I’m Lucie Fink.
I’m a video producer at Refinery29, but every so often I like to try —
I’m gonna do it again and just do it slowly.
But every so often I like to try other people’s jobs.
Today I’m at the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink to see if I have what it takes to be a professional
figure skater.
This is Lucie For Hire.
I’ve been ice skating a handful of times in my life.
I went to a few ice rink birthday parties as a little girl, and I even find myself
visiting some of New York City’s top skating spots in the wintertime.
But, when my audience challenged me to try becoming a figure skater for the day, I was
honestly a little nervous.
I’ve never felt very comfortable on ice skates, and I’d never attempted any risky
moves before.
So today we changed that.
I met with a professional figure skater and we spent the day together at the Chelsea Piers
Sky Rink.
I’ve been skating for 29 years.
Definitely an intense sport.
It takes power, endurance, flexibility,
stability. You're working your whole body.
My first challenge was to warm up.
We are prepping to get onto the ice so we’re going to get your heart rate going, we’re
gonna stretch.
Oh, that’s about as far as I go.
That’s okay.
Warming up for the ice rink is pretty particular.
We did a few stretches that can warm you up for almost any sport, but then we focused
on certain moves that are specifically tailored to ice skaters.
Beautiful!
We played with my balance, flexibility, and coordination.
And even before we stepped foot on the ice, I was wiped out.
Ready?
My second challenge was some basic skating.
Many people feel a little bit shaky the first moment that they step out onto the ice.
So I started out with a helmet on just to be safe.
We began with a quick lesson in how to fall.
So if you ever feel like you’re gonna fall down, to catch yourself you want to bend down
and grab onto your knees.
So when we fall we never want to fall backwards.
Right.
You’re gonna try to fall on either side.
And slide.
Ooh!
Ooh.
Let me get back down.
Oh yeah!
I think I had a little bit too much fun with this one.
Angela then guided me around the rim of the rink until I was finally starting to get the
hang of it.
She taught me the forward swizzle, the foot stomp, the toe touch, and then she taught
me how to skate backwards.
I told you you can go backwards today!
I’m doing it!
We also did a little bit of edge work, where she had me skating on one foot, and putting
pressure on a specific edge in effort to turn.
This was a lot easier for me on my right foot.
My outside edge is a little rusty.
And then it was time for my third challenge: tricks.
By this time, I was feeling a little more confident on the ice, so I finally took my
helmet off.
Okay, maybe that was a bad idea.
Learning tricks was a lot scarier than I thought it would be.
Angela taught me the bunny hop jump, the lunge, a twirl,
She spun!
and how to come to a complete stop.
Wow.
I practiced these moves various times, and also hit the ice various times.
As long as you remember how to fall, you should be okay.
I’m an expert faller.
My final challenge was to perform a short routine.
As I know from watching both the Olympics
and “I, Tonya,” the final performance is everything.
You’re judged not only on your skills and grace, but also on your appearance, including
your choice of outfit.
Angela walked me through a basic routine, and I practiced the choreography a little
bit on my own before I was ready for the final presentation.
Dun dun da da!
I changed into a beautiful skating costume.
And then I was ready to perform my routine.
There were parts of the routine that I needed Angela for.
It just wouldn’t have been wise for me to attempt them on my own.
But other parts, I nailed.
Ice skating for the entire day wound up being one of those experiences where I started feeling
muscle soreness during the activity.
So you can only imagine how my body felt the next day.
To be honest, this was the first episode of Lucie For Hire where I truly felt like I was
just not made for the job.
Not as easy as it looks.
Lucie did much better than I expected, not to say that I was expecting anything bad.
But she really was a quick learner.
Would I hire Lucie as a professional skater?
Maybe not yet.
If she keeps practicing and hones those skills, then I don’t see why not.
You know how they say Rome wasn’t built in a day?
Well, Lucie definitely didn’t
become a professional figure skater in a day either.
This is a tough sport that takes a lot of practice and years and years to master.
But at least I had fun trying!
Let us know what job you want to see me try next and we’ll see you then on Lucie For
Hire.
Bye!
Hey YouTube, thanks for watching!
Comment below and let me know what other jobs you want to see me try.
And click here to subscribe to R29 on YouTube, here for another video, and right here for
my personal YouTube channel.
Bye!