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Brett Mayer will compete for the second time in the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships beginning Wednesday in Salt Lake City. The 13-year-old Stamford boy is convinced the experience will be far better than his first.
"I didn't do that well, but I did achieve some of my goals,'' said Brett, an eighth-grader at Turn of River Middle School who competed at last year's junior championships in Cleveland. "I didn't skate terribly, but I didn't skate my best, either. It had a lot to do with nerves. I was kind of tense, and I really didn't focus. This time I'm going into it with a lot more confidence."
Brett skates out of Terry Conners Rink in Stamford and the Brewster Ice Arena in New York. He started skating at age 3 at Stamford Twin Rinks, and by 7 was developing into a competitive level skater. "It got easier as I got older,'' Brett says. "I think it was around 7 or 8 that I thought I could achieve some of the goals I set for myself."
Working with coaches Yuriy Tsymbalyuk and Daria Moliva, Mayer has improved dramatically over the past few years, especially with his jumps. "I can land a triple Salchow and a triple toe loop. I went through a big growth spurt, and I had to change my technique because I would over-rotate on them. Now I can land them pretty consistently."
Mayer, a member of the Skating Club of Southern Connecticut in Darien, earned his way to Salt Lake by finishing fourth in the Intermediate Men's Division at the North Atlantic Regional championships in October in Lake Placid, N.Y. His primary goal is advance out of Wednesday's qualifying to skate a short program Friday and a long program Saturday. Only the Top 20 contestants advance. "I'm excited but not overwhelmed,'' Brett says. "I'm more in control of my emotions."
Brett skates one-and-a-half to two hours six days a week and does two hours of off-ice training each week. Skating is a unique sport for teenage boys to compete, and Mayer says he gets mixed reactions from classmates. "I have a lot of support from my friends,'' he says. "A lot of them don't know how to skate. It's not something they can really do."
Mayer said he enjoys seeing the results of his skating efforts. "I like it because it allows me to see myself in a different way, and do things that a lot of people can't do,'' he says. He also enjoys competition. "I can't wait to go there for the experience,'' he says, "and being with the top skaters at my level."
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