Tracing The path | Donovan Carrillo (MEX) | #FigureSkating

The first years of my sports career in figure skating, I started in Mexico when I was eight years old. In 2023, during the summer, I have the opportunity to move to Canada and to grow as an athlete. Hello everyone, I'm Donovan Carrillo, Mexican figure skater. This morning I picked some eggs and tomato with potatoes. So the schedule for today, so after breakfast we have a practice at 11.40 and then after that we'll probably just do like a quick cool down of a rig and a Donovan stretch. I came downstairs to have breakfast but I forgot my key inside my room. This happens very often, honestly. It's like a routine, basically. Hi again, can you help me with one room key? I forgot mine inside. I'm usually, honestly, when we travel together to competitions, I sometimes feel like the parent organizing him and keeping him on track, keeping him organized. He likes to lose stuff all the time and forget things, loses hotel keys. That's very, very standard for him. At Four Continents in Shanghai, I had seven keys, seven room keys because I always have to ask for another one. So now it's just time to wait for the coach to come downstairs, meet us and then go to the rink. The first few years of my skating in Mexico were challenging. It was always finding the way to make things work, even when the environment was not ideal. I had to skate with public session every day and the ice conditions were not that great. My first thoughts when I first was in contact with Donovan about being his head coach, there was a lot of mixed feelings. It was very exciting because we both knew what a athlete he is and how much potential he has in the sport, but we also knew that he had an ankle surgery and it was not going to be simple. Last year, I went to one of the hardest points in my sports career. I did a surgery on my right ankle and this was tough. I was so afraid of surgery. I avoided doing it for so many years. When I first had the surgery, it was, of course, hard. Skating is a routine in my life. It was something that I do more than probably sleep. My training and my life is built for skating and when I didn't have that, it was like, what do I do with my life now? I'm just grateful now for being here, competing at world level and achieving more than I could never, never imagine. This week, I got to meet Donovan's family, his mom, dad, and oldest sister. They don't really speak a lot of English and I speak zero Spanish, so it's a little bit complicated. It was really special for me. I feel like, in some ways, when Donovan moved to Toronto, I almost took on the parental role. I think every coach aspires to have that meaningful connection. It was very special. I felt just such a huge sense of gratitude and respect and happiness from them. It's been a long process, but I think everything settled down when it counted the most. I'm just so incredibly proud of you. I think what we've achieved together is incredible. I think coming back from a surgery for any athlete is almost impossible. For young skaters in my country, sometimes we're just afraid of trying and I want to invite you to try. I'm pretty sure that many people are lost and they don't find their passions because they don't try. I want to invite you to try. It doesn't matter. Just have fun and give it a chance.