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As soon as my Mom left, I turned to my coach.

"Ferrer-san, correct?" Coach Omura asked me as she held my file in her hands.

"Yes, Coach." I nodded.

"Ok, can you tell me, when you start skate? What's your level? I ask first so that I can gauge you. After this, you skate, so I can see your skills."

"Oh, um, I started skating a year ago. I can do the basic spins and steps. I can do a single Axel, and also doubles for the Lutz, Salchow, toe, loop, and flip. But I need to work on them since it's pretty unstable."

My coach nodded before guiding me to the rink.

"Wear your skates. After that, you skate, I'll check to see what needs to be worked on."

"Yes, Coach." I nodded before sitting down on a nearby bench as I put on my skates.

Coach Omura made me circle around the rink whilst making me do all the step sequences and spins that I had in my repertoire. She also made me do all the Jumps, which I thankfully landed but as I stated earlier, my doubles were a little bit shaky.

Coach then made me start on my steps first. She wanted to strengthen my basics until I could do it fluidly at high speed. She carefully corrected and guided me as I continued on. I was very much enjoying myself as I glided around the rink doing my steps. Even though there were several skaters around, they weren't a hindrance at all since we all know how to give way or to not obstruct other skaters.

An hour through my practice, I was already out of breath.

This never happened to me before. At least, not so fast. It usually took two to three hours before I became exhausted on the ice and needed to take a break.

That was probably because back in the Philippines, I kept getting interrupted even if there were only several guest skaters around. But here, in an actual skating club full of figure skaters, I could glide past them without any worry that they'd obstruct my path. Of course, safety was always a priority so, as much as possible, I didn't get too close to them at the rink.

My coach called me from the side of the rink.

"Rest for a while." She gestured towards the benches.

"Yes, Coach." I nodded before sitting down and gulping from my tumbler.

"Ferrer-san, do you exercise regularly?"

I wiped my face with a towel as I turned to my coach.

"Uh, I jog. Every other day I jog at night. That's about it."

I already knew where this was going. I knew that competitive figure skaters had a set of programmed exercises.

However, I didn't really have an official coach who would guide me through that. Coach Edmund wasn't my official coach. Even though I would like to make him focus on me, and I get the inkling that he did too, he was under contract with the mall group. He could only take students that applied in the mall rink.

Besides, I'm only a novice - a champion novice - but still a novice. I couldn't exactly take him away from his job at the mall rink. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to practice abroad. I wanted to belong to a skating club where the coach could focus on their skaters.

I didn't know the exact programmed exercises, hence, I was severely lacking in stamina and endurance compared to the others.

When Coach Omura learned about my situation, she decided to take me off the ice for now. She guided me through a set of exercises designed for figure skaters to train my agility, endurance, and power.