2024 Grand Prix champion Amber Glenn is no stranger to concussions. She spoke to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about the obstacles she faces as a result of trauma, along with offering advice as a mental health advocate.
As of 2020, Glenn, 25, said she experienced two memorable and “severe” concussion incidents that resulted in a “brain-body connection” being severed.
Despite the complications, Glenn actively chose to continue with neurological therapy, recommended by her sports psychologist, so that she could remain a fierce competitor. Since then, Glenn has won the ISU Grand Prix Final as the first American figure skater in 14 years, in Grenoble, France.
Last year it was probably hard for Glenn to imagine herself as the champion in the Grand Prix Final after she was knocked out in a collision on the ice. The accident happened while she was training with a new choreographer.
“I was just doing choreography and another skater and I collided, which is not common to see collisions on the ice, we’re usually hyper-aware,” Glenn said of the incident on the ice. “But there was a choreographer in town, who isn’t usually there, that I was working with, so I was very, very focused on myself and what I was doing.”
Before she knew it, they had collided. “I’m completely knocked out, bruised eye, broken orbital bone,” the figure skater told PEOPLE.
A similar scenario happened in 2020, but then she was in the gym and it was the opposite side of her skull.
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Amber Glenn wins gold in China.
International Skating Union via Getty
“Blue eye, orbital bone, passed out. Bad, bad, bad stuff,” Glenn recalled of the 2020 incident.
Glenn is sure she suffered other concussions as a young skater. But she said they were swept “under the rug, undiagnosed” and written off as “Well, she hit her head.”
Both times she said she didn’t even see it coming before she was completely knocked out and rushed to the hospital.
After the incident at the rink, Glenn noticed concussion symptoms that were difficult to overcome while competing.
“I would be doing all the right things, training all the right things,” Glenn told PEOPLE. Then everything would simply go “out the window”.
“It’s because my adrenaline would be so spiked and that fight or flight choice was so badly triggered, especially since my last concussion when I hit my head.”
After her sports psychologist recommended she try neurotherapy, Glenn discovered it worked to calm her sympathetic nervous system by training her brain to automatically calm down.
“There’s a lot of science to it, there’s a lot of just calming down, and not in a way like, ‘Okay, tell yourself to calm down,’ it’s a literal scientific way of getting yourself into that more relaxed state,” Glenn told PEOPLE about the neurotherapy that used.
Glenn feels that treatment is “absolutely critical” to getting to the next level in her figure skating career. “I always had the ability, but I didn’t have the consistency.”
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Amber Glenn is competing at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Japan.
International Skating Union via Getty
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At 25, Glenn said she knows wisdom comes with age, but age is no advantage when competing in figure skating. As she says, “It’s a double-edged sword.”
Glenn has since become an outspoken advocate for mental health after all the obstacles she had to overcome.
Her advice to people seeking support is to reach out because “people are more willing to help than you think” and that “in reality, people want to help and they’re not going to judge,” Glenn said.
“It’s important for people to recognize that they’re not alone in their battles. They’re often dealing with their own personal struggles,” Glenn said.
“Another quote that I really think is great is, ‘You can drown in the ocean or you can drown in a kiddie pool or a puddle,’” Glenn said. “No matter how serious the cause or reason, you can still feel just as overwhelming emotions and things.”
If no listening ear can be found, then there are always resources available. “That’s something I’m really, really trying to push through,” Glenn said of finding someone to confide in.
She hopes her story of overcoming obstacles can inspire others to continue in their endeavors.
“Just looking at my career, somebody really looks at it, they can see the rollercoaster ride that I’ve had, but I’ve been through those ups and downs and I’ve come through it,” Glenn told PEOPLE. “It wasn’t easy, but I got through it and I showed that you can have these problems and succeed in what you love.”
Glenn will compete at the USA Figure Skating Nationals in January in Kansas.
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Source: HIS Education