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| Lady Kiwi |
| Published on June 16, 2008 |  
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Morgan Figgins
June 16, 2008
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Three-time New Zealand senior ladies champion Morgan Figgins made her debut in international senior competition this season when she finished 27th at the 2008 Four Continents Championships in Goyang, Korea. Later in the season, she finished 52nd at Worlds. Figgins was 33rd last year in her international debut at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany.
"That was the first time I smiled at a competition," Figgins said of Four Continents. "My goal was to smile and I did. I had a really bad year last year with injuries. In September 2007, a girl ran into me in practice at Australian Nationals and injured the tendons around my ankle. Then I had a glandular problem and tonsillitis."
The lively 16-year-old began skating when she was six. "My mom used to rollerskate and I wanted to do the same but not the same," she said. "My grandparents mentioned figure skating and I told them that I'd give it a go. I did Learn to Skate for two years, and then started taking private lessons when I was eight. I started in Auckland, but my parents wanted to move to a quiet bay so my family moved to Dunedin five years ago. I started taking lessons from a Russian coach there, Fanis Shakirizianu."
She also trained in Vancouver, Canada with Joanne McLeod and Jill Harvey for four or five months in 2006. "That was a big eye opener for me," she related. "I wanted to go home and train more after I saw what people are capable of. There's no one where I am to see."
Figgins landed her first triple jump, a triple loop, when she was 13. "I don't like the triple salchow and the triple toe," she said. "I've landed them but I'm still working on them. The loop is my favorite." Figgins has a triple loop, double axel, and triple flip-double toe combination in her short program planned for this season. In her long program, she included a triple flip-double toe and double axel-double toe combinations, a triple loop, and two double axels.
In addition to ladies, Figgins is practicing pairs with Grant Howie. "We started in October," she said. "Both of us wanted to do pairs and I'm enjoying it so much. I like having company on the ice. It makes me feel better about my solo skating as well. It would be a big rush to get to Worlds in pairs and to get to the Olympics would be amazing."
Figgins trains for two and a half hours a day, five days a week, for singles plus another hour for pairs. Off ice, she does work on pairs lifts for an hour a day and solo off ice training for three hours a week. "I do Pilates and plyometrics at home," she said. "I'm not a big fan of running, but I go for bike rides. I'm starting aerobics now because my mom used to be a personal trainer in aerobics."
Shakirizianu choreographed her programs for the 2007-08 season. For the short, Figgins used "No Name, No Face" by Modern Talking and for the long, she used music from the "Notre Dame de Paris" soundtrack. "Both of the programs are new," she said. "We only finished them three weeks before Four Continents. My coach had a long list of music and I chose the flamenco for the short. I liked the whole idea of using my arms. It's 'in your face' kind of music. For the long program, I just really liked the music in the movie."
"I like a bit of variation in my programs," she continued. "It gets too boring if you do one for too long. Like something upbeat and lively because I love to entertain. I'm not into classical music, but I'd love to skate to rhythm and blues sometime." Off ice, she listens to rock music like Metallica and operas. "I don't skate to operas because they're too classical," she said, "but I like to listen to them." She learned to play the piano as a child.
Figgins is a senior at Logan Park High School, studying legal studies, accountancy, English, food technology, and physical education. "I'm actually a year ahead in most of my subjects at school," she said. "I'm going to go to Polytechnic and study administration, management, accountancy and computers. I love numbers."
"I was taking drama but I stopped this year," she continued. "People at my school study drama and then get roles on New Zealand soap operas and then go to Hollywood. I love live theatre and I had lots of weird roles. I was the bad girl in 'Mean Girls' and did some abstract performances that make no sense, acting like jungle people or animals. It was more like modern dance. Skating actually gave me more confidence in class since I've always liked to be out in front of a crowd."
"In numbers, you're always right or wrong," she noted. "Drama can be good or bad. I want to have a good base for work, then I can go off and do silly things."
Figgins also does volunteer work as part of her role in the Order of Saint John, a charitable organization. "I've been in it since I was eight," she said. "We do marching drills and help in medical services like ambulances. When people get hurt on the ice at the rink, they always call me because I've had medical training. It's nice to do volunteer work. I like to give back and help other people."
"I'm a real outdoorsy person," Figgins said of her off ice interests. "I like to go hiking and kayaking and camping," she said. "I love to go swimming and play with the dog on the beach. Sometimes I go shopping with my friends at random places. I like to go rally driving. I'm a crazy Kiwi. And I want to go bungee jumping and skydiving some day." |
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