FIGURE SKATING NEWS
Oakland native, Alysa Liu, will be competing for her third National Title this week at the US National Figure Skating Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada. Liu previously won the championship title at the 2019 and 2020 National Championships. She is looking to become the youngest three time winner at the age of 15.
Before becoming the national champion she is today, Liu found her love for the ice at the age of five. After stepping on the ice for the first time at a public session at the Oakland Ice Center, she was quickly enrolled in the Learn to Skate program. Coach Laura Lipetsky was her first instructor in the group lessons and soon after started giving her private lessons. Alysa’s passion for ice skating grew with each lesson that she soon began going in six times a week for her group lessons as well as private instruction.
As she grew, Liu participated in all of Oakland Ice Center’s programs that involved ice skating, whether it was an exhibition or competition. It was a time for her to show off what she had been working on as well as a time to learn more.
Lipetsky instantly took an interest in Liu when she noticed her passion for skating. “We shared a common love for the sport. I knew it was something that I planned to keep alive within her, the joy of skating.” She fondly looks back on her first few times with Liu stating, “She was a good student because she had a passion to skate, which fueled her to want to learn. I kept the learning fun and challenging to keep that passion alive.”
Over the ten years Lipetsky worked with Liu, there were many memorable moments that were shared between the two of them. In 2019, Liu competed at the National level for the first time and “was able to show the world all the work we had done together.” Her second National Title in 2020 was “the icing on the cake” for Lipetsky.
Liu has come a long way from clinging onto the boards before her lesson where Lipetsky would have to encourage her, and sometimes even bribe her, to start the lesson. We wish Alysa nothing but the best this weekend and we will be cheering her on from home!
Karen Chen, a Fremont native and 2018 US Olympian, will be competing in her sixth US National Figure Skating Championship this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chen is coming off a fourth place finish in the 2020 National Championship.
At just the young age of four, Chen started her skating career at Solar4America Ice at Fremont in the Learn to Skate program. When she turned six, coach Sherri Krahne-Thomas began giving her instruction. Krahne-Thomas could tell right away that Chen loved to skate and her first impression of her was, “very cute and small ... a girl of few words, just a look and a head nod. Very shy.”
Chen didn’t just practice in figure skating, but in dance. Krahne-Thomas had her compete in all types of competitions and ice rinks such as ISI, USFS, artistic, shows, outdoor rinks, and even plastic ice, which has made her into the well rounded skater she is today.
Krahne-Thomas looks back at her time with Chen and likes to think she had a little something to do with her success. Having Chen enter in a variety of competitions, Krahne-Thomas believes this is what made Chen into a “very well rounded skater and such a talented, beautiful performer. Also, she still has the best layback spin ever.”
One of the most memorable competitions for Krahne-Thomas was when Chen won the Intermediate Ladies at Junior Nationals. Chen was the last skater to earn her place in the final round of the competition and ended up winning the whole thing. Chen has participated in many competitions since then and we wish her the best of luck this weekend!
