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Rolling again, skater chases her dream

By CARRIE RITCHIE
Published June 9, 2007

Siobhan Boismier is a 27-year-old tattoo artist without any tattoos - yet. That's because she's also another kind of artist: a competitive roller skater. She said the judges just wouldn't approve of permanent ink.

But when she does get a tattoo, she's going to marry her two artistic lives. She plans to get a small girl that resembles her holding a palette and wearing skates. After all, everything in her world is art.

For now, the Port Richey native has to focus on her skating. This summer, she's going for her biggest dream after fighting through her biggest setback.

Boismier wants to go to the world championships in November in Australia with her partner, Eric Hadley, but she's still struggling to recover from a knee fracture.

This weekend, the pair will use the regional competition at Spinnations in Port Richey as a warmup, since they're the only world-class pair in the southern region. But they'll be challenged at nationals in Omaha at the end of the summer. They placed fifth last year and need to make it into the top three for a spot on Team USA.

"I've always had a goal to make it onto the world team in pairs, " Boismier said. "That's what's kept me going this long."

* * *

Last September, Boismier was practicing with Hadley when she fell and landed on her knee.

"I didn't know it was broken at all, " she said. "It started swelling up a lot. I walked around the rink for probably about 20 minutes seeing if I could finish practice."

She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a non-displaced knee fracture four days later. Her kneecap had split, so she had to have a cast and couldn't lace up her skates until January.

"I probably drove my physical therapist crazy because the first thing I always asked was, 'How soon can I put my skates back on?' " she said.

Bumpy road back

She had to start slow and couldn't do anything that forced her knee to twist for a month. She had to land jumps on her left foot instead of her right, and is still using both feet to land a double jump she's working on. Boismier, who's also skating in the solo dance competition this weekend, just started practicing her solo routines a few weeks ago, she said.

She has to wear a knee brace, and once in a while she'll reach down to rub her aching knee. But her solo coach, Adam White, said she never gives up.

"She always keeps a smile on her face, " White said, "even when she's in pain."

While Boismier was out, Hadley went to a special coach in Virginia to learn their new pairs routine. He said he filled a large pillowcase with about 90 pounds of pinto beans and skated with it. They affectionately called the stand-in "Siobean."

Since Hadley lives in Melbourne, Boismier makes the three-hour commute every Wednesday and stays the night with a friend so she can have two days of practice. Hadley drives to Port Richey on Friday afternoons. They get about eight hours of practice time each, but it hasn't been enough to help them finish playing catch up.

"Right now we're doing stuff that we probably should've been doing back in January or February, " Hadley said.

Regionals will be the pair's first competition this year. Normally, they would've been competing since winter. But the automatic bid to nationals will help give the team some extra time to prepare.

And this year, at their third trip to nationals in the three years they've skated together, they'll be veterans.

"We're not focusing on the other teams so much, but trying to get our own program good enough to make the team, " she said. "We know what we have to have to make the team from the past two years of skating nationals."

Love at first skate

Boismier began skating lessons at age 6 after she attended a friend's roller skating birthday party. At 9, she got her first partner and "fell in love with pairs skating, " she said.

She and her junior partner placed second at nationals when she was 18, a memory she said is the highlight of her career.

It's this love that has made her stay with roller skating when others were quitting to get jobs or go to college. Instead, she has integrated skating into her professional life.

She teaches beginners' lessons and hangs a collage of competition pictures by her station at the tattoo parlor to raise awareness about the sport. She tries to get parents who come in for tattoos to sign their kids up for lessons.

And her injury certainly hasn't caused her to doubt her own skating career. She might be more careful about landings now, but she said the time off made her realize how much she'd miss skating if she quit.

As she practiced her routine with Hadley last Friday, a small crowd that huddled around the rink to watch applauded her lifts and spins. It was clear they understood the passion of this artist.

When she came back, "she didn't complain once about her knee hurting or anything, " Hadley said. "She just skated till she couldn't move anymore and then did it again the next day."

Fast Facts:

If you go

The 2007 Southern Regional Artistic and Speed Roller Skating Championships will be held at Spinnations Skating Center, 8345 Congress St. in Port Richey. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. today and artistic competition goes through Tuesday. Speed competition will be held June 15 through 17. The events are open to the public. Admission is $5 per person. Visit www.soregskate.com for a complete schedule.

[Last modified June 8, 2007, 20:53:36]