby, but wanted to find something I could focus on as an individual,” she says. “It really all started out of curiosity.” She signed up for six group lessons and then used online videos as her main instruction. After a three-year break from the sport to attend graduate school, Becker moved to St. Louis to become director of Mad Art Gallery. Once again, she laced up her skates. “I was skating at the Brentwood Ice Arena when a man came up to me and said, ‘Congrats, you’ve won six free lessons,’” she recalls. Becker jokes it was his way of telling her she needed some training. “He knew I could be much better if I had the right instruction.” That man was not just any instructor; it was Igor Lisovsky, a Russian ice skater who won the 1981 World Figure Skating Championship with his partner in pairs skating. Becker trains with him once a week.
Nine years after her first time on the ice, Becker says she can be considered an adult gold level skater. “I’ve learned all my single jumps, and now I’m working on my axel, double salchow and double toe loop,” she says. “There are competitions I could participate in through the U.S. Figure Skating organization, but I save that energy for my art. This is just fun for me!”
Becker says she has noticed a major change in her body since she started to skate and lost around 20 pounds last year. “I definitely look like a skater now,” she says. “It’s a great cardio workout mixed with a little yoga and Pilates.” She encourages people to take a chance and try it. “Ice skating is not limited by age,” she says. “You just need a good pair of skates!”
[the routine]
I hit the ice four times a week, once for a lesson and the other times just to skate on my own. I wake up at 4:30 a.m., do 45 minutes of yoga and then go to the rink to skate for a couple of hours. I prefer to work out in the morning because it helps my endurance for the whole day. I don’t get tired after lunch anymore—or any time during the day!
Photo: Charles Barnes
