Growing up in Austria, being on the ice was not the first choice. In Austria, soccer is still the dominant sport, even though we are not necessarily all that good at it. But, we are also a winter sport kind of country, though in general skiing is the big one that dominates. We also do really well in some other winter sport categories, including ski jumping and such. Oddly, we are not the best at ice skating or ice hockey. It never felt like a natural thing for me to get into, but once I first tried skating with my dad, I immediately fell in love with being on the ice. I would often beg my dad for hours to go to the rink and it just felt so natural and amazing to be on the ice and I got better very fast. Getting into hockey was another big step. So far I had only skated but it felt like I was so good at it, I might as well hold a stick. It took some time getting used to and I was not really a natural at it, but hard determination made me improve over time and I would just spend hours on the ice practicing and improving my skills.