By: Ella Mahan
Staff Writer
Mira Costa High School is home to 3 figure skaters, Ashley Liger, Precia Rhee, and Emma Crain.
Ever since she was 4, Ashley Liger has been able to express herself through ice skating. Currently a junior at Mira Costa High School, and she practices 15 hours a week at the Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.
Liger was introduced to ice skating at a very young age because of support from her parents. According to Liger, she started skating because her parents convinced her to try out something unique and she fell in love with it instantly. When she first began skating, she would skate with her family members, however, as she improved and began to dedicate more and more time and energy into the sport, her parents signed her up for classes.
“I placed second in the Las Vegas Open Championship, which made me feel very accomplished and that my hard work was paying off,” Liger said. “That is the award I am most proud of.”
Liger skated on a team called Fusion for one year, before branching away from her team to pursue individual skating. She is still unsure of whether or not she will continue to skate in college and perhaps beyond.
“I am hoping to continue skating throughout my college years, wherever I end up,” Liger said. “My future goals for herself include making invitationals and hopefully skating in college.”
Junior Precia Rhee, who has been skating since she was 6 years old, is another ice skater at Mira Costa High School. She first began skating when her best friend took her to a school fundraiser in 1st grade. She also skated on Fusion for roughly 3 years, before she too began to focus more on solo skating. Rhee has dedicated a lot of time and energy into skating throughout high school, but also plans to pursue skating while at college. She hopes to compete in several national qualifying competitions throughout college as well, however she is unsure which college she wants to attend specifically yet.
“My favorite jumps include the double axel and triple salcow, and my favorite spins include layback-beillman combos, flying spins, and hammer-Sasha Cohen combos, because they are all very thrilling and intense,” Rhee said. “My journey to where I am today has been long and difficult, but I am very proud of the skater I am today.”
Rhee currently holds the title of 2019 First Place Champion at the California Championships, which was a huge accomplishment for her. After securing these titles, Rhee recently had to undergo surgery for a tendon dislocation and has not been able to compete since, however, she is anxiously awaiting the moment she can hit the ice again, after rehab.
“In my opinion, to become a successful figure skater, it takes resilience, dedication, and diligence among other things,” Rhee said. “A skater will frequently experience ups and downs, which makes immense dedication and resilience to get back up very important.”
Typically skating 15-18 hours per week at the Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, Rhee is always working on her skating, on or off the ice. Practices can range from 2-3 hours per day, 5-6 days per week, drilling jumps, spins, and footwork for hours.
“In the future, I hope to qualify to compete at a national level competition and win an award at that competition,” Rhee said. “In addition, I want to land a clean triple flip.”
Emma Crain, a junior at Mira Costa High school has been skating for 10 years, ever since she was 4. When her parents signed her up for her first class, she loved it so much that she continued skating, taking private lessons and ultimately began competing. Crain started synchronized ice skating on Fusion at 7 years old, and has continued to stick with her team up until now.
“Synchronized skating is my true passion,” Crain said. “I would much rather prefer team skating than solo competing.”
Crain is especially proud of her synchro team’s win last year at Sectionals, where they placed 2nd, qualifying them for the USA Synchronized Ice Skating Nationals for the 4th year in a row. In addition, Crain placed 3rd at Regionals in California 4 years ago, which was a very big day for her. Her team also placed 7th at USA Synchro Nationals 3 years ago. Crain hopes to place 1st at Sectionals this upcoming season with her team, because that would be another big step in her figure skating path.
“Figure skating takes an incredible amount of physical strength, but also emotional strength,” Crain said. “I wake up at 4:15am to skate before school and I work very hard to get the results I want.”
She plans to skate in college, either on a team or individually, or at least attend a college that has an ice rink. During on-season, Crain skates at least 10 hours on Tuesday-Sunday with her team at her home rink, the Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.
“I have wanted to quit many times but have not because I love skating with my friends and learning new moves,” Crain said.
Junior Ashley Liger takes the ice at the Golden West Competition on Sep. 1, 2019, competing in the solo category. Liger skates solo out of the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, and has been skating since she was 4.
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