Kameryn is a figure skater at Oakland University who has been skating since she was seven-years-old. She is studying exercise science and is also a coach for Figure Skating in Detroit! We got the opportunity to catch up with her recently and here are some highlights from our interview:

What has been your favorite experience in skating so far?

I would say probably my job. I work for Figure Skating in Detroit and I teach little girls ages 6-15 how to skate and it’s probably one of the greater opportunities I’ve experienced in my skating career.

Kameryn at a photoshoot for Figure Skating in Detroit. 

How have you been staying fit/trained during quarantine?

In skating we have this thing called off-ice that are workouts so I’ve been jump-roping, going on walks, you know, crunches, push-ups, all that jazz. Just a little bit throughout the week until we can get back on the ice.

I saw that you go to Oakland University. What are you studying? Why?

I recently switched my major to exercise science. Before I was a health science major and then I switched it in the fall of last year. Initially, I wanted to be a physical therapist, but then I started leaning more towards occupational therapy. I want to do some type of rehabilitation therapy and I thought that majoring in exercise science will help me figure out which aspects or which part of rehabilitation therapy I wanted to do.

Who is someone that inspires you the most?

I would say my figure skating coach actually. She handles a lot of stuff and she does a lot of stuff, I mean she’ll do as much as she can for anybody and she’s always encouraged us to be nice to people and, just a different kind of etiquette and courtesy. She would make us feel good about ourselves so probably, yeah, my coach.

Kameryn on her 20th birthday this past March.

Describe your experiences in figure skating. Did you ever feel discouraged because of your race? 

Sometimes it does cross your mind. I’ve had a few experiences, not that many, but just where you think oh, maybe if it wasn’t for me being black, then maybe I would’ve got it. In some competitions or in some testings, I would get marks that my coach and I wouldn’t agree with, simply because I would follow the textbook rules and sometimes you think, well maybe if I was a different color it would’ve been different. Just some little meticulous stuff like that. Other than that, nothing too blatant. I think it’s because my coach really pushed us to make it so that there would be no reason someone could mark you down for being black. We were always on it so, yeah.

How can we diversify sports such as figure skating?

I think it would start with extending the opportunity to other communities. When I first started skating, I started somewhere that was like five minutes from my house. Now that center no longer has a skate program, so I think a lot of the areas where not a lot of white people live, there’s no place for people to skate. All of the rinks are out in the suburbs, so I think a great start would be to get some ice rinks during the fall and the winter closer to these communities. I think this would be a great start.

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Check out our Instagram Live Chat with Kameryn this Sunday 6/28/20 to hear more! Also, shop our Semi-Annual Sale while it's still going this week only!