Professional Skater Quotes

Skating was popular, but it wasn't mainstream. It had this underground following, and you could go on tours, win decent prize money, and make royalties from signature products - that's how I came to buy a house when I was a senior in high school.

When I started skating, it was such a small community. You didn't aspire to be rich or famous or make a career out of it because that wasn't something anyone had done yet.

I want to be the top man in our sport. I want to be that guy everyone wants to see skate.

I never imagined getting to do what I love for a living and having so many people appreciate it. There was only one other skater in my high school and we were the lowest form of cool. Our classmates couldn't figure out why we liked such a loser sport, or why we hadn't grown out of it yet.

There's a stigma to skating. People think of it as a kid's sport. People kept telling me I couldn't possibly make a living out of it. Then they said I couldn't keep it up in my 30s. And here I am in my 40s, and I'm still improving my skills.

I would recommend anybody who gets a chance to see short track skating, make it a point to go out there when Apolo is skating because you won't see anybody better.

Figure skating is not a hobby. It's my work, which I want to do, and do well.

I didn't get into skating to be famous.

'Thrasher' magazine's Skater of the Year is clearly my No. 1 goal. The only way I get that is skating. Other than that, I haven't set that many outrageous goals. If I got Skater of the Year, that would just really add to it all and make me feel really good. Whether it's this year, next year or five years from now, that is my goal.

I started out Ice skating with 'Holiday On Ice' and just got offered the part of R2 by chance.