ISI Magazine
Katie Lee:
ISI's Newest FS10
by Dianne Powell

It couldn't have happened to a nicer person! When sixteen year old Katie Lee passed the ISI Freestyle 10 test in Minneapolis at CHAMPS 2000, She became a member of ISI's most exclusive club. Since ISI was founded in 1959, fewer than 20 skaters have passed FS 10. "It's the hardest test in the world to take and to be able to pass it is rewarding," Said Rohene Ward, who passed FS 10 at CHAMPS two years ago at age 14.

Katie and Rohene are both from the Minneapolis are; the two have been friendly competitors for years. One of their coaches, Gailene Norwood, attributes the support of friends like Rohene, along with support from family and coaches, with contributing to the motivation that propelled Katie to reach her goal of passing FS 10.

Katie started skating in the ISI program when she was four years old. She says that her goal from the start was to pass FS 10/ Gailene has known Katie since she was a little girl and describes the articulate, graceful young lady as a determined, self motivator. "She's fun; she's lovable; she's a sweetheart," says Gailene of Katie. "She's one of the more determined persons I know. If she says, 'I'm going to do it,' she'll grit her teeth and go out and work and do it." Which is exactly what Katie did in passing FS 10.

With fabulous elements, Katie passed the compulsory portion of the FS 10 test easily. She ran into difficulties early in her program and was offered the option of re-skating her program at another time. She chose to repeat the program portion with only a few minutes rest. Her music was restarted, and the electrical power in the rink failed.

Unperturbed, Katie returned to finish her test the following day. On the ice her confidence and strength showed her to be a very posed, secure FS 10- caliber skater. Her spins were excellent; she moved beautifully; and her jumps were powerful and high. She passed with remarkable ease.

Gailene says Katie's strengths on the ice include her power and her rotation. "She's extremely powerful/ Her personal strengths are her determination and dedication to practice. I don't care how talented you are, you've got to put the time in."

Katie lists her jumps as her strength on ice and the fact that she can push through to finish a program even when tires. "Off ice," she says, "I try to be very personable to everybody. Sometimes my shyness will get the best of me, but I try to be nice to everybody I meet."

Katie's dedication and determanitation lead her to skate two to three hours a day and to spend another hour in off-ice conditioning. "It probably amount to about 15 hours a week on ice and maybe another five hours off ice," Says Katie, who trains at the Augsburrg College Ice arena.

After passing her FS 10 test, Katie says she was very relieved. "It was a lot of hard work. It was something I wanted since I started skating. It is harder than a senior level test in USFSA, and there are a lot fewer people who have passed it. For me, it's a bigger honor to say I've passed FS 10, knowing it's much harder."

For Jon Robinson, who passed his FS 10 test on his fourth attempt in 1983 at age 17, achieving FS 10 status means he had made his coach proud and that he had done a good job. Jon, who competed at the 2000 CHAMPS, started his skating career at Rober Unger's Ice Chalet in Knoxville, Tennessee. "Mr. Unger's love of recreational skating and the ISI program have definitely passed down to me," Says Jon, who went on to be a show skater and has been the head coach and skating school director at Sky Rink in Hong Kong for the last three years. Jon also has the distinction of having passed Couple 10, figures 10, and Dance 9.

What does it take to be a freestyle 10 skater?

Skating is an individual sport," explains Katie. "I push myself mostly because I love it. It's a lot of time out of my life, and I could be doing other thing, but I'm successful with skating. I want to stuck with it as long as it's going well. After I've finished skating, I definitely want to go to college. I'd like to have a career in broadcasting, specifically meteorology." Katie, a senior in high school, is considering two colleges in Indiana, Purdue, and Valparaio.

Katie says what she enjoys most about skating is "the satisfaction I get when I land a new jump or I perform my best when it counts. Skating has taught me a lot of life lessons: Hard work, determination, and persistence. It's give me a lot of confidence in myself. I've met some great people who will be my friends for life."

When asked which is more difficult, competitions or tests, Katie responded, "Definitely compe3titions. There's more pressure and a bigger audience. I put a lot of pressure on myself at competitions. I want to be the best. I want to get that medal." 

To mentally prepare for a competition, Katie sometimes listens to music in the car on the way to the rink. "Mostly, it comes from within," She says. "In your heart you have to want to do it for yourself. I try to focus in on the job I have to do."

Gailene, who describes herself as an encourager and motivator says. "In skating and in all sports, your mental attitude and emotions play a big part. That's sort of my position; I'm the Grandma Coach. I have the opportunity to stand at the door to give hugs and hurrahs and praise and prayers to there kids (Katie, Rohene, Victors Ayele, Airina Rodrigues, and others). I encourage them to keep on keeping on for the love of skating, and I make sure they do it. I try to motivate and encourage them. I'm not the head coach for these FS 10 kids and others coming up. They have many other coaches; I'm their Grandma Coach. I really want to see them do it, and I want to see them do it for the love of skating. That's my position. I co-teach with other coaches; I team teach with other coaches. I tell them to get a lesson from somebody. Whatever I have to do to make sure theses kids have the opportunity to reach their goals."

Gailene says to be a FS 10 skate takes "lots of work, lots of commitment, lots of dedication, persistence. As a coach, it takes putting up with different moods, which they all have, and just making sure it happens. Skate from the hear, skate for the love of skating. Yes, you go for the gold, because if you don't have the desire you won't get to this level. But you skate mostly for the love of skating. and you express yourself and work hard."

"Obviously, I enjoy skating and I think anybody who keeps going long enough to pass FS 10 has to enjoy skating." Says Jon.

Rohene passes the philosophy of skating from the heart on to younger skaters at SportsQuest Skating Academy where he works alongside Gailene and coach Page Lipe. "I teach technique. I pay a lot of attention to details like posture and arms and offer a lot of support. I'm there for the positive side of skating. I try to boost their confidence," Says Rohene.

Role of ISI

"Skating has been a big part of my life," explains Rohene. "It's taught me a lot about responsibilities, that there's a time and place for everything/ I had to learn hot to act around certain people and at competitions. It's taught me about being respectful and responsible."

Both Katie and Rohene have continued to take part in ISI competitions, while also participating in USFSA, and are encouraged to do so by Gailene. "Isis offers a wonderful opportunity, not only to make friend, but to be a part of the skating world in 'recreational' skating." explains Gailene. "It has given Katie (and Rohene) the opportunity to appear in many competitions doing may different things. I think it's a great program."

"ISI is a good way to get started," Says Katie. "I like that if you want to, you can progress is ISI all the way up to the triples; whereas with USFSA, the kids sometimes just want to get to the gold test, and you only have to do doubles for that. I like that ISI has the option of teaching kids triples. It's a great way to start out. I also like ISI's World Championships, because here you can meet skaters from all around the world. Even if they don't speak the same language, they have something in common."

Advice to Skaters

Skaters from around the world share a common love for skating with each other and with ISI's FS 10d.

"People know more that I'm a FS 10 than they know my name," Says Jon. "My advice to ISI's new FS 10's is congratulations, but try to be down to earth and personable." To other skaters, Jon adds, "Take thing with a grain of salt. You should try your best (in competitions and tests) and have the attitude that you are going to compete again: you'll be taking more tests in the future. That will take some of the pressure off and make it more fun. Just relax more and realize we're competing this week and next month an next year we'll do it again."

Rohene welcomes ISI's newest FS 10s with the advice to keep competing. "I find it fun to compete as a FS 10, and it's nice when there are other also competing. Keep striving to do your best," He says. "Even though you've reached the highest level, make yourself a new set of goals and try to reach those."

Katie advises skaters to not give up. "It's always hard and sometimes you hit a rut, but it's important to keep going and to really believe in yourself," She says. "It has to come from your heat. You can't skate for anyone else. Enjoy it!"

That's good advice for everyone from ISI's newest FS 10.