Small and Mighty

Imagine training to imitate the endurance of a marathoner, the strength of a weightlifter and the precision of a dancer in the blazing sun, three times per day, for many successive days . . . and then imagine doing that as an 8-year-old.

It is easy to be amazed by the power pack of Christina Mantsorov, Lauren Moor and Addison Dunbar. These three, spunky young girls, comprise the youngest of our camp participants and have poured their hearts and souls into performing at a high level this past week.

Christina Mantsorov is 9-years-old. She has skated since she was 4. As you may have guessed, Christina is Coach Alexei's daughter. When asked how that impacts her skating, Christina said that she appreciates having her dad involved in teaching her and that she is happy that he is helping her to be successful in the sport. She likes camp an awful lot and appears to be particularly skilled in the distance running portions of training, having finished in a tight third place during a training run ahead of considerably older runners a few days ago. While the trainings are somewhat painful for Christina, she stated that she likes the pain as it reminds her that she's working hard. For her, the best part of camp has been working out with friends and those whom she views as extended family - the members of Premier FSC. She is motivated to continue on in her training and keep a good attitude as she progresses. Christina currently skates at a preliminary level. She definitely wants to skate until she is in high school and would like to become a senior-level skater, like her teammate Irene Pullum. Christina feels pulled about her future career plans, stating that mom and dad would like her to investigate a medical profession, such as becoming a doctor, and she would really like to become a pop music singer. Who knows? There may be a good niche for a singing doctor in the future . . .

Lauren Moor is, as she says, basically 9-years-old. She began her skating career at age 6 and has enjoyed all aspects of the sport, from practice to competitions. Lauren has really enjoyed camp and has aspired to keep up with the older kids. While her legs hurt her early on, she has adjusted to the endurance portions of training and is now feeling great. She believes that having the opportunity to train with Coach Valentin is truly a special experience. Lauren knows that Valentin expects a lot from her, but she is up for the challenge. Her near-term skating goal is to land her axel sufficient to qualify for regionals this fall. She currently skates at a high-beginner level, but is edging into pre-preliminary. Lauren likes to learn new things and spend time with her Premier FSC friends. She aspires to become a country singer, much like Taylor Swift, in the future.

Addison Dunbar is the baby of this group at 7-years-old. From 4-years-old on, Addison has been training with Coach Alexei. For Addison, the biggest challenge of this camp is keeping up with the older kids during the endurance portions of training and she views the running portion of camp as the root of evil. Addison is most proud of the now "large" bicep muscles she has developed as a result of the strength exercises. While she has enjoyed the training, her favorite parts of camp have been the times where she has gotten to swim in the ocean and the backyard pool. Addison is consistently the last one in the door from the pool and there are times some of us thought that she might just turn into a fish. She is motivated to continue skating by thinking about the many jumps she hopes to learn. Addison is skating at a high-beginner level and aspires to go to the Olympics, which was originally suggested to her by her Grandma Cyndi. Following her Olympic experience, Addison would like to be an architect and design buildings and cities, much like the kind she makes in her room with Legos or saw from the window of the plane on the way to camp.

These small, but mighty, girls have provided energy, vitality and spunk to our group this week. Their enthusiasm keeps us on our toes. Their drive is an example for us all.