Alysa Liu\u2019s comeback at this year\u2019s Olympics \u2014 and her stunning gold medal win \u2014 has rocked the world of figure skating, making headlines due to her joy while performing and her commitment to mental health on and off the ice.<\/p>\n
Though she primarily trained<\/a> in Oakland, Liu, who\u2019s also a psychology student at UCLA, has used a facility in Lakewood as one of her home bases away from home. The 20-year-old started training there as she came back from retirement and prepared to take the gold medal (not that that was necessarily her goal, to hear her tell it<\/a>).<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of a long history for the Rinks-Lakewood ICE, which has also hosted many champions and Olympians over the years, including Mariah Bell, Nathan Chen, Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippon, and counts prominent figure skaters among their staff.<\/p>\n Let us help you find the most interesting things to do<\/p>\n Sign up for the Best Things To Do newsletter, our twice weekly roundup of L.A.’s most interesting events.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe’re not unfamiliar with Olympic ties,\u201d said Braden Overett, the skating manager at Lakewood ICE, though he also clarified, \u201cthat does not in any way diminish the fun and the coolness [of Liu\u2019s win].\u201d<\/p>\n Lakewood ICE\u2019s place in this year\u2019s Olympics<\/p>\n Working with her coaches remotely, Liu started to drill down on perfecting her skating while also attending classes at UCLA. And though she moved on to her home base at Oakland Ice Center as the Olympic training started to ramp up, the staff who worked with her at Lakewood ICE kept cheering her on.<\/p>\n Overett said that he loves highlighting the Olympic connections at the rink, which may not be obvious to everyone who skates there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s always fun just to connect the dots, right?\u201d Overett said. \u201cIt’s like going to a restaurant and then you find out later it’s your favorite actor’s restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashleigh Ellis runs the nonprofit Unity Ice Academy, which focuses on increasing access to figure skating for kids of all backgrounds at Lakewood ICE.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThat’s just very much how the skating world is. It’s very small, you never know who you’re going to run into at any time,\u201d Ellis said. \u201c\u200aCould you imagine just being on the ice with a national champion and Olympic skater of any sort? It’s just so inspiring for the kids to see that and be within the vicinity of that.\u201d<\/p>\n And Liu wasn\u2019t the only 2026 Olympic figure skater who’s used the facility. Li Yu-Hsiang, the Taiwanese national champion who represented Chinese Taipei in Milan this year, also trains in Lakewood.<\/p>\n The rink\u2019s coaches<\/p>\n The small world of skating means that even novice skaters can take classes from world-class skaters: 1976 Olympic silver medalist Dianne de Leeuw teaches there, as do national medalists (and future Olympic contenders) Starr Andrews and Josephine Lee.<\/p>\n \u200a”To get to see them and to get to share ice with them just has a layer of magic that you can’t replace and you can’t get anywhere else,\u201d Overett said. \u201c\u200aYou see the turnover of generations, and it brings in a huge element of history.\u201d<\/p>\n Lakewood ICE’s programs<\/p>\n If Liu\u2019s medal-clinching program to \u201cMacArthur Park\u201d is inspiring you to follow in her footsteps \u2013 literally \u2013 Lakewood ICE has details on its programs for skaters of all levels, including daily public sessions, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n