Skating for the gold

Sophomore Kelvin Li remembers the first time he let go.

His unsteady feet slipped, and he pushed himself off the wall. He slid forward, enjoying the feel of the ice beneath his feet. Even today, Li still smiles at the memory.

“I liked the feel of being on ice,” Li said. “I remember one of my first memories was being able to let go of the wall for the first time.”

Li discovered his passion for figure skating when he was six-years-old. And today, he has forged a much different athletic career than most students. In January, Li was one of 12 skaters in the nation to compete in the novice category at the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

To accommodate his practice schedule, Li leaves school after seventh hour for his home-school gym period. His early dismissal gives him time to do homework and to figure skate for two hours each day.

“My favorite part is the feeling you get when you’ve actually accomplished something new,” Li said. “The least fun part is falling, of course, but it goes with the sport. You have to fall a ton of times before you can succeed.”

Li attended his first group ice skating class at Seven Bridges Ice Arena. After taking a year off in second grade, he started taking private lessons once again. Today, Alexander Ouriashev coaches him in Glen Ellyn. Ouriashev also coached figure skater Gracie Gold, who placed fourth at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Throughout the year, Li skates at an indoor ice rink. He focuses on jump and rotational exercises during practices. And twice a week, he conditions off the ice. As the temperatures rise, his training will also involve running one to two miles around the rink and plyometrics. These work-outs allow him to build the fast-twitch muscles required to rotate on the ice.

While being a student athlete can be difficult enough to manage, the rigorous demands of ice skating can make it even more difficult. However, Li has been able to strike a balance after becoming accustomed to his practice schedule.

“At the beginning of the season, the competition is just to get you prepared for future competitions since you’ve been off for five or six months,” Li said.

From May to September, Li competes once a month during the pre-season. These competitions tend to be local and serve as practice for the more difficult ones to come. Competitions take place over the weekends, and they are broken into short and long programs. The short program is the first event, which determines the skate order later in the long program.

After preseason, the most difficult competitions occur in three stages. Li must qualify for regionals, sectionals and then nationals. These competitions take place around the country, and Li recently traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina to compete. 

This past season, Li earned seventh place at U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the novice level. This marked his first year as a novice in the competition. Nationals is split into three levels: novice, junior and senior.

He previously won first place in the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Midwestern Sectional Championships in Geneva, Illinois this November. In October, he also earned first at the U.S. Figure Skating Upper Great Lakes Regional Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota.

After spending the majority of his time on the ice, Li developed a close group of friends.

“You get to meet people from around the country,” Li said. “I met a girl who was on an international assignment.”

Li plans to continue his career as a figure skater throughout high school. And after leaving Naperville North, he plans to participate in the sport recreationally.