For Matthew Nielsen, the most nerve-wracking part of figure skating isn’t competing — it’s when he’s not.
He feels nervous leading up to an event, up until the moment before he’s set to compete, but when he steps on the ice, it all melts away.
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships were no different, except he had even more to celebrate than just the fact that he made it on the ice, as Nielsen, a freshman at Wooster High, earned a silver medal while in San Jose, California.
"Nationals is like the final destination," said Nielsen, who was one of 12 qualifiers in the intermediate men’s competition.
"Leading up to the event I was nervous, but once I started skating it got a lot better," he said. "I mean, it was exciting to be there, but at the same time there was a lot of nerves, so it was mostly enjoyable I would say, especially afterwards."
He took to the ice on the first two days of the 10-day event, concluding with the senior-level championships, from which the 2018 U.S. Olympic teams were selected.
Either four or eight years down the road, it’s Nielsen’s goal to be one of the three Olympians.
"(I need to) just get a lot of new jumps and just develop as a skater, in like artistry and spins, and it’ll come with time," said Nielsen, explaining what it will take to make an Olympic team.
He’s certainly dedicating a significant amount of time to the sport.
In kindergarten, Nielsen was invited by a friend to go along to a Learn to Skate class at Alice Noble Ice Arena. After that introduction, he never stopped, as almost 10 years later, Nielsen now spends two and a half hours a day, six days a week on the ice. He doesn’t take any electives or have a study hall in his schedule in order to be able to get an early release from school, as he travels to practice each day to Strongsville Skating Club, his coach Chris Martin and his choreographer Jacqueline Henry.
Moving to the bigger club, which has over 150 skaters, has provided him with more resources and proximity to higher-level skaters.
"A lot of the competitions and camps that I go to, they have a lot of better skaters there, so that keeps me motivated there and then I just bring home the motivation," said Nielsen.
He also has connected to an even larger figure skating community through social media. He has his own YouTube channel and posts to Instagram almost daily. Nielsen even was recognized in San Jose from his channel, including by a coach who said they had their students watch his videos to show them how to jump.
There are five different levels in the figure skating system — juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior and senior. Once a skater has mastered the elements needed to achieve certain scores, they move on to the next level. This upcoming season, Nielsen is moving up to novice, where he hopes to earn another medal.
"(Figure skating) takes a lot more athletic ability than people think it does," he said. "Rather than it just being about artistry and costumes, it’s a lot harder than it looks, especially jumping and spinning."