WilmetteLife
Stinehart, Hiwatashi prep for Salt Lake City contest
Tomoki Hiwatashi (left) and Eric Stinehart of Wilmette strike a pose
during practice Tuesday at the Wilmette Centennial Ice Rink.
Tomoki Hiwatashi (center) and Eric Stinehart of Wilmette (right) listen to
instructions from their coach, Alexandre Fadeev,
during practice Tuesday at the Wilmette Centennial Ice Rink.
Hiwatashi and Stinehart will both be competing at nationals in Utah on Dec. 13.
Tomoki Hiwatashi works on his routine during a practice Tuesday
at the Wilmette Centennial Ice Rink on Tuesday.
Hiwatashi will be competing at nationals in Utah on Dec. 13.
Tomoki Hiwatashi works on his routine during a practice session Tuesday
at the Wilmette Centennial Ice Rink.
When Eric Stinehart was four years old, he and his brother attended a
birthday party held at a local rink. When he saw the ice, the Wilmette seventh-grader said this week, he decided he really wanted to skate.
Eight years later, skating has become second nature to him.
Tomoki Hiwatashi of Hoffman Estates is just 10, but he has already spent five years of his life on the ice, ever since his mother treated him to one lesson and he decided it was fun.
Eric and Tomoki are now friendly competitors, learning their art and honing their skills at the Centennial Ice Rink complex in Wilmette under the expert tutelage of coach Alexandre "Sasha" Fadeev and his wife, trainer and choreographer Cydele Fadeeva.
Both boys will be skating next week at the Junior National Championships, which begin Dec. 13 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and both head
into competition with national rankings.
Eric, who represents the Skokie Valley Skating Club, is ranked fifth among the nation's juniors, and Tomoki, representing the DuPage Figure Skating Club, is ranked first.
When they took a quick break from training Tuesday to talk about their Utah trip, the two betrayed no nerves. That equanimity may come from familiarity, since this will be Tomoki's third trip to the nationals and Eric's second. Last year, Tomoki placed 6th, and Eric 14th,out of 50 competitors. They're both aiming even higher this year.
"I feel pretty good" Eric said. "I'm looking forward to it. I think one of my strengths is my consistency. Once I've mastered a move, I'm not going to mess it up, I'm going to get the move right on a regular basis, and that's good to know and build on."
He said he is excited about his increasing competence with, and affection for, the double axel jump. His rotation and spin skills are also exemplary - he can rotate more than three times a second in the sit spin, and has been able do 60 full-sit spin rotations without stopping.
Tomoki said he really enjoys the double axel, effected off a forward-moving skate rather than, as in other jumps, off a backward-moving blade.
"I think jumping is fun, and I love doing them," he said.
That's not an exaggeration; he can do double axel combinations and hopes one day to do a quadruple axel in competition.
Before making the Utah contest, Eric and Tomoki competed in October in the Upper Great Lakes Regional Free Skate Championships, where Tomoki placed first, and Eric second.
Neither boy minds the work or the aches and pains inherent in becoming good skaters. Both train almost daily, usually about three hours a day, with Fadeev and Fadeeva.
The couple -- Fadeev was a seven-time Soviet figure skating champion, two-time Olympian, the 1980 World Junior Men's champion and the 1985 World Men's champion, while Fadeeva won six Gold Test medals by the age of 16 and spent 12 years as a professional ice show skater, producer and director -- have been working with Eric and Tomoki for about a year.
"It's one thing to get one kid with so much talent," Fadeeva said Tuesday, as she watched the boys prepare to go over their programs. "But to have two kids, two boys with such talent and great personalities, in the same category, skating for you, to be able to work with them, and to see them compete with each other and help each other? It's like a little miracle."
Eric, whose interests also include playing violin and piano, splits his practice time into early-morning hours, before he heads to Wilmette Junior High School, and after-school stints. Tomoki and his parents willingly make a two hour commute, one hour each way, from home to practice at Centennial.
"I used to think it was hard (to have so much on his schedule)," Eric said. Now I think it's good that I have so many activities. And when I really need to relax, I can listen to music or watch TV."
"One of the things that makes it easy is this rink," he added. "Everyone here is friendly, everyone is like family, and that's great."
Then it was back to work for both boys as they perfected their programs, and looked ahead to Salt Lake City.
