Once a year, figure skaters in the Harvard community get a chance to perform some of their most intricate stunts in the Eliot House-sponsored "Evening of Champions," and then they seem to just disappear. But Elise Davison, a freshman who made her Jimmy Fund show debut this year, is still on the ice.
Davison, a professional skater who spent much of her high school days competing against well-known champions like Dorothy Hamill and Elaine Zayak, has picked up a hockey stick and donned bulkier skates for the Harvard women's team.
For the ice women, Davison spends a lot of the game time on the bench, mainly because most of the squad played hockey in high school, and she has to catch up on her stick work. She started playing hockey at Harvard "because I wanted to be in some sport," the athletically-built Davison explained, confident about picking up a stick for the first time. She didn't think that learning a collection of new skills would be that difficult. "Once you're athletic, you can play practically any sport," she said.
Harvard women's hockey Coach John Dooley said of Davison, "There's still some question of her eligibility for our squad, because of her professional status Even then, she still has to develop a lot of the wrist and upper body skill hockey requires. But her skating is solid."
The blondes, with a Dorothy Hamill haircut, brought the same confidence to her figure skating. At age 10, she put on her first pair of skates when a friend had asked her to come skating. Davison then proceeded to attempt jumps and spins, despite having little idea of what she was supposed to be doing When her mother later saw her trying similar stunts, Davison got her first skating lesson. When she graduated from high school, she was averaging 15-20 lessons a week, plus coaching sessions on weekends.
As an amateur, Davison went through a rigorous training program. The Baltimore, Md., native skated six hours a day during the week, squeezing school in between early morning and late night practice hours. "I worked it so that I could still get an education and skate. We work out a special schedule with the school, to further my career."
Davison's coach, Peter Burrows a former British champion, ran a training coaching center in New York, and Davison took time off from school to attend. "I had been a year ahead of myself in high school so I had some extra time to play with," Davison explained "During my fall semester, I did an independent study course, and concentrated on training for competition. Instead of graduating early, I just slowed down to catch up with my class."
Davison did quite well in competition, placing as a bronze medalist in the South Atlantic Junior Ladies competition, as well as in the North Atlantic Division. "When I started skating more in New York with my coach, I switched regions," Davison said. At the time she managed to qualify as a gold medalist in both the "compulsory" and freestyle events.
This done, Davison could then coach and get paid to do something she loves, "I'm thinking of taking some of my skaters to a spring competition at Lake Placid," Davison said.
But before coaching, Davison faced two extremely difficult decisions. In Eastern Sectional competition in 1979. Davison had earned third place after the short program She had a tendentious injury that was hurting during her performance. But rather than taking a waiver on to National competition (a decision frowned on by the skating community), Davison finished the entire program and placed fourth, one short from making the Nationals. "It was simply a case of honor among skaters," she explained. "I didn't want people to think I had faked an injury just to get to Nationals. But I might have made it without the injury."
Davison then had to decide whether to stop her schooling for skating, or take off her blades for good. "I consider education more important," she said confidently. "I'll always have skating No one can take that away from me."
Now interested in medicine, Davison is planning to balance hockey practice and coursework with a coaching job at a nearby rink.
"I think that being in skating is one of the best experiences possible," Davison said. "I know people all over this country because of skating." As if to emphasize her point, the phone rang and Davison made plans to meet a skating friend who was in Boston for a competition.
Over Christmas vacation Davison plans to train for a professional competition that will be held in Jaca, Spain Said Davison. "It's great to have something that you can always return to. The people in skating are some of the best in the world."
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