Sports Illustrated and Empower Onyx are putting the spotlight on the diverse journeys of Black women across sports—from the veteran athletes, to up-and-coming stars, coaches, executives and more—in the series, Elle-evate: 100 Influential Black Women in Sports.
Mariyah Gerber started ice skating at 5 years old when her grandmother, a great admirer of the sport, enrolled her in figure skating lessons at the newly built rink not far from her hometown of Moreno Valley, Calif. Initially, she didn’t excel at skating, but she loved the sport and continued to skate. By the age of 7, she began skating on a competitive recreational level. Her days were jam-packed with 5:00 a.m. training sessions, followed by a full school day, and then back to the rink to train some more. Unlike most of her classmates, she closed out her day with a 7:30 p.m. bedtime. When she entered middle school, the competition became much more intense. Figure skating was now a full-time commitment, so much so that her grandmother ultimately decided that Gerber should transition to homeschooling.
