Pinoy skaters take gold in ISI World 

SAN JOSE – They say if God meant Filipinos to be world basketball champs, they would have been taller; world bowling champs, wealthier. But nowadays there’s the Pacquiao factor – nothing that stamina and persistence can’t beat.

So now, ice skating champions from a tropical country? Where do they practice? Sponsors and grants would be hard to come by, but where’s the ice in the Philippines?

Lest you suspect a world messed up by global warming, consider little Riana Patricia Lago at the Ice Skating Institute (ISI) World Recreational Team championship last August.

Applause when they announced her event and Riana propels toward the main rink. This is curious because the Shoe Mart teams from Manila only got in days before. The team members didn’t have much time to bond with the other members of 64 teams from 18 states and three other countries.

Music then motion. Then you begin to realize the reason for the applause. When Riana moved, long limbs were no longer an advantage. The shorter Riana flowed. Her hands did not betray her need to balance her body. Her legs did not flap like choppy ailerons to stabilize her flight.

Some martial artists say motion executed more than a thousand times commits it to muscle memory. The synapses link better and several movements look like one. With velocity, the execution can be lethal. Without speed, only grace is apparent. Riana embodied that grace.

Head coach and choreographer Nardie Arenton said, “It’s near perfect.” But Riana still took first place in the event and she would take five more gold and three bronze medals in the week-long competition.

Arenton explained that Riana did practice sets even at their stopover in Taiwan. The obsession to excel, he said, runs strong among his team members. “I noticed that the other competitors look anxious when SM skaters are called to the rink.”

In a way, team SM’s rep precedes them. Arenton related that when they joined the US Figure Skating Association last July in Sun Valley, his teams were picked out for their distinctive costumes and choice of music (he said instrumental OPM also works out fine for some routines).

This is a compliment when you consider that the locals around the area are the likes of Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano, Kristy Yamaguchi, Debbi Thomas and Rudy Galindo. From the town that had to have its own ice hockey team, the San Jose Sharks. And the ISI World event happened this year at the Sharks Ice at San Jose.

There are not too many Philippine schools with a sports curriculum, let alone a figure skating program. The generosity of SM Shoemart does not cover all of the expenses for a trip halfway around the world. The costumes are expensive; their skates were imported from the US.

By some accounts, the recent history of figure skating in the Philippines started in 1993. There was space at the basement of SM Megamall, Ortigas. Somebody had the bright idea to make it into a skating rink. But there was a post in the middle, and they couldn’t remove it without the whole foundation toppling down. They brought in the ice, anyway and skaters made rings around the post. Soon the coolness was replaced by giddiness. And maybe recklessness took over because the core of SM skaters tried out for international competitions.

In 1994, they competed in Japan. When they placed in individual events, they were hooked. In 2004, SM Megamall won the ISI World Championship. Arenton said, “It seemed we were headed for the right direction. Ice or no ice, I believe that someday, the Philippines will be able to field Olympic-class figure skaters.”

But it’s going to be a long struggle. The ISI tournament is not anywhere near the Olympics. The SM teams still don’t have Philippine government sponsorship. The standard figure skater aiming for the Olympics starts training at age 4 and is ready by 16. Most of the SM team members joined at 15. Another wall that Arenton complained about is at that age, Filipino children mostly hit the books and the required three-hour ice time everyday is frowned upon by parents.

Arenton began his career as an understudy in a Disney production skating act and he realizes the need for, maybe, the Russians or other heavy players to instruct eager Filipino skaters in the methods of triple and complex jumps.

Despite this, he said a Philippine figure skating team has been in existence for two years now. Most of the skaters are Filipino Americans, some from California. US resident skaters who still carry Philippine passports can easily get into the Philippine team, he said. Last month, he and his teams were headed for Seattle for more ice skating training.