Ms. Maxwell, We're Ready For Your Close-Up

Introducing… a new recurring feature at State of the Skate!

(Didn’t know I had any OLD recurring features? Don’t worry… just go with it.)

“Three Need-to-Know’s…” will showcase up-and-comers in U.S. figure skating. Or, in other words, I’ll be plucking facts/statements of interest from their profiles and putting pretty bullet points on them. Then, when you see them on TV in the final flight of Nationals in a year or two, you can point to the screen and tell your friends “Would you believe her favorite pigout food is Doritos?”

Or something like that.

Let’s start with a showcase on Angela Maxwell, a 16-year old from Arlington, TX who recently won silver at JGP Czech Republic. Three Need-to-Know’s…

+ She “cuts her own music,” meaning she probably makes all her own skating music choices. So when you hear her current free skate music—to the theme from the Japanese TV series Inuyasha—know that you’re loving or hating it courtesy of Ms. Maxwell herself.

+ After skating, she hopes to go to college and become a forensic scientist. Oh, and one of her favorite TV shows is CSI. Coincidence…?

+ According to her profile, “Not many people know that she is half Japanese.” Angela… they do now!

So as we keep an eye on her for the future, here’s her short program from last year’s JGP Lake Placid as the Clip of the Day. Not perfect, but it’s ambitious, she lands a decent triple toe-triple toe, and she’s got good control of her hands. Watch and see.