The Shades of Synchronized Skating: Avery Diary Entry #2
by Avery Clark
I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday season, took the time to rest and enjoyed some family time. I wanted to catch everyone up on my experiences wearing my Aurora tights over the past several weeks and share with you a conversation I had about the topic of ‘tight colour’ in my skating life. With very little ice time due to the COVID lockdowns, I tried to take advantage of the time while I had it.
Let’s start though, with my slightly incorrect shade ordering, how embarrassing. When Aurora tights offered me assistance with choosing my tight colour online, I declined as “I knew exactly what colour I needed”. I should have taken their advice as I first picked out my shade as being the beautiful TRUE colour that Aurora tights has to offer. Once I received them, I realized they were darker than I needed so I went ahead and ordered myself a pair of the lighter shade “Lily”. My mom thinks I did this on purpose so that I could make the order ‘more worthwhile’ by also ordering that Power Shirt I wanted, but I told her she was misled.
I wore my new Aurora ‘LILY’ tights to my first synchro practice after receiving them, and I just love them. They are comfortable, lightweight and they match my skin tone perfectly. It was a busy day at our practice as we were filming our No Hold and Twizzle Elements to enter them in an upcoming virtual synchronized skating competition. Although we were focussed on our filming, I managed to mention to a couple of my teammates that I was involved in this project with Aurora Tights and Get It Called. Both of them were very interested in the project and my specific involvement and their responses to me were very positive.
I was surprised when one of them later mentioned to me she never thought about the lack of tight colour choices when she bought hers. She remembers commenting about skaters whose tights didn’t match them but never considered that they may not have had any other choice. I thanked her for coming to me about it and I reminded her that this is the reason that we want to have these conversations. I let her know that tight colour was never an issue for me also and although her and I are clearly of different races and skin tones, she was not alone in her feelings.
To lighten the conversation, I told her about the year my coach wanted straight ponytails for practices and competitions! “Your hair should be just below the shoulders when straightened” (Can you guess what emoji I would insert here if I could?)
Here is the 1st problem, we must cut my hair short so that my ponytail matches the length of my teammates when straight. We all know what that means, when curly it will be much shorter! Thankfully, I have a good sense of humour as I quickly earned my new nickname ‘Maui’ (from Moana). And the 2nd problem, now we must straighten the Moana cut and maintain it straight in all types of weather!
And lastly the 3rd problem, what am I going to do with that one hair that refuses to straighten and sticks straight up? My teammate and I both laughed, and I realized that this project is starting to mean more to me than just a review of my past tight colour experience.
I admit that it has been awkward and difficult to spark conversations on a topic that could be taken so personally. The last thing I want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable when maybe they are not ready to discuss their experiences. Hopefully by me sharing my experiences first, it helps others to open up.
We are in full lockdown now in my region and it will be a while before I can get on the ice again, however I will not stop having these discussions when possible, I just may have to get a little more creative to have them. Stay safe and healthy everyone!