Sydney Dorvil ‘23, a member of Team USA Synchronized Skating, demonstrates the immense amount of hard work and time commitment it takes to excel at a sport like figure skating. Traveling every weekend, and sometimes even during the week, Dorvil has adapted to having such a busy schedule by finding time between practices and competitions to manage her schoolwork.

Her typical schedule consists of taking a plane to New York, New York on Friday around noon and then taking a train to Connecticut for her practices that last around eight hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dorvil then flies back home on Mondays around six in the morning to get to school on time. 

Currently, the competition season is underway, therefore, committed skaters like Dorvil miss school to attend the competitions that last around 4-5 days. Having a sport that requires as much effort and travel as ice skating conveys the amount of hard work and passion that is needed for young athletes like Dorvil to make steady improvements in their sport. Dorvil explains how she’s adjusted to managing school and skating by explaining, “I worked my schedule around so I can miss half days on Friday because of [my] Free block. For competitions so far I’ve missed about five or six days of school and it’s been really hard to make up, but I go into school early most days so I can get all my work done. I also stay after school often too. My teachers for the most part have been great, but it’s definitely a lot harder to achieve the same level of work that I used to. I also do homework on every team bus ride, every plane ride, and more so I can finish it all.” 

Although Dorvil has been skating for most of her life, she still appreciates the sport just as much as when she started. Dorvil expresses, “I do enjoy [competitions], it’s really fun being on a team too.” Although Competitions are very fun and enjoyable, they can also be very stressful and intense leaving very little room for social interactions. Dorvil notes, “To be honest I haven’t made many friends in skating, and I slowly am, but it’s a lot of skating and not so much friend time plus everyone on my team is 18-29. I am the youngest. Competitions are super fun but also very intense and serious.”

In addition to Team USA, Dorvil is one of the co-founders of the Blake Ice Skating Team. The team practices throughout the year on Sundays and has an annual show in late March. Each skater has a solo number and the group has two group numbers. In her ten years of skating, Dorvil has acquired the skills needed to manage a hard workload along with being very involved in figure skating. Dorvil states, “I’ve been skating for ten years. It requires a lot of work and travel but it’s honestly worth it.”