Amber Glenn: “I see that for young skaters sport means ‘all or nothing’. But there are priorities beyond your goals, your mental health is with you forever, you have only one body. Don’t destroy it in your teens just for results now!”
Interview with Amber Glenn for Russian media.
original source: Sport-Express dd. 7th November by Dmitri Kuznetsov and Natalia Boku
In the interview with Russian media Sport-Express Amber Glenn spoke about her feelings after winning Grand Prix event in France, discussed the difficulties of skating until age 25 and finding funding for sports activities, learning triple axel, mental health and suspension of Russian athletes. Here’s a translation of her comments.
“Q: Amber, a well-deserved victory. Can you share your thoughts?
Amber Glenn: Oh, I’m so happy to have won! I’m thrilled that I managed to pull myself together and win the short program, that I was mentally and physically prepared. Overall, I’m very, very happy!
Q: The USA has a long tradition in figure skating, including women’s singles, but currently, there is no clear leader among the ladies. Do you consider yourself as one?
Amber Glenn: I think there is growing competition at the national level in America. This year’s US Championship will feature four national champions, including myself, plus Sarah Everhardt, who is also showing good results and vying for the leadership, making it five contenders for the title. Yes, there is no clear leader, but competition is what drives the sport forward, and I’m happy to be part of it.
Q: There is a clear leader in world women’s skating — Kaori Sakamoto, a three-time world champion. Do you consider yourself her competition?
Amber Glenn: It is a great honor for me to compete with her, as like me, she is over 20 and has achieved such success. It’s inspiring to see how she dominates in this sport with such power and grace. I know that with my technical content, I can compete with her. But I definitely have a lot of work to do in terms of presentation, skating skills, and overall impression. When she just takes to the ice, there’s a strength I truly aspire to. It gives me confidence and motivates me to train better. I do get very nervous at competitions.
Q: Figure skating systems differ from country to country. In Russia and China, the state plays a bigger role. In the US, it’s different. How have you navigated this path, and did you have to work to continue skating?
Amber Glenn: Yes, figure skating is very, very expensive. When I entered the sport, my parents didn’t realize it would be so costly. My mom was a housewife and dad worked a lot. So growing up, I skated in used skates and blades. We tried to save wherever we could — my coaches gave me discounts. I had free ice because my coach managed the rink, so as a child, I could afford to skate. That was in Texas.
I was very lucky that my parents tried in every way to help. When I got older and made it to Team USA, I started receiving some funding. You no longer need to participate in local competitions where you pay for yourself, but in international competitions, the team covers all expenses. It was a huge relief for my family. And then, as I got even older, I started coaching myself. I gave lessons, then used that money for dresses, my lessons, and competitions. I was also very lucky with social media; over the years, I’ve managed to make some money there. It was especially timely in the early days of the pandemic; that was a time I managed to save up.
All this, along with having good sponsors for many years, has allowed me to compete. It let me focus only on training and achieve increasingly higher places at national competitions, earn more for costumes, skates, and ice. Plus, the prize money also helps. (Laughs) And since I now live in Colorado, I have access to free physiotherapy and personal training at the Olympic Training Center. I even lived there for a while and skated for free, they also fed me for free. So after moving there I went even further, able to spend more on training, costumes, and competitions. You know, dresses can cost a few thousand dollars, that’s over ten thousand a year. It’s very, very expensive, but fortunately, I can afford them.
In the US, sports are really organized separately from the state. It would be nice to receive state funding. But there are advantages to this separation too.
Q: Indeed, that’s quite a journey. There’s another approach — very young girls win everything, often with quads, and whoever is stronger at 15 wins it all and soon leaves. You, like Elizaveta Tuktamysheva in Russia, are successful after 20, performing triple axels, showing a different style of skating. In your opinion, which approach should the ISU promote more?
Amber Glenn: It’s really interesting because I grew up at a time when we were pushed to succeed as early as possible, before this change in approach to age. I was greatly rushed, but I was young and… I kind of fell apart. It’s a very difficult story for most skaters at that age. That’s why you don’t see many top 15-year-old Olympic-level athletes; there are just a few. It’s hard both mentally and physically: you are changing, hormonal changes occur that change everything in you, and it’s all happening in front of thousands of people under immense pressure.
I mean, in other sports — baseball, soccer, or American football — you won’t see 15-year-olds playing at the highest level. Many skaters from the generation before the current one have left figure skating behind. They move on, get regular jobs, and want nothing to do with figure skating because it ruined everything for them. I believe that more time to grow, enjoy being a junior, and take care of yourself before moving up to the elite — this will help many people simply maintain their career as long as possible and be happy and healthy throughout their career.
Q: In Russia, you would have had to retire around 18. But you want to skate as long as…
Amber Glenn: As long as my body and mind can handle it, yes. I never thought I would continue skating at my age. I thought I would finish around 19 or 20. But times have changed, and that’s great.
Q: You promote mental health awareness and openly talk about your issues. In Russia, the approach seems different, criticism of Simone Biles being one example. That is, what mental issues are you talking about – just go to work!
Amber Glenn: And that really isolates and can make you feel lonely and sad. With such an approach, you feel there is no hope, no future, and your condition can deteriorate so much that you just don’t want to do anything, don’t want to exist because you think you were made for only one thing, and if you can’t do that, you are useless. But that’s not true. We are all human, we come together, grow up, and change the world, albeit slightly, in sports or saving puppies. And it’s not about just failing today.
I see that young skaters are focused on one thing — for them, sport means ‘all or nothing’. It’s very difficult to discern that there are priorities beyond your goals, that your mental health is with you forever, you have only one body. Don’t destroy it in your teens just for results now! You’ll have to live with it, hopefully for another 60-70 years. It’s also important to have inner peace and try to achieve goals no matter how big or small. I think that should be the priority, not just immediate success at any cost now.
Q: You started learning the triple axel after turning 20. Is this connected to the previous topic?
Amber Glenn: It was my chance, a goal I set for myself. When I was about 13, the only girl doing a triple axel was Mao Asada. No one else was doing it, people were winning maybe with a 3-3 combination. So, I learned my 3-3’s and thought: alright, all set.
Then there was the ‘Russian quad revolution’ when I was about 16-17. I thought: ‘Wait, what’s happening, no, oh god!’ And for a while, it really discouraged me. I thought: why should I even skate? No matter what I did, I couldn’t compete with them, I was too old, those kids were 13, and I was already 17, too late to start, couldn’t learn anything… Complete demotivation. And then, when Covid happened and I couldn’t skate on ice, I thought: ‘You know what, I’ll try, see if I can!’ I set a goal to at least try. And this belief in myself helped me re-inspire. And there I learned the triple axel.
Q: How was it? How long did it take you to incorporate it into your program?
Amber Glenn: Learning it took a couple of months. I enjoyed a month of off-ice training. Then about two months on the ice went into working on it. Then I did it in practice. But then it took quite a while to do it in competitions. This was the first new jump I had done in competition since I jumped a triple lutz at 11 years old. And here I am, 20!
Q: In France, the stands were nearly full. How about the interest in skaters in America? What should the ISU do to improve the situation globally?
Amber Glenn: In recent years, it has decreased, which is true and regrettable. On the other hand, there have definitely been attempts to raise it again. I think that other sports differ from ours, they are all adult, understandable teams, sort of. We have this age spread, nuances with scoring, a spectator might get confused. Although they try to make it easier to understand through television.
I think that coverage of figure skating in the US is insufficient compared to other countries. Generally, more attention is given to skaters than to the sport as a whole, trying to show people. And you become a fan of someone, rather than thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll watch figure skating.’
Q: Is there personal interest in you in America?
Amber Glenn: I feel that there is. Again, we have American football and basketball. Now, in the era of social media, figure skating competitions seem long, each program goes on for a while, and in basketball and American football, everything is decided in seconds — then a pause. This is also why I see a decline in interest in American skaters, hard to keep the audience’s interest over such a period of time.
Q: I can’t help but ask about the suspension of Russians. I understand it’s politics, but can you share how you feel about it? Some young athletes in Russia are worried whether they should even continue.
Amber Glenn: Yes, it’s politics. I can’t imagine how hard it is, especially for young athletes who don’t fully understand why everything is this way. But I think in Russia, figure skating and sports in general are strongly connected with the state. Let’s remember that due to the conflict that started during the Olympic truce, many people are truly suffering, their lives have changed significantly, many are not alive. I’ve thought a lot about this.
Yes, what’s happening isn’t the fault of the Russian skaters, I sympathize with those girls and guys who put in so much effort but are limited in opportunities. And I would like to wish them to keep their love for our sport, try to find within themselves the ability to be creative, see if there’s a way to motivate themselves to achieve smaller goals. I hope that in the future a solution will be found.”
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