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hen Brittany Schmucker was 8, she asked Santa Claus for ice skates, so her parents bought her a white $12 pair. They weren't much, but Brittany got the most out of them.
The Cascia Hall junior is chasing an Olympic dream, one that could launch her to prime-time television where millions judge her every move. Those $12 skates went on the feet of someone her longtime coach, Kimberly Berry-Borgos, calls "a natural."
Of course, making it to the Olympics as a figure skater or ice dancer isn't guaranteed. Brittany knows this. Still, the teenager makes daily sacrifices for her Olympic dream, even if the average Olympic ice skater spends more than $100,000 each year to reach the games. She balances morning and afternoon practices with school â€" where she carries a 4.0 GPA â€" and a boyfriend, a Cascia Hall baseball player. She's even in rehearsals for the school musical.
But to Brittany, her dream is worth the sacrifice.
In her element
Surrounded by tall, clear plastic walls scarred from hockey battles, Brittany carves a thin, pretty line in the Oilers Ice Center's frozen stage. Then, just as quickly, the line ends as the 17-year-old spins through frigid
air. Upon landing a double lutz, her skates forge a new groove â€" one far removed from the lines made during her first lesson nine years ago, and, perhaps, the future lines she'll carve in the 2014 Winter Olympics.Appraising Brittany, Berry-Borgos says, "I don't want to say it's a long shot, but it's a long process." Then again, she adds, "Brittany's definitely got the talent for it."
She seems made for it. Schmucker zoomed through six of her eight basic skills levels in her first lesson. It usually takes most beginners six weeks to complete a single level, Berry-Borgos said.
From there, Berry-Borgos became Schmucker's coach, focusing on producing a well-rounded skater, rather than someone who could just jump high, spin fast and please the crowd â€" all of which Brittany also does.
Eventually, coach and student turned Brittany into both a figure skater and ice dancer.
Opportunity knocks
Last summer, Brittany received a call from Pierre Panayi, a world-renowned ice dancing coach in Dallas. About 50 ice dancers had unsuccessfully auditioned to partner with an ice dancer named Nicholas Jesionek. The skater still hadn't found the right girl, so Panayi asked Brittany to audition. Three days after her audition, Brittany became Jesionek's Cinderella on skates. That meant moving to Dallas, where she lived with a host family.
For eight months, Brittany and Jesionek practiced from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. every day. Schmucker balanced her dream with four hours of school each day, then spent several more hours completing online classes.
Then, as Schmucker cryptically explained, "Long story short, it was the most amazing experience of my life, and I don't regret it, but the partner wasn't exactly what I thought he was." So she moved back home to Tulsa earlier this month.
Understanding her lifestyle
Looking back on the last eight months, Brittany recalled one important lesson learned.
"It taught me sacrifice," she said. "I have to do what I love. It's my passion. It's everything."
Brittany doesn't live just for skating, but she surrounds herself with people who understand her goals, especially her boyfriend.
"In one sense, if that person doesn't understand what I love to do, then it's not worth it," she said of relationships.
She has plenty of friends who understand she must bow out early to catch up on sleep. Being Brittany, at least from an outsider's point of view, must be exhausting.
On a recent Tuesday morning, Brittany was on the ice from 6:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m., which included a 30-minute lesson with her coach.
She was in class until 3 p.m., then back on the ice from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. At 6 p.m., she had rehearsals for the school musical "Merrily We Roll Along." She plays Gussie, a former Broadway star. The next morning, she did it all again.
"I live for my life being busy," she said.
But all of her schoolwork, all the play lines to memorize, all of her friends, her boyfriend, her parents â€" everything â€" are blocked out on the ice.
Out there, Brittany's only thoughts are of the next line she'll carve when she returns from spinning off the earth.
Matt Gleason 581-8473
matt.gleason@tulsaworld.com
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