White River Junction
Greenan, a longtime figure skater with the Skating Club at Dartmouth, took her ice skates off for the final time as a member at the conclusion of SCaD’s annual Skating Spectacular last month at Thompson Arena. Just 24 hours later, she was on the field for the first day of softball practice for the Hartford High varsity team.
“Sometimes there’s a weekend (in between), but not usually,” she said with a laugh.
The two sports couldn’t be any more different, as Hurricanes head coach Gary Gervais attested to before practice on Wednesday. Figure skating is highly individualized, requiring a unique set of balance and skill all wrapped up into on-ice routines.
Softball, though individualized in some aspects, focuses on team-first mantras and requires cohesiveness among a group of girls striving toward a common goal.
Greenan has been able to compartmentalize the two and succeed at both. The Hartford senior is an important piece of the Hurricanes’ outfield this season, one of only four returning varsity starters on a team looking for a better finish than its 7-9 regular season in Vermont Division II last year. But for most of the year, from September until March every year for the past decade and a half, Greenan has taken to the ice.
It started when she was “really little” — too little to remember the details. She started at the Hartford rink before crossing over into SCaD’s learn-to-skate program, where she was introduced to figure skating.
“I just think it’s such a unique sport,” she said. “I love doing it. It’s something different.”
Figure skating doesn’t exactly have deep roots in the Upper Valley, something that Greenan deals with whenever she tells someone what she does with her winters. Her friends are usually surprised to find out what she can do with a pair of skates. But it’s a tight-knit group, Greenan said, something she feels an obligation to contribute to.
“We like to show everyone that it’s a small club, but that it’s around here,” she said.
Perhaps that pull is more profound because of Greenan’s age. This year’s figure skating show, held on March 20, was her last before graduating from high school.
“It was bittersweet,” Greenan said. “It was a really good show, but it was sad to see it was over. It’s kind of a lifelong skill that I will have.”
Gervais notices the differences in Greenan’s demeanor. She’s not like other athletes.
“I think with any individual sport, you measure yourself internally,” he said of figure skating. “You can’t look back at a scoreboard to know how well you’re doing. You get a score, but probably 90 percent of the time when you’re practicing, it’s how you feel about how you did. … I think that’s where a lot of (Greenan’s) maturity comes from.”
That maturity makes Greenan a crucial part of Gervais’ team. He likes to have a variety of leaders within his varsity lineup: someone loud who can pump a team up, someone soft-spoken who leads by example, and everything in between. There’s a sense of sincerity when it comes to Greenan, something that Gervais appreciates in an athlete of her caliber.
“She’s a quiet leader,” Gervais said. “She’s always one step ahead of where she’s going. She knows where she wants to go in life. She’s a mature 17-year-old.”
Greenan has her eyes on Saint Anselm College in Manchester next year, a school that not only has a skating rink, but also a synchronized skating team. It’d be the perfect fit, letting her continue what she loves. If that falls through, she isn’t sure what she’ll do.
No matter what, Greenan still feels connected to the SCaD community that nurtured her love for figure skating for so many years. She’s helped coach the learn-to-skate program and volunteered her time. No matter where she ends up next year, she’ll make time to come back and help the program once again.
“We had a lot (of figure skaters in the program) when I was really little, and then there was a bit of a drop-off,” Greenan said. “We had a record number this year. … I think it’s a lack of word, honestly. I also think not a lot of people know about it, too.”
Greenan knows it’s a niche sport, but it’s hers. Softball, too, in some aspects. She’s done both for so long, she can’t imagine doing anything else.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet that it’s over,” she said. “I’ll be close to a rink either way, but it’ll definitely be different.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.