141 Sp
ihawn Annarelli / The Behrend Beacon
Inna Zelina is a hunter by day
3 figure skater by night.
GOING FOR THE GOLDEN KILL
SHAWN ANNARELLI
• managing editor
uncommon for a teenage girl
«|MUtching a .36 caliber Remington
ij&le hunting white-tail deer. Later
: day, the same young lady is a
" { beauty queen landing axles and fly
ing camels on ice.
Freshman Anna Zelina can fire her
rifle accurately for 300 yards, and she
can stick a double lutz. You might
call her a bit out of the ordinary, but
she just says, “I’m a tomboy at heart.”
Waking up to her father’s voice at
four in the morning on the first day
of deer season, Anna has a 20-hour
day ahead of her, from hunting bucks
to pursuing perfection as a figure
skater.
She and her father Francis Zelina
will pick their post by 6:30a.m. at
their favorite region to hunt, Al
legheny National Forest.
“Anna broke new ground in the
family,” her father says.
She is the first woman in her fam
ily to fully embrace the hunting expe
rience, a Zelina tradition for
generations.
“It is something special my dad and
I have," Anna says, “because he does
n’t have a son to hunt with.”
On a regular outing, the Zelinas
will patiently wait nearly eight hours
for a deer to linger into clear shoot
ing range, but game does not come
by easy.
“I had one chance to get a deer this
season,” Anna said. “I did not get it,
but sticking with it was worth it.”
“We go out there and we learn
about persistence, dedication and
hard work,” her father says. “She
uses it on the skating rink, too.”
For Anna, hunting and figure skat
ing is all about precision.
“You have to be completely focused
for both,” she says. “Once you lose it,
a deer will pass by or you will miss
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the most basic move while skating.”
She’s been there before. In a com
petion at Jamestown she caught her
blade on the ice while performing a
linear step-sequence and face
planted.
“The crowd gasped then went
silent,” her mother Beth Zelina said.
“She had some tears, maybe more
from shock than anything, but she
was fine. It was one of the hardest
things I’ve watched Anna go
through.”
“My mom told me
‘you are not a quitter.’
I had come a long
way, so I decided I
needed to keep
putting my skates
back on.”
Anna Zelina
freshman, kinesiology
Anna’s tribulation!di|'j||a(|e£ pale
in comparison to her litafty of tri
umphs.
“I don’t know if I have a defining
moment skating,” she says. “I guess
it was when I medaled in a competi
tion. I was like ‘holy, crap I can actu
ally do this.”
At twelve years old, Anna com
peted and placed second in her first
regional contest. It was in that same
year Anna found herself building
unique bonds with each of her par
ents. She gained her junior hunting
license with her dad’s guidance and
decided to take a serious journey into
competitive figure skating with her
orts
mother’s support behind the scenes.
"My mom did all of those little
things that only we know about,”
Anna said.
“She was in the dressing room with
me for every competition perfecting
my costume and make-up. She was
always there to get me ready to do
my best.”
Her mother was also there to give
Anna the extra nudge she needed
when the going got tough.
“As 1 got older I realized how much
skating took away from my social life
and Other thingfc like soccer” she
said. “My mom told me ‘you are not
a quitter.’ I had come a long way, so I
decided I needed to keep putting my
skates back on.”
Her mother, looking out for Anna’s
best interests, said, “1 wanted to see
her follow through. I would be disap
pointed if she let go of something she
loved, and now she’s still doing it.”
Sort of. Anna stopped competing a
year ago, but she hasn’t left the ice in
the least.
“I’m testing my own limits and lit
erally being tested,” Anna said. “I’m
also coaching younger skaters. The
other day it caught me off-guard to
hear a young girl call me CoacllftfSMk
She’s being tested to pass
senior levels of figure skati|y;Shg§lS
has passed and obtained
medal in one of the two fieldPHlWes.
She is still trying to capture gold in
the field of freestyle to move up in
Sthtus as a skattpund coach.
“Passing thelenior levels allows
me to earn more money and respon
sibility as a coach,” Anna said.
“Coaching is something I want to do
for life as a part-time career.”
She believes she will pass the sec
ond test, but she has more goals in
mind.
“By this time next year, I will be
landing double axles cleanly, and I
will get that buck.”