Butterfly on Ice
May 25th, 2009
Salt Lake City is home to one of the most promising young figure skaters in the world. Angela Wang has the skill, confidence and ambition to be a star.
By Anand Rao
She is called butterfly by her friends for good reason: the brightly colored skirt flutters in air, flanking her like wings on an exotic moth as she flies on ice with one leg straight up in the air. Without stopping she executes a fine jump, spinning her lithe body in mid-air. Upon landing she continues to spin on one leg, throwing her head back she does what's called the 'haircutter' move to meet her other blade in a seamless bow. Angela Wang goes through her routine with such ease that it looks like she was born to be on the skating rink.
Don't be fooled by her toothy smile and mischievously innocent eyes. She is not your average 12 year old. All comparison with her peers ends when she tells you without batting an eyelid, "I will be an international figure skater in two years."
Consider these statistics and you will know why little Angela is special:
- 3rd in the AT&T US Figure Skating National Championship, 2nd in the 2009 Pacific Coast Sectional
- 2nd in the Central Pacific Regional (all under the novice category), 4th in the 2008 US Junior Championships1st in the 2008 Central Pacific Regional
- 9th in the 2007 US Junior Championships,
- 1st in the 2007 Central Pacific Regional (all under the intermediate category), 7th in the US Junior Championships, and 1st in the 2006 Central Pacific Regional (both under juvenile category)
One of the many positive fall outs from the Winter Olympics, Angela took to figure skating when she was five years old. At this year's national championships at Cleveland Ohio, Angela was one of the youngest and the only one from Utah in the final twelve in her category. (Source: www.iceskatingintnl.com)
"She is so serious about it that she stresses out sometimes," says Angela's mother Su, who has taken it upon herself to shadow Angela through the day and night. She has watched Angela skate from the first time she set foot on the rink at County Ice Centre, Murray. "When she was little we organized different activities to just keep her busy and we put her in gymnastics. One day she didn't have gymnastics and her friends' mom took her skating," said Su, who feels that the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake greatly contributed to her daughter's interest in the sport in addition to the development of skating arenas around the region.
After 2 hours of a grueling routine at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, Angela willingly joins us for a chat, without any trace of breathlessness or fatigue. "I saw my friends skating and I asked my mom that I wanted to skate too," starts Angela. "It was hard in the beginning but I wanted to learn more and more," she adds.
Coached by Lisa Kriley, Angela is nurturing dreams of representing the country in Olympics. When not on the rink, she attends Wasatch Junior High School, dances ballet and one day hopes to become a doctor in addition to taking her skating as far as it can.
Nurturing a sports prodigy can be stressful on the parents. The Wangs are originally from China who came to US in 1994. "Figure skating is very expensive. The skating blades, the costume, the practice arena, the competition entry and travel costs will easily cost on an average 3000 dollars every month."
on NBC Sports
Without any support from the state or the sport's governing body, the Wangs are doing it all by themselves on the earning of Angela's dad who is a pharmaceutical researcher. "We want to support her 100% and go the full distance but we don't know anything about sponsorship or raising money," says Su.
Angela Wang has the potential to become a name to reckon with in the near future. When it comes to grace on ice and undeterred focus, she is way advanced for her age. One can't help feeling that it will only be a matter of time before Angela takes the podium at an international competition. Watch out, this butterfly soars.
Story Comments
George Nicolatus
Watching Angela performing on the ice has inspired me so much that I refer to her gracious skating ability and beauty as a gorgeous delightful butterfly. Beautiful sensitive young girl that has captured my attention. I am fortunate to be able to see her weekly training and skating seesions at Steiner Sports Complex, Butterfly will well represent Utah and USA in the world. Angela is a winner, George S. Nicolatus
I loved this story. Young performers need the encouragement to stay on top of their game. Glad that Utah Stories is covering these new stars on the horizon. Anand's personality features are always good to read.
