The smell of the freshly zamboni-ed ice fills the rink. Pump-up music blasts through the speakers as 23 other skaters speed around each other, warming up their spins, turns, jumps, twizzles, and spirals. They try to be perfectly alike as they skate across the rink. Stroke, jump, push, skate repeats in her head as she perfects her routine alongside her teammates.

Sage Palmer, a junior at SCH, has been ice skating since she was in first grade. What started out as a fun hobby has now become a main feature of Sage’s life.

Sage was previously also part of a dance team but decided to stop dance to further pursue skating. Being able to go to all of the practices for skating and dance was no longer feasible as Sage started to get to higher levels in skating. She realized how much skating means to her and that it is something that she wants to commit to.

Sage has jumped between skating teams over the past couple of years, but none of them have been as much of a commitment as her current team, DC Edge, a synchronized ice skating team located in Washington DC.

Each Thursday Sage makes the journey to Frederick, Maryland for conditioning, followed by two hours of on-ice practice. Every Sunday, Sage arrives in Washington DC at five in the morning to participate in off-ice practice, on-ice practice, and ballet. All of this occurs before her three hour trip back home.

In addition to her drives to DC, Sage also travels to competitions in Michigan, Boston, and California. “It’s exciting to travel to all sorts of different places,” said Sage.

She is able to manage traveling to many different states during one of the most difficult academic years of high school better than most. Sage takes student athlete to the next level with the difficult balance of skating and school. “The school balance can be hard because of how late we get back from DC,” Sage noted.

In addition to her practices with DC Edge, Sage also has private skating lessons before school throughout the week to perfect her skating skills and pass her required tests. Her coaches feel that Sage is a great addition to the skating community.

Spending many car rides with a lap full of notebooks and folders has taught Sage how to be time-efficient so that she can pursue her passion. She acknowledges that skating is very time consuming but believes that it is well worth it. Sage said, “Driving back and forth can be annoying but when I’m on the ice I’m just happy to be a part of such a great community of skaters.”

In the future Sage hopes to continue to skate at some level in college.