Patrick Chan

Picture of Patrick Chan (http://tinyurl.com/6x9wrhk)

Who says that a hero has to be a life saver? A true athlete who cares about others and uses his own power to make a difference, can’t he be a hero too? An athlete who believes in himself and his ability to win the championship, can’t he be a hero too? Yes! That’s definitely a hero’s personality. Young figure skater Patrick Chan has all that; he is a true believer and someone with a kind heart for those around him.

Patrick Chan was born at 1990, December 31. He started skating because he really wanted to play hockey when he was five, but he needed some basic skating skills, so he started skating because of his hockey dream. From that time he never left the ice. He won his first national title at the age of ten. And that’s when he really started to believe that skating was something that he was born to do. Now he is 21, and he just got his first senior world title, but even with that crown on top of his head he still didn’t stop caring for others around him.

Patrick and Don skating together at Oshawa (http://tinyurl.com/6hjcg72)

What makes him a man with a kind heart is that he is selfless. Before the 2011 world championship, there was a natural disaster happening in Japan, and that’s where the world championship was to be held. Due to the disaster, the championship had to be moved to Moscow and delayed for 3 weeks. Patrick heard about the disaster and felt helpless for someone in Japan, a friend of his, on ice and off ice. He used his own power and tried to make a difference. It was just a few weeks before the world championship, he was extremely busy with all the training but at the same time he had to skate for a cause at Oshawa with Don Jackson. He gave half of the money he made from the ice show to Red Cross Canada to support Japan. Of course the money didn’t make a huge change, but it’s all about how caring Patrick is to others even though he has lots going on. The World Championship means a lot to him considering the fact that he did not win the Olympic title from last season.

There is always fire in Patrick's eyes. (http://tinyurl.com/6g2nvgh)

A hero needs to believe in himself even though it’s a hard time. Patrick Chan was the hope for Skate Canada to win the gold Olympic title in 2010. Young Patrick Chan was a 3-time Canadian champion at that time and 2-time world silver medalist; everybody put a huge hope on him. But the result wasn’t as good as they all expected. Patrick Chan took fifth, but he never gave up, he used it as a chance to learn and get better. During the 2011 world championship, Patrick Chan made 3 world records: from short to long program to overall, he killed all the judges with his amazing control through his blades. From that a new world champion was born, his first world title at the age of twenty. He is the youngest Canadian man to win the World Championship. He could only have made it that far because he believes in himself from the start to finish. It doesn't matter how hard things can be sometimes, he has never lost the fire inside him. Finally he took his first world title. Even with that crown on top of his head he didn’t forget to spread happiness to others or to care about them.

Patrick at Mcdonald at Mchappy day (http://tinyurl.com/6jvxn2u)

Just a week or so after Patrick returned home from the World Championship, he joined McHappy day to help spread Mchappiness to young children. Patrick Chan, McDonald’s Canada founder George Cohon, and Rob Granatstein worked the counter at the McDonald’s at Coxwell and Danforth Avenue. The fast-food giant’s best known and longest-running annual event raises funds for a variety of children’s charities nationwide. Even with the crown on his head he never stopped caring for the ones around him, his kind and caring heart inspired tons of young children that day. Being a hero is not being the center attention, it's being a caring and loving friend.

I truly look up to Patrick Chan as my hero. He is the one who inspired me to become a figure skater at first, the fire inside him made me believe that I can believe in myself like he does. Then his caring actions made me look up to him way more, he made me want to be just like him one day, the one who is a believer and the one who cares and loves everyone around her. He made a huge impact on my life and became my role model. He is not just a world champion, he is the world champion with a kind and caring heart for people around him. And he is also a true believer who never gave up, and fought from the start to the finish. How he believed that skating is something he was born to do truly inspired me. He made me believe in myself the way he does.