Erica Corteal develops icy passion for figure skating at family-owned business
Erica Corteal remembers the excitement and apprehension that she felt eight years ago as she sat on a wooden bench, anxiously waiting for a chance to finally step onto the ice at Divito Park in Leisenring, a business owned by her parents that had just opened in 1995.After her parents, Doug and Melva Corteal, helped their 6-year-old daughter strap on her first pair of ice skates, she paused for a few moments, stared at the massive icy surface and then cautiously stepped onto the ice. Erica recalls that she took several steps before her skates began to slide in almost every direction imaginable. It didn’t take long before Erica’s tiny body collided with the cold, hard surface underneath her.
Even though she fell down almost immediately, Erica wasn’t discouraged. And she certainly wasn’t ready to give up yet.
“I remember taking a couple of steps, and then I fell down,” Erica said. “But I didn’t cry. I actually started to laugh. I just wanted to keep on skating because I knew how much fun it was going to be.”
Erica’s initial apprehension quickly turned to joy as she discovered her true passion – figure skating.
“I just liked to watch the teen-age girls figure skate on TV, so I was really excited when I found out that my parents were going to actually build an ice skating rink,” said Erica, who is now 14 years old and an eighth-grade student at Connellsville Junior High West. “As soon as my mom told me that we were going to build an ice skating rink, I told her that I wanted to take lessons.”
From the first moment that Erica stepped onto the ice, she became almost addicted to the sport. She was fascinated by the challenge of mastering basic skating skills. And she began to dream about the possibility of eventually building on those basic skills to become accomplished at the sport – just like the teen-age Olympic figure skaters that she had admired on television.
Her interest and motivation to improve led Erica to ask her parents if she could begin taking both group and private lessons as soon as Divito Park began offering them.
“I couldn’t wait to take the lessons because I really wanted to learn how to ice skate,” Erica said. “First, I learned the basic techniques of how to stop and start on the ice. And then I began to learn how to skate without losing my balance and falling down. It wasn’t easy, but I wanted to stick with it because it was really a lot of fun.”
After she learned the basic skills, Erica said the instructors at Divito Park began to teach her more complicated moves and techniques.
“I learned jumps, spins and other tricks that I had seen the teen-age girls do on television,” Erica said. “Once you start to work your way up, it’s really not that hard to learn how to do those things. You have to jump high, get up enough speed and spin fast enough to do the jumps and spins. You also have to find your center point whenever you do the spins. It helps with your balance if you don’t travel too much when you spin.”
In addition to the lessons, Erica decided to join the ice skating team at Divito Park that competed with other teams in the Pittsburgh and Somerset County areas.
“It was a lot of fun to go to the competitions, but it always made me a little bit nervous because there was a lot of pressure during the events,” she said. “The judges are really strict whenever you compete. You have to be perfect if you want to score well, and it can be very stressful.”
Divito Park no longer has an ice skating team that enters competitions. Instead of competing, Erica now spends her time working with Lauren Hays, an ice skating instructor, who teaches children how to skate at Divito Park on Saturday afternoons.
“It’s a lot of fun to help out with the ice skating lessons,” Erica said. “Some of the little kids are really funny to watch. We teach them basic skills, and then we split the kids up into a beginning group that needs more help and the more advanced students. I work with the beginners.”
Erica said it is her responsibility to teach the beginners how to stop and start on the ice. The majority of the students are 12 years old and younger.
“We can teach any age, but adults really don’t take lessons,” she said. “It’s more for kids and teen-agers. Adults would rather learn how to skate on their own. They just do it as a hobby instead of hoping to become professional skaters.”
Erica has aspirations of becoming an Olympic or professional figure skater some day, but she realizes that the competition is very tough, and she might not be able to achieve her dream. But just in case she doesn’t make it to the big time, Erica has an alternative plan. She plans to graduate from college, pursue a law degree and eventually become an attorney.
“I realize that it can be pretty competitive if you want to make it to the Olympics. And it’s going to be very difficult,” Erica said. “If I decide to become an attorney, I wouldn’t have that much time left for ice skating because I’m going to have to spend a lot of time studying. But no matter what I decide to do, ice skating is something that I plan to do for the rest of my life – even if I only do it for a hobby. I just love it, and I don’t want to give it up.”