(Mary 1, 2006) — With the winter Olympic Games in Italy, the world has been launched into a blizzard of winter sports. Here in Glendale where snow is nonexistent, Clark students have still managed to find refuge in and around the ice and snow. Some students hit the ice for the love of skating and competition. Junior Armig Khodanian has been figure skating since the age of four and first started because she found skating fun. “Anyone that wants to be successful as a figure skater can’t be forced into the sport; they have to really enjoy it,” she said. She has been in about 20 competitions and has been first place on more than one occasion. For the time being, though, she has put her skating on hold. About a year ago she tore a muscle and re-tore it, and was ordered by her doctor to not hit the ice for a while. Still, she plans to get back on the ice as soon as possible. Others have watched a sport for a long period of time before deciding to play. Senior Michael Madatovian first started playing hockey six years ago and has since risen in the ranks. He first began playing because he enjoyed watching it and had even more fun participating. Madatovian plays for the California Golden Bears, and he recently went to Utah for the Western Hockey championship and played on behalf of California. Sadly his team lost but he considered it an honor that he was able to play. While some people join a sport to compete, others do it simply for pleasure. Junior Christopher Manasserian started skiing because he thought it was a really fun sport. He first began at four and does it completely recreationally. There has only been one instance where his skiing has gone wrong: he was taking a jump when he went too high and came down crashing. Luckily he wasn’t hurt, just breathless. His skiing hot spots of choice are Mammoth and Tahoe.