The Shades of Synchronized Skating: Brianna Diary #5

by Brianna Davis

Unfortunately, with the lack of opportunities to perform these days, I’ve had limited experience skating with my Aurora Tights. Since I recently passed both my senior moves and gold dances, I thankfully won’t be attending another test session anytime soon. I’m glad I was able to wear my Aurora Tights for both of those tests, but I most likely won’t have another opportunity for a while. Although I would’ve preferred to wear them more, I actually think this has been the perfect time to try them out. When the time comes where we can have a normal season again, I will already feel comfortable with wearing them.

Since I don’t have any new tights experiences to share, I wanted to talk about how my very first skating experiences have impacted me to this day. I mentioned in one of my earlier entries that I first started skating in a predominantly black environment, which is definitely rare, and I know that many black skaters don’t get to experience that. As I’ve begun to learn about the experiences of other black skaters who started out skating in predominantly white environments, I’ve realized how much I was impacted by my environment and how grateful I am to have experienced skating in a predominately black environment. When I was young and first starting out, I never experienced the feeling of being the only black skater on the ice. There were always black skaters I could become friends with, and older black skaters I could look up to. I probably didn’t even realize that skating was a predominantly white sport at that point, because it wasn’t until I started synchro that I became aware of being in the minority.

I’ve heard many skaters of color expressing how they often feel uncomfortable stepping into a rink, because they feel that others are judging them or doubting their abilities because they are not white. While there have been times where I have felt isolated or uncomfortable because I was in the minority, I have never thought that people might be thinking poorly of me because I am black. I think that skating in a predominately black environment at such a young age is part the reason I have never felt this way. I never felt insecure in my abilities as a black skater because I was constantly surrounded by other black skaters. So later in life when I started skating in predominantly white environments, I carried that same confidence with me. I think that the experiences you have when you’re very young can have a huge impact on the way you think and act in the future, so I’m glad I was able to have that confidence as a black skater instilled in me at a young age.