Inside the Flo Fabrizio Ice Center, young figure skaters practice their routines each day. Many belong to the same skating club that once helped shape Olympian Caryn Kadavy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting. I mean, it kind of inspires you as a skater, like, oh, it\u2019s my little home rink, but I can make it to the big stage like that,\u201d said Alexandria Kitchen, an Erie juvenile level skater and member of the Westminster Figure Skating Club of Erie.<\/p>\n
Kadavy\u2019s own journey began on this ice long before Olympic crowds and international medals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in Erie, Pennsylvania\u2026 they took me skating at about two years old, and from that point on, I just didn\u2019t look back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As her talent grew, so did the demands of elite competition. Erie did not have year\u2011round ice at the time, which forced Kadavy and her mother to leave home so she could train full\u2011time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have full-year ice in Erie\u2026 so my mom had to move away with me, and I trained out of town for about eight years before the Olympics,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The move paid off. Kadavy climbed the national ranks, earning U.S. medals and a World Championship podium finish before reaching the Olympic stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a dream come true to be able to go to the Olympics and be part of that moment,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen that United States flag went up, that is the most incredible feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kadavy went on to compete internationally, winning multiple events and representing the United States against the top skaters in the world.<\/p>\n
Today, she remains deeply involved in the sport. She coaches, choreographs programs and mentors young athletes, many of whom train in the same community that first supported her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really young, but she actually taught a clinic here. It sits in the back of your mind\u2026 like, oh, somebody from my club went to the Olympics. I can have that same drive, that same path, and maybe I can do that one day too,\u201d Kitchen said.<\/p>\n
Kadavy says she carries her hometown pride with her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so honored to have represented my country, but also Erie, Pennsylvania, and put them on the map for what I was able to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the Flo Fabrizio Ice Center, young figure skaters practice their routines each day. Many belong to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[12183,56054,16369,136,138,137,37263,45651,56055,48733,5935,29089,32064],"class_list":{"0":"post-118107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-athlete","9":"tag-caryn-kadavy","10":"tag-coaching","11":"tag-erie","12":"tag-erie-headlines","13":"tag-erie-news","14":"tag-erie-pennsylvania","15":"tag-figure-skating","16":"tag-flo-fabrizio-ice-center","17":"tag-inspiration","18":"tag-mentorship","19":"tag-olympics","20":"tag-youth-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}