Special thanks to the team at Hudsy.tv for tipping us off to this incredible story about Newburgh Olympic hopeful Jacob Sanchez. You can watch a short film about Sanchez on Hudsy.tv.
In the early hours on Saturdays when most people are sleeping in, inside the Ice Time Sports Complex in Newburgh there's a buzz in the crisp air as a swarm of elite youth figure skaters, all dressed in black, work through pieces of their individual programs, taking turns stopping and starting their musical accompaniment. It's beautifully chaotic as their coaches follow every move like hawks, and shivering, tired parents look on from the side of the rink.
A wide-eyed, smiling young skater confidently sweeps across the rink, his arms moving softly to the music while preparing his body for another jump sequence. "Jacob's right there," says Johana Sanchez, mother of 16-year-old elite skater Jacob Sanchez. "He's working on a section of his routine to perfect his triple axel." Jacob's skating is an incredible juxtaposition of softness and strength, emotional yet commanding, and it's hard to look away.
Hour after hour, spin after spin, six days a week, Jacob—oftentimes the only boy—spends hours working through repetitions to develop the muscle memory and confidence to get to a point where he can visualize his routines in his sleep (which he does). Glide, jump, spin, release, repeat. Then it's onto an off-ice workout, which could be anything from stretching and conditioning to Pilates or ballet, and then recovery—and don't forget school on top of that. "The early mornings are always the toughest, mentally," says Jacob during a break. "That's why I like to get my jumps in early." It's competition season in the world of figure skating and the stakes are high. Jacob is preparing for his biggest skate to date at the Youth Olympics at the end of the month, where he will be the only male representing the United States in singles. He's one step closer to his ultimate goal of making it to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, where he'd be the first Latino ice skater representing the United States.
As much as skating is an individual sport, Jacob has a good group of friends and a support system through the Hudson Valley Figure Skating Club (HVFSC). "We really get along, and it's nice to be able to have friends here." Sanchez's family also houses skaters who commute from as far away as Syracuse, allowing them to train with the HVFSC. "We are a big family, and it does feel like a team."
In between practice sessions at the arena, his peers gravitate toward him. They laugh and joke around, as if they were in the hallways at school during passing time. But when he's on the ice at practice, he's the example. The other skaters practicing with him look to him as a leader. "Jacob is very competitive," says Johana. "He has always been this way, even in other sports he has played in the past." Before he landed on figure skating, Jacob played soccer, baseball, flag football, and karate.
An Average Teenage Boy
It's easy to forget that Jacob is just 16 years old. When he's not skating, he's doing homework. He's working a few days a week at the arena. He's hanging out with friends. And he's still unable to drive to practice on his own, relying on family and friends to get him there. "He's a normal, average teenage boy," Johana insists. "He hangs out with his friends, plays hockey and video games."
Still, when most of his friends are sleeping in, he wakes, makes himself breakfast (pancakes) and lets his mom know when it is time to go. This school year is also Sanchez's first year attending an online school to accommodate his rigorous training schedule while still getting an education.
Jacob started skating at the age of five, when his parents brought him to the 'learn-to-skate' program at Ice Time to find an activity for her son. "I came there to try out hockey, but I couldn't skate in hockey skates," Jacob says, with a laugh. "So I put on figure skates and that came more easily to me." He landed his first single axel at the age of eight, which was when he realized that he might be onto something. Now he's working to perfect his triple.
At the age of nine, he was a year and a half into skating for the club when his parents sat him down and introduced him to the idea of commitment. He'd been spending more and more time at the arena, and the sport isn't cheap. (Johana estimates that they spend around $40,000 a year on ice skating). Jacob's parents both work full time and he has one older brother and one younger brother. "We asked him if he was really going to commit to the sport of figure skating," says Johana. "We just needed to know and understand about commitment to the sport and the sacrifices he'll have to make and we as a family will have to make," says Johana. Jacob realizes the sacrifices made by both him and his family to get to this point and it's something he will continue to have to be conscious of as he battles through each practice and competition. "He knows he's not the only one in the family, though, and he is dedicated to his goals and we fully support that," says Johana.
Jacob's rise to success happened fairly quickly, and he's now a four-time national medalist at the Junior level and placed first last March at his first international competition, the Coupe du Printemps in Luxembourg. Anyone who talks about Jacob's skating will first emphasize his dedication and drive. "This doesn't just happen," says Larisa Selezneva, one of his coaches. "This is years of training, dedication, and results. Jacob advanced through competitions and earned high points and this helped him get an invitation to the Youth Olympics."
Selezneva and her husband, Oleg Makarov, have coached Jacob now for eight years as a part of the HVFSC after watching him advance through the learn-to-skate program. "We wanted to coach Jacob because we saw that he was a hard worker, good listener, and disciplined," says Selezneva.
Makarov and Selzneva are no strangers to knowing what it takes to compete on the world stage. The two skated as a pair in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, earning a bronze medal, two World Championships medals, five European medals and four senior-level medals for the Soviet Union. Since 2002, when they emigrated to the US from Russia, they've been making a name for themselves by developing youth skaters to perform on the world stage.
Breaking Barriers
Figure skating is still a sport dominated by females, and at first, Jacob says, when he was younger he was a little hesitant as the only boy, but now it doesn't bother him. "I'm the only boy and I'm doing it well," he says. Not only is Jacob a male in a largely female sport, but his Puerto Rican background is something uncommon in the world of figure skating. "Jacob is breaking barriers in many ways and he needs to know that," says Johana, who grew up in Puerto Rico. Jacob currently serves as an ambassador for Diversify Ice, a program whose mission is to support competitive minorities in figure skating. "Although there aren't many Latino figure skaters, there are some great ones that are really fun to watch," shares Jacob, who has a growing fan base of his own.
Under Pressure
Watch any athletic competition on TV and it's hard not to notice the pressures of the sport in the chase for perfection. What was once swept under the rug is now becoming central to the conversation surrounding athletic wellness and athletes at the top of their game, most notably Simone Biles and Mikaela Shiffrin, have taken upon themselves to open up about the internal intensity of each moment.
"It's easy during a program to let mistakes get to your head. When you start to do well in competitions, expectations can take over, and that's what happened," Jacob says, referring to the 2022 season and what he calls his 'bad year.' "I was coming off some good outings and going into Nationals I let those expectations get to me. I messed up and it wasn't a great experience." Soon after, he started to see a sports psychologist and was able to reset and gain his confidence back for the 2023 season. He's been seeing the psychologist now for a year and a half. "It really helps me prepare, stay focused. I've learned more about myself as a person and athlete. I have learned to connect with myself."
This is one of the most challenging parts of skating, according to Jacob. "There are two parts to ice skating, the physical and the mental side," he says. "Everybody trains the physical part all the time—muscle memory, stamina, strength. But the mental part is hard for anyone at any level." Staying motivated and ready for any situation, he says, is harder. "If you're not ready for different things, it can be easy getting injured, to lose yourself, and to lose the fun in the sport," Jacob says. As a parent, Johana worries about the pressures of the sport for her child. "What worries me is that the pressures in skating can break him mentally, causing him to go on a downhill trajectory." Music choice helps him motivate and keep a steady mindset, making it central to his performances. "It's important to find music that isn't going to get old or annoy you after a while. But it's more important for me to connect with my music emotionally and physically," Jacob says. "I'll listen to the songs in all parts of my day. On the ice, off the ice, while I'm falling asleep, everywhere I go, to make sure it will work." So, when it was time to choose new music for his free skate, Sanchez worked with his choreographer to build on that connection. They landed on "Sarabande Suite" by Globus.
"The music in this song starts off calm, and gives the feeling like I'm preparing to go to war. Then the tempo really picks up to an energetic cadence, and I envision a battle going on," Jacob says, "and it's just me—one against many."
Perhaps one of his greatest attributes is his love of performing for an audience. "I really enjoy performing and expressing my emotions through skating and not by words," says Jacob. "I want to be able to leave an impact on the people who come to watch." His coaches believe that he does.
"When you watch Jacob, he performs with such a sense of joy and the audience can feel that, there's a magic about him and that's what makes Jacob different," Selezneva says. Johana agrees. "I think it is all aspects of his skating that makes him successful, but most of all I think it is the love he has for this sport; it transcends when he steps on that ice and he skates."
