icenetwork.com

Emily Chan and J. Daniel Vallecilla weren't going to let Hurricane Ike deter their goal of competing in the Pikes Peak Classic. (courtesy Mary Chan)

By Jo Ann Schneider Farris, special to icenetwork.com

(09/29/2008) - Emily Chan and J. Daniel Vallecilla warmed up at the Pikes Peak Classic for pairs and dance wearing billboard type T-shirts that proclaimed, "I Survived Hurricane Ike."

Chan's mom, Mary, watched in the stands as the children practiced. Their coaches (and Vallecilla's aunt), Lefki Terzakis and Nicole Sciarrotta, coached from the sidelines. All five of them appeared everyday and normal, but both children and their families had recently been through a major ordeal, Hurricane Ike. Just to be at the competition was an accomplishment in itself.

The 2008-2009 season is the third for the pair. Eleven-year-old Chan and ten-year-old Vallecilla live fifty miles apart. Once a week, Chan travels to the Sharptown Ice Arena in Houston to skate with Vallecilla, and in return, Vallecilla takes the trip to Space City Ice Station for their second weekly practice day. Because of the distance, two days is all they have, but whenever they can, the team tries to somehow squeeze in one more day each week.

Both children have skated since the age of four, and both are talented single skaters. Last year, Chan and Vallecilla not only qualified for pairs at the U.S. Junior Championships, but they also each qualified for national juvenile singles. Their strong skating skills clicked, and the pair won the bronze in the juvenile pairs event.

Hurricane Ike, of course, has been a major experience that neither child will forget. Following Ike, Vallecilla's family had no power or water for two weeks, and Chan's family had the same problem for one week. This of course caused major problems. Communication was very limited. Using cell phones was possible, but Chan's father had to recharge the mother's phone at his work place, leaving the family with no phone during the day.

Chan's entire neighborhood lost trees and fences: "Trees just blew away. We did not have time to evacuate, so we were in our home during the storm," said Mary Chan. "The children slept through the night, while my husband and I tried to keep everyone and everything safe. Schools did not reopen. Emily returned to school for only one day before we left for the Pikes Peak Classic event."

In the midst of all of this, the families did not think it would be possible to skate in the competition. but all of their local fellow skaters and fans wanted them to go. The "I Survived Hurricane Ike" T-shirts were given to the children by their friends and fans in the Houston skating community to show their support.

Since ice rinks did not reopen for nearly two weeks, and most arenas still are closed, the children had only two thirty-minute practice sessions together in Houston before boarding the plane for Colorado Springs. When they arrived for their first official competition practice, they had not had a chance to do a complete run-through of their competition program.

Colorado's high altitude also affected them.

By Sunday, Sept. 28, the competition day, Chan and Vallecilla say that they only felt somewhat ready, but when they skated in the warm-up, it did not appear as if they had just been through a hurricane disaster. Their program included a side-by-side double Lutz combination, other difficult double jumps, a spectacular throw Axel, difficult footwork, and complicated spins. Vallecilla is very strong and he easily lifted Chan high above his head. The program was almost entirely clean. Vallecilla missed his double Lutz, but everything else was done well. The pair skated with ease and with speed. Their scores were high, and they easily won the event.

After competing, the children socialized with their competitors, greeted friends from prior competitions, and made new friends. They smiled as they received their gold medal awards as they stood at the top of the podium.

Chan and Vallecilla now must return home to get ready for regionals and sectionals. They will again compete in both juvenile singles and juvenile pairs and hope to qualify again for the U.S. junior championships. They hope their local ice rinks will reopen soon so that they can get back to their regular training schedule. Both children also hope to win more gold medals and hope that things will return to normal very soon.