Striking Gold on the Ice

In April, he took first place in his division at the 2004 U.S. Adult National Figure Skating Championships with a freestyle program that consisted of two types of spins, a footwork sequence, a combination jump, and three other jumps.

Now Bill Horning is working on his next move-a crowd-pleasing smile to go with his fancy blade work. "I'm learning how to smile when I'm skating," the former art teacher confesses. "When I'm out on the ice, I concentrate so much on what I'm doing that I forget to smile and make it look like the fun that it is."

After 33 years of teaching art in Michigan public schools and a lifetime of creating his own art through weaving, South Oakland Michigan Education Association member Horning decided he had to find a way to keep his body active when he retired in 1990. He found it at the local ice arena, where he now practices three times a week and meets with his senior skating club, called The Rusty Blades.

"Skating makes me feel better; it makes me feel healthier," says Horning. "I really enjoy doing skating and the feeling of moving over the ice-it's almost like flying. And I think it makes me feel more confident about myself."

The 71-year-old Horning, who resumed competition in the fall, is serious about his fun; he uses a coach and a personal trainer. But he emphasizes that any senior can find a sport or activity to soothe both body and soul. "If you have something that you really like to do, age doesn't really matter; just go up there and do it."

Relaxing the Multitudes

Elaine Mendzela calls them her "band of groupies," a devout crowd of teachers and paraeducators that closely follows her around the state of New Hampshire and eagerly awaits her next event-no, not a rock concert, but a tai chi workshop.

For the past four years, Mendzela has conducted tai chi workshops for teachers and paraeducators, explaining to them the history of tai chi, the philosophy behind it, and the different forms associated with it. As a bonus, teachers receive staff development credit for the class. "Teachers have to do so many extensive academic workshops that it's nice to allow them to just relax and help them become centered," says Mendzela.

Mendzela's studied tai chi for the last seven years now, improving her balance and posture, strengthening her body, and focusing her mind in the process. She even took a 12-day trip to China where she studied at a university with several tai chi masters. "What was really nice was the forms we learned in class—I could wake up in the morning, go outside, and do tai chi on any street corner in China with the people there because I knew the form," Mendzela says.

Now, Mendzela is sharing those forms with the educators in her class so they can put them into daily use. "It's so important that states offer tai chi workshops to teachers; it's almost like a preventative medicine-to have people work with their bodies and get a good feeling about themselves," she says.

—Donna Chiu