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Contents of this site are copyright ©2003-2010,
Sue Susic Ervin. All rights reserved. |
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She attended Hononegah High School
with a special arrangement that freed her for five to six hours of daily
skating practice. |
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For three years this Spartan
training continued. It meant long hours on the ice and strict attention to
studies. No social life, no hobbies. |
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But the discipline paid
off. |
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In her senior year Susanne won first
in the Upper Great Lakes regionals in Green Bay; placed second in the
Midwesterns at Troy, O., and the door was wide open to the United States
Championships in Tulsa, Okla. She placed tenth - and her competitive days
were over forever. |
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She went into competition with a
sprained ankle and an iron will to win and she
did. |
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The injury to her ankle remains.
Because she can no longer stand the strain of long hours of practice, she
has turned professional. |
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She is a skating instructor at the
Wilson Park Recreation Center, Milwaukee, where she teaches four classes a
week, after her own classes at Carroll College where she is a sophomore in
the elementary education program. |
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The stern discipline that took her
to the top in figures skating also carried over into her academic life.
She graduated tenth in |
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her high school class of
151. |
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The tall, dark-haired athlete
shrugs aside her own achievements, paying special tribute to her father
who always attended the competitions and cheered her
on. |
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“I could always hear him cheering
for me on the sidelines.” she said. |
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“My mother always accompanied me
too, but was nervous. She would sit behind a post so that when I went into
a flying leap she could duck behind the post until she heard the applause
of approval for the audience and knew I’d made
it.” |
