Figure skating is not for the faint of heart. The sport requires great technical skill and countless hours of practice. Birmingham resident Anita Saxena is no stranger to this reality, for after thirty years of competition, a career in optometry, two published novels, and a newborn child, the discipline inherent to the sport bleeds into every aspect of her life.
Her love for the sport began when she was young. After watching legends like Kristi Yamaguchi and being enamored by the physics-defying technique of the backward crossover, Anita knew she’d found a vocation. She then began skating lessons when her family moved from Cincinnati to Huntsville. Ever since then, she’s been on the ice.
If her status as an author is anything to go off of, Anita isn’t your typical figure skater. In fact, her passion lies in a marriage between arts and athletics: theater on ice. As a director of Magic City Theater on Ice, Anita finds the collaboration inherent to theater blends perfectly with the more solitary act of skating, saying, “It’s like this big labor of love that takes a long time, and it also takes a lot of different people coming together to make it happen. Figure skating [is] an individual sport, but theater is a team sport, and I just love that: skating with other people on the ice.”
The Theater on Ice program Anita is a part of has won several national championships. Since football is the de facto sport of the south, she said that she and her fellow skaters are somewhat isolated from competitors in other parts of the country. She joked, however, that they have received plenty of help from competitors in the more ice-friendly state of Michigan.
The day-in and day-out work of theater on ice extends naturally into her life as a writer. Anita has published two novels: Double-Axel or Nothing and The Price of Ice. With both novels focusing on young girls with big dreams in the world of figure skating, Anita has found her own life as a great inspiration.
When she was writing Double-Axel or Nothing, Anita drew from her experiences as a coach watching her athletes try to accomplish the intimidating task of completing a double-axel jump.
To complete the jump is to open the gateway to greater competition and opportunities. Anita details how she saw the pressures that come with this firsthand, saying,“Young girls put a lot of stress on themselves trying to get this jump, and I just [watched] over and over again how they would begin to devalue themselves as skaters. It would really knock on their self-confidence. And they would sometimes miss the perspective on all the great things they can do and the great person they are. It just breaks your heart to see how they would put all their value and everything into just one jump. There’s more to skating than that, and there’s more to life than that.”
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ANITA SAXENA
Though Double-Axel or Nothing and The Price of Ice are classified as middle-grade and young-adult books respectively, Anita hopes to reach readers of all ages. She noted that the father of one of her best friends read Double-Axel or Nothing and was able to relate to it since his daughter used to figure skate.
Through her books, Anita wants to create that special connection only literature can provide, saying, “I always hope that my stories bring people joy and takes them out of themselves and their lives for a little bit, but I hope also that there’s something in each story that, regardless of age or experience, [you] can relate to.”
Just as literature fosters communication, so does skating itself. As Anita said, skating is an individual sport. Conversely, family is a team sport. After giving birth to her daughter and facing an illness soon afterward, Anita relied on those around her for help. She found that her “second family” in the skating world proved invaluable in her recovery. After receiving plenty of support and morale, Anita reflected on what the sport has given her, saying, “I was always grateful for my life, and the opportunities that I had, and the careers that I get to pursue, but there’s an extra layer of gratitude now these days to be able to do what I do and interact with the people that I get to be around.”
The resilience to overcome illness and injury is exactly what figure skating has provided for Anita. The lessons she’s taken from the sport bleed into other aspects of her life. She formed thick skin as she weathered numerous rejection letters for her novels. In school, she excelled academically through the time management skills her sport required. Her physics classes even gave her insight into the mechanics and forces of the human body.
Whether it’s on an ice rink, a doctor’s office, or at her desk, Anita has confidence in her abilities. For that, she can thank not only the sport of figure-skating, but the bonds she’s been able to forge within it.
For more information on Anita Saxena, including book releases, be sure to visit anitasaxena.com.