SHARON CARZ
For U.S. World Team member Sharon Carz, the fall that Russia’s Totmianina & Marinin took at Skate America 2004 brought back some scary memories of a similar incident from her own past.
“I was practicing my Long Program with (partner) Doug (Williams),” she recalls, “And apparently a girl who wasn't paying attention jumped right into him while I was over his head in a lift. I woke up a few hours later in my skating outfit in a hospital-bed with a broken collarbone. To this day, I have no memory whatsoever of the accident ever happening. Doug said that I removed my skates and got in the car with him to drive to the hospital. But I remember nothing until I woke up seeing his concerned face in front of me in the hospital - what a weird experience. To actually see this same thing happen to someone else was just horrific. I almost didn't want to watch it for fear that it may trigger something in my own memory. Doug and I are glad that both of us can look back (at the accident) now as great friends who have gone through this horrible event together. It is really just a part of committing to being a pair team. Pair skating is very dangerous - that is the reality of it and when you commit to it, you have to know what you are getting into.”
Though Carz got back on the ice after her accident, she did eventually retire from skating – twice! “First in 1994, then I competed last year in the National Synchronized Championships – so I guess I just took a break for a few years!”
She retired (the first time) to take advantage of a performing opportunity headlining in Reno and Las Vegas. But her most challenging professional job came when she worked as a skating double for actress Moira Kelly in the movie, “The Cutting Edge.”
She remembers the experience as, “Months of seventeen-hour shooting days while living in various hotels in Canada and interacting very closely every day with the same people who wake you up, drive you to locations, dress you, feed you, direct you, try monster make-up prosthetics and wigs on you, fix your hair and make-up constantly, change their minds constantly, ask you to be a trampolinist, a dancer, and to try the most dangerous elements at the end of a seventeen hour day on unresurfaced ice the opposite way that you skate and then jump over a camera……it all made competing seem like a vacation. But it was a totally amazing experience and I am really honored to have had the opportunity to participate in that journey.”
Currently, Carz works in commercial real estate and “I have gone back to school to finish my degree in Kinesiology. In the skating world, I have joined the Collegiate Skating Institute program and after judging skating for the past 20 years, I have begun coaching pairs part-time. It has been extremely rewarding for me and it keeps me on the ice, skating as well - sometimes I even demonstrate for the girl of the pair, forgetting my age, of course. The discipline and assertiveness I have embraced from my years of training have been an invaluable asset to the other challenges I choose to pursue in my life. I have also learned that the level of trust that a pair team has in each other at so many levels, doesn't always translate to the rest of society. Thank you to all of those who were and are a part of my success in skating and all the other facets of my life. My advice to all pair girls regarding throws - Get you landing gear out on time! My own personal mantra is "Go For It!" and never forget where you came from, where you are, and know where you’re going.”
For Carz, the “know where you came from” recently became much easier. Adopted at birth, she grew up never knowing anything about her personal history. However, in 2003, she met her birth parents, and happily relates, “It has been an amazing experience getting to know everyone and see where I came from. (My birth mother) is an interior designer and (my birth father) was a double-weight golden gloves champion - so I guess that's explains a few things!”
“I was practicing my Long Program with (partner) Doug (Williams),” she recalls, “And apparently a girl who wasn't paying attention jumped right into him while I was over his head in a lift. I woke up a few hours later in my skating outfit in a hospital-bed with a broken collarbone. To this day, I have no memory whatsoever of the accident ever happening. Doug said that I removed my skates and got in the car with him to drive to the hospital. But I remember nothing until I woke up seeing his concerned face in front of me in the hospital - what a weird experience. To actually see this same thing happen to someone else was just horrific. I almost didn't want to watch it for fear that it may trigger something in my own memory. Doug and I are glad that both of us can look back (at the accident) now as great friends who have gone through this horrible event together. It is really just a part of committing to being a pair team. Pair skating is very dangerous - that is the reality of it and when you commit to it, you have to know what you are getting into.”
Though Carz got back on the ice after her accident, she did eventually retire from skating – twice! “First in 1994, then I competed last year in the National Synchronized Championships – so I guess I just took a break for a few years!”
She retired (the first time) to take advantage of a performing opportunity headlining in Reno and Las Vegas. But her most challenging professional job came when she worked as a skating double for actress Moira Kelly in the movie, “The Cutting Edge.”
She remembers the experience as, “Months of seventeen-hour shooting days while living in various hotels in Canada and interacting very closely every day with the same people who wake you up, drive you to locations, dress you, feed you, direct you, try monster make-up prosthetics and wigs on you, fix your hair and make-up constantly, change their minds constantly, ask you to be a trampolinist, a dancer, and to try the most dangerous elements at the end of a seventeen hour day on unresurfaced ice the opposite way that you skate and then jump over a camera……it all made competing seem like a vacation. But it was a totally amazing experience and I am really honored to have had the opportunity to participate in that journey.”
Currently, Carz works in commercial real estate and “I have gone back to school to finish my degree in Kinesiology. In the skating world, I have joined the Collegiate Skating Institute program and after judging skating for the past 20 years, I have begun coaching pairs part-time. It has been extremely rewarding for me and it keeps me on the ice, skating as well - sometimes I even demonstrate for the girl of the pair, forgetting my age, of course. The discipline and assertiveness I have embraced from my years of training have been an invaluable asset to the other challenges I choose to pursue in my life. I have also learned that the level of trust that a pair team has in each other at so many levels, doesn't always translate to the rest of society. Thank you to all of those who were and are a part of my success in skating and all the other facets of my life. My advice to all pair girls regarding throws - Get you landing gear out on time! My own personal mantra is "Go For It!" and never forget where you came from, where you are, and know where you’re going.”
For Carz, the “know where you came from” recently became much easier. Adopted at birth, she grew up never knowing anything about her personal history. However, in 2003, she met her birth parents, and happily relates, “It has been an amazing experience getting to know everyone and see where I came from. (My birth mother) is an interior designer and (my birth father) was a double-weight golden gloves champion - so I guess that's explains a few things!”
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