DeKALB — Before 2014, all universities in Illinois lacked a figure skating club until alumna Dana Sivak organized one at NIU to promote her love for the sport.

The figure skating club is a sports club that competes across the midwest in intercollegiate competitions sanctioned by the United States Figure Skating Association. They participate in short program, free skate, ice dance and team events, preliminary through senior. For team events, they compete in a low and high team class, depending on the number of members at a particular competition.

During the first year, Sivak and her teammates focused on fundraising, and after receiving university funding in 2015, they focused more on competing, current President Ashley Grazutis said.

The club’s very first competition in 2015 placed them sixth at the Falcon Invitational Intercollegiate Competition at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. The small team, currently consisting of four women, continues to put itself on the map by competing more and more.

“Figure skating has made me a healthy person by giving me a platform to relieve stress, have fun and tell a story in a creative way,” Grazutis said.

Grazutis said the team works hard to prove themselves, which includes getting up early and being at practice at 6 a.m. every week. She said practice is crucial because skaters need to be able to execute certain elements like mid-air spins during their performance to have higher scores in competitions.

“I can’t imagine my life without skating,” Stephanie Knoth, sophomore and treasurer of the club, said. “This team has been such a great opportunity since skating is typically an individual sport, and on this team, we get to treat events as a team effort.”

The women said they find inspiration in those skaters who make it into the Olympics, such as Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan who won the gold this year in Men’s Single Skating and Javier Fernandez from Spain.

Elizabeth Korbut, freshman political science major and member of the figure skating team, said her favorite move to execute is the flip jump, which is when the skater does one or more rotations in the air.

The figure skating club will participate in its next competition March 10 and 11 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Grazutis said she encourages anyone interested in joining the club to reach out to her.