NEWARK, Del. - Northern Delaware has been known to be a figure skating hub, with rinks in New Castle County producing Olympic level skaters. Suzanne Semanick-Schurman competed in Championship Ice Dance in the Calgary Olympics back in 1988 and you can still find her coaching at the University of Delaware Ice Arenas and other rinks in northern Delaware today.
"You work all your life for it," Semanick Schurman says. "When you're a little girl, you say I want to go to the Olympics and from that moment you have to take certain paths and directions."
Being an Olympian has opened a lot of doors.
"I still love teaching skating," she says. "I've been doing it for over 30 years. I pursued this as my life long career and love."
Semanick-Schurman helps young skaters start their journeys on the ice, many of them with Olympic dreams too.
"It's those days, the days that you're not motivated, the days that you're tired, the days you're sore that you've got to push a little harder,"Â Semanick-Schurman says.
She says those watching on TV should look at how much ice dancers do at once.
"You can't appreciate speed because you're watching it from a TV or something, but just watch how fast the people go behind them," she says. "When you're just watching it on TV, it's crazy the speed and effortlessness they do."
The skaters competing in 2022 had an unusual path to the Olympics.
"Usually they've competed six times or more or just shows, exhibitions, you know the opportunity in front of people, but due to COVID they've been very limited and isolated," Semanick-Schurman says.
Semanick-Schurman says she had the best time in 1988 watching the Jamaican Bobsled team.