And they’re asking their parents to let them try one.
That’s what Sarah Halverson did.
Yamaguchi her hero
The 22-year-old Centerville High School and Miami University graduate has been figure skating for 14 years — and she wanted to start four years before that.
“I was first interested in skating when I saw Kristi Yamaguchi skate in the ’92 Olympics,” said Halverson, who trains and teaches at the Kettering Ice Arena. “I was actually only 4 going on 5, and I remember watching her in the Olympics, and I went over to my mom and said, ‘Mom, I want to do that. I want to learn how to do that.’”
The Halversons were living in Pennsylvania at the time, though, and her mother, Judy, couldn’t find a rink in their area. She figured that maybe Sarah would eventually drop it. But that didn’t happen.
“I kept asking and asking and asking,” Halverson said. “Can I learn to skate, Mom? Is there somewhere I could learn to skate? Can I please try to learn to skate?”
So Judy kept looking. Finally, when Sarah was 7½, a rink was built in Pittsburgh, about 25 minutes away, and Judy told Sarah she could sign up for lessons.
“That was the best thing I ever heard,” Halverson said. “So I started lessons at the Blade Runners Ice Complex and pretty much haven’t looked back.”
Halverson, who’s been competing since she was 8, now teaches group lessons at the Kettering arena and coaches around 10 students privately. She’s also training with master-rated coach Penny Carpenter to get her senior freestyle rating, the highest level for that discipline.
Carpenter, a figure skating instructor for the city of Kettering who has been coaching for 26 years and skating for 38, says every Winter Olympics brings a surge in interest.
“Absolutely,” said Carpenter, a longtime competitor who also show-skated with Holiday on Ice and the Ice Capades. “Our numbers usually increase during Olympic times — not just for kids, but for adults, too, and for hockey as well. Everyone wants to learn to skate.”
Carpenter is one of three coaches at the Kettering arena who have master coaching ratings with the Professional Skaters Association, along with Lisa Riebly and Karen Mowery. She helps coach the group lessons and teaches about 40 figure skating and hockey students.
She works with hockey teams to teach power skating — speed, mobility and agility.
Hamill was her idol
And yes, the Olympics got her started, too.
“Dorothy Hamill was my idol,” Carpenter said. “Oh my goodness, absolutely. I remember being glued to it.”
The Winter Olympics was also the spark for 11-year-old Jessica Zink of Miamisburg and her 9-year-old sister Jaynee, who were working out at the arena on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 11. Jessica said Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes in the 2002 Olympics were her inspiration.
“Ever since I watched it when I was little I fell in love with it,” Jessica said during a break. “I never want to quit.”
She had a hard time deciding what she likes best.
“It’s all fun,” she said. “I love it all, the costumes, being pushed harder every day, learning new things.”
Jaynee likes all that, too, but best thing? “I love getting medals,” she said with a big grin.
After a coaching session with Carpenter, Halverson said her freestyle program is coming along, but still has a few kinks to work out.
It’s hard work, but after 14 years on the ice, she wouldn’t rather be doing anything else.
What’s not to love
“I still love it,” she said. “You get going and the cold wind blows in your face and nothing else seems to matter so much anymore, all the little worries of life.
“And I love jumping. It’s only a split second, but you take off in a double loop and it’s like you get to fly for that little bit.”
And, rest assured, she will be watching the Winter Olympics for more inspiration.
“I make sure I see the women’s and the men’s (figure skating), and actually the ice dancing, too,” she said. “But if I’m at home, I’ll turn on the TV, and if there’s skiing or the luge or whatever they have on I’ll watch it, because I love to see that, too.”
Contact this reporter at kmccall@DaytonDailyNews.com or (937) 225-2393.
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