Grand Terrace is a great sports community. Its residents are always hearing about the local organizations and school teams along with their big accomplishments. Well, it’s time to add another team and their major accomplishment!
The local Figure Skating Team took place in a regional competition and brought home the gold for Grand Terrace. Securing this medal allowed them to advance to the American National Championships. At the national level, their world class quartet team The Ravens won the gold medal and advanced to the World Roller Figure Skating Championships.
The Junior World Class pairs team of Chance Becker and Annika Bullock won the gold at the regional level, advanced to the nationals where they earned the silver medal. They advanced to the world championships where they won the Bronze medal for America.
The team consists of four members, Chance Becker age 15, Kalei Becker age 20, Nicole Fields age 14, and Annika Bullock age 12. All four of these athletes earned their spots on TEAM USA and traveled to La Vendee France to compete.
These young athletes trained five days a week at the California Skate Grand Terrace. Three of the members are home-schooled and one attends traditional school. In addition to their strict training schedules, these skaters maintain a level of excellence in school; honor roll and AP Students.
Annika travels 300 miles, round trip, each practice to meet up with coaches and teammates to achieve her dream. She is the youngest member of TEAM USA and has earned a gold medal and a silver at the national championships. She went on the capture the bronze at the world championship.
Chance is an AP student with a straight A's. He has earned four medals at the National championships in 2018, two gold and two silver. Chance is a very dedicated athlete training five days a week. His scholastic endeavors are just as important to him. Chance brought home a bronze medal from the world championship in pairs skating.
Kalei trains five days a week, is a junior coach mentoring skaters and worked at the rink during non-training hours to help with the cost of competition. Kalei took the gold medal in freestyle skating in 2017, and the Freedance and Quartet golds in 2018.
Nicole is a dedicated skater and student who trains five days a week. Nicole brought home two national medals in 2018, the creative solo dance silver and quartet gold. In addition to her training schedule, Nicole strives to be a top notch student and helps in the community by helping the local animal shelters.
The team had set up a home training base at the California Skate in Grand Terrace before the tragic loss of its owner, Ryan Harsany. The team commented , “The California Skate in Grand Terrace has been so very supportive to these young athletes. They provide the training time needed to reach their dreams. They are very good to the coaching staff and provide every opportunity to support the youth in the area. The rink has given fund raising opportunities the skaters as they (skaters) bare the expense of international travel.” Although the team has suffered this great loss, they feel that it is best to go on and skate in honor of Ryan. They want to skate in his honor in with their elite team flying to Chicago on April 17th to compete in the world trials.