On the average day, freshman Olivia Stone will wake up, brush her teeth, and head to school. Afterward, however, she makes her way to the “Fuel Tank” and skates and trains for hours. All leading up to her end goal, the Olympics.

Stone, has spent the last nine years of her life training and competing with the Indy Central Figure Skating Club. Currently, she spends all of her free time practicing at the rink with her team, and if she’s not practicing herself, she’s helping others improve as a skater as well.

“I practice six to seven days a week. I do six days usually, but now I’m starting on Sundays to teach classes at ‘Learn to Skate’ for little kids,” Stone said. “Then I skate for about an hour by myself.”

On the average day, Stone takes a few hours out of her free time to just skate and train.

“[I practice] two to three hours a day, but in the summer we practice from about 7:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. That consists of [meeting with] my personal trainer where I work out and actually skating,” said Stone.

Not only does Stone sacrifice her time but she sometimes jeopardizes her health.

“Every once in a while I have to take time off because of my ankles and my shins,” Stone said. “One time I had to stop skating because of my lower back. I’m pretty fortunate that I haven’t had anything that bad happen to me. My friend has a fractured back right now.”

Stone’s dedication to skating hasn’t just impacted her; her family has had to make some sacrifices as well.

“It can be tough sometimes,” Stone said. “They’re really big supporters of it and they really love how I’m taking what I want and making my dreams come true.”

As of right now, Stone’s goal as a figure skater is to make it to regionals and nationals her senior year of high school.

“That’s kind of when it’s the ‘prime time,’ [because] then you can get to the Olympics,” Stone said. “It’s a very small percentage, but I at least want to make it to nationals and hopefully the olympics.”

Her current successes include high placements in regionals, making it to the finals in sectionals, and winning a significant recognition.

“We were doing a competition in Ohio and I got first place and I got the ‘Cathy Slack Award,’ for most total combined points for the intermediate ladies. So that was a pretty big accomplishment, and it was my first time ever doing this certain program, it was really great,” said Stone.

Despite the many hours put into training and the risk of injury, Stone has a found her gateway to creativity and most importantly, her passion.

“I really just love to express my feelings, I’m very artistic and love to skate and dance and express myself,” Stone said.” Skating is about perseverance and determination and getting up after you fall and having the mental strength and physical athleticism to do it again.”