By Brandon Holveck
NEWARK — On a Friday afternoon in March, Paige Conners walks through Panera Bread’s double doors like any other college student.
No one recognizes or acknowledges her as she makes her way over to my table, which would be bare if it weren’t for my skinny reporter’s notebook and a large iced tea.
The same goes for most rooms Conners steps in around campus. Few know of the international figure skating career that ruled her upbringing. Among the long list of places skating has taken her: Moscow, Milan, Taipei and PyeongChang. The latter for none other than the 2018 Winter Olympics as part of Team Israel (she placed 19th in pairs skating).
“It was literally insane,” Conners says a year later.
When Conners walks in, most see another face in the crowd, not almost inarguably the most accomplished athlete at the University of Delaware. Conners, an 18-year-old freshman nutrition and medical sciences major, is perfectly content with that. She’s happy trying be a “normal kid” for the first time.
“It was crazy, so stressful,” says Conners, who started figure skating when she was three. “Here it’s definitely — well now it’s like the new stress is school, like constantly — but definitely a lot more relaxing. On the weekends you can have fun.”
Courtesy of Creative Commons
Conners competing individually at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.
Her goal is to follow in her father, Mark’s, footsteps as a dentist and one day take over his practice near their hometown of Rochester, N.Y. It was her mother, Karen, who enabled Conners to have dual American-Israeli citizenship.
Conners sits down at the circular table and starts chatting with me about her start in skating, her competitive family (her two older brothers are both college athletes too), the tryout that landed her a chance at the Olympics and how she made her way back to the ice at Delaware. At times she flashes a coy smile as if to say, “Yeah, I did that too,” but she never boasts any of her accomplishments.
After all, it was only months ago that she thought it was all over.
“That whole season was so long, I got so run down,” Conners says of her Olympic run. “I didn’t put my skates on for six months after that. It’s crazy. I quit. I was like, ‘I’m done. I hate this.’”
She’s sporting a blue and gold jacket with a small UD figure skating crest on the chest and her last name, “CONNERS” printed in block lettering across the back. It’s the same jacket she skated in when I first met her at the club figure skating team’s 6:30 a.m. practice a few weeks ago.
At that practice I learned that most figure skater’s careers end around the time most people enter college. It makes sense. It’d be impossible to keep up with a world-class training regimen (Connors skated for roughly five hours a day in her buildup to the Olympics) and attend class regularly.
After high school most people hang up the skates, but some others stay on the ice as part of less competitive collegiate teams. For them the target shifts from the end-all be-all goal of winning individual championships to placing to score points for the team.
Conners didn’t come to Delaware to skate though. She knew of the facilities, of the coaches, of the success — the Blue Hens have never placed lower than third in the country since the team’s founding in 2000, the year Conners was born — but she hated the sport.
It took a six-month hiatus for Conners to give it another chance. She did so at the urging of the coaches and maybe a quiet desire to reconnect with the sport she’s dedicated most of her life too.
This time around the training sessions have been cut down to less than an hour. If she needs to cancel a session to study for tomorrow’s exam she can do so with no consequence.
Competitions have changed too. When Conners is on the ice, she sometimes can’t hear her music because her teammates’ cheers are too loud. It’s a major change from the years Conners spent in quiet rinks and gyms training for individual glory.
“This team actually got me to like skating again because I hated it after [the Olympics],” Conners says. “Which is crazy because everyone would think, ‘Oh you love it even more [after the Olympics].’ But I was so run down.”
So the skating career continued, but in a form less destructive to Conners’ social and academic life. Now it’s more of a hobby than an identity.
Now she can form another.
Conners spoke further with UD Sports Report about her skating career and her time at Delaware so far. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Brandon Holveck, UD Sports Report: How would you describe the first part of your freshman year?
Paige Conners: I did online school for all of high school, so then coming here was a big change — being in the classroom and not even a classroom but an auditorium, and actually studying and taking tests not online — so that was hard.
This semester is definitely a lot easier for me. I lived away from home always — since eighth grade — but I always lived with my mom, she traveled with me. Moving into the dorms without my mom was really hard too, having a roommate and all that. But overall, it’s awesome.
BH: How did you get into skating and what was the progression through the ranks like?
PC: I would always go to the rink because my brothers played hockey. There were three rinks, so I would always go watch the figure skaters. For a little bit I wanted to play hockey but I ended up not wanting to be sweaty in the equipment, so I figure skated.
I started skating in Jamestown, New York when I was seven until I was like 12. So that was like two hours away from my house. So that was the start of the traveling. On my 13th birthday I moved to New Jersey, and I was competing regionally for the United States. When I was 16 or 17 I started skating internationally and when I was — I think I was 16 — I went to junior worlds in Chinese Taipei, so that was really cool.
When I was 17, it was like the Olympic year. Everyone was trying to qualify and I knew that I wasn’t going to qualify as a singles skater because I just wasn’t to the caliber, so I was like, “Oh, I’m going to do pairs skating.” Super weird. This guy at the rink was looking for a partner and I tried out with him and we literally started the next day training for the Olympics. The qualifier was in six months and then —
BH: Is that relatively short compared to —
PC: Yeah, usually people are together for at least two or three years.
BH: Wow.
PC: To like learn pairs. I learned it in six months. I don’t know how. We worked hard.
Courtesy of Creative Commons
Conners competing with partner Evgeni Krasnopolski at the 2018 European Championships in Moscow, Russia. They finished eighth.
BH: So when you start, is it common to go that distance — like two or three hours — to rinks for certain coaches and training?
PC: Top-level skaters are all homeschooled basically and don’t live at home. You’re lucky if you live in an area where there is skating — like high level — but most people have to move because there’s only a handful of good rinks in the whole United States.
BH: To get to that level?
PC: Yeah, exactly.
BH: How did you decide that you wanted to be that good? You could have done it for fun. How did you decide you wanted to compete at the national and international level?
PC: Everything I do is like — I don’t do anything recreationally. Like, my whole family is so competitive. When I was in preschool I left — I didn’t do lunch at school — I left to go skating. I was always just like going above and I would cry when the Zamboni would come on the ice when I was little because I wanted to keep going. Now I’m like, “Okay, give me a break. The Zamboni can come.”
BH: What was it like moving from home for the first time? And was that something you thought you were going to have to do eventually?
PC: It was really hard. I have two older brothers, who at that time were in high school. I was supposed to be the last one to leave and I was the first one to leave. It was really last minute and I always said, “I’m never going to be homeschooled. I’m never moving away. I want to be a normal kid.” But then something came up with my coaches at the time and they were like, “You have to find new coaches.” And I was like, “Where? You guys are the only ones within five hours.” Obviously I couldn’t train five hours away and go to school and live at home. It was really fast.
BH: At what point did — I guess you said it happened quickly — but was there a point where, when you were in singles, that the Olympics became a goal of yours? A long-term goal?
PC: No.
BH: It wasn’t?
PC: It was literally when I switched to pairs because I was always like, “I’m not good enough by myself.” These girls are doing, these girls are starting to do quads and I was still working on a triple-triple. There was no chance. Literally six months before the qualifier I was like, “I’m going to try for the Olympics. Why not?” My mom was like, “You’re crazy.” Because like, growing up, my whole life, if anyone asked, “Are you going to the Olympics?” I was like no. It’s so hard. No. But I guess I did it so.
BH: I guess everybody has asked you this, but in broad strokes what was that experience like — going to the Olympics?
PC: It was literally insane. Even practice ice there, people paid to watch us practice. It was like a competition every time. The crowd was full during our practices. When they called our name I got goosebumps because there were so many people screaming and it’s crazy.
Opening ceremonies. I never thought I’d be walking into opening ceremonies, it was crazy. The Olympic Village, you just walked around and in the dining hall, people would just be showing their Olympic gold medals. Got unlimited McDonald’s, so that was nice. Yeah, it was really cool.
BH: In your contingent, were there any other people your age?
PC: There were a couple people my age, but mostly like 20s and upper 20s. My pair partner [Evgeni Krasnopolski] was like 30.
BH: How’s that? What’s that dynamic like?
PC: It was like a brother-sister relationship more. Our short program was from the movie Ghost, so we had to like pretend we were in love, which was kind of weird. But everyone’s like, “Oh, you guys would be so cute together,” and I’m like, “He’s 30.”
BH: What was your family’s reaction to you pulling off that type of accomplishment and all of the preceding accomplishments at the national and international level? How do they respond during your competitions?
PC: My dad is always like hiding somewhere, like peeking. My mom, she’s pretty calm. She definitely gets nervous. They were all really excited for me. My brother plays football at Syracuse University and he got interviewed and he was like, “My sister is the best athlete in the family officially.” It was funny.
BH: How did people at your home training center or your hometown react to you competing in the Olympics? Did you have people you didn’t know as well sort of latch on?
PC: It was so weird. All of a sudden I’m everyone’s best friend. Posting on social media, “Oh, my best friend is at the Olympics,” and it’s like a picture of us when we were five and it was the last picture we ever took together. But it’s okay. People do that I guess.
BH: After the Olympics did you have any more competitions or was that it for that season and that pairing?
PC: No we had worlds after [in Milan, Italy], which was like so hard to train for because it was in March and we got home from the Olympics at the end of February. It was like a high and a low, trying to come back up from that low to train for Worlds was so hard and the jet lag, sickness. We almost didn’t go to Worlds actually.
BH: After that did you stop cold turkey?
PC: Yeah. Well, I came back and I was training for like two weeks. That whole season was so long, I got so run down. I didn’t put my skates on for six months after that. It’s crazy. I quit. I was like, “I’m done I hate this.”
And then, when I got accepted to the University of Delaware I knew there was a rink here and I knew there was a team and I knew the coach wanted me to be on the team and I was like, “I haven’t skated in six months, how am I going to do this?” But it’s definitely not the same level so it didn’t matter. It got me to — this team actually got me to like skating again because I hated it after. Which is crazy because everyone would think, “Oh you love it even more.” But I was so run down.
BH: What was an average day like when you were in high school?
PC: I was at the rink at 7 (a.m.). We did off-ice lifts and stuff, then skated two hours. And then take a lunch break and I would do my homework for an hour. Then we’d skate two hours. Then I’d take a little break. Then we’d skate an hour. Then I’d take a break. Then we’d do like off-ice workout for an hour —
BH: Right, because the morning wasn’t enough.
PC: Yeah exactly. And then, go home do my homework. I was usually in bed by 8. I was dead. Over the weekends I didn’t do — we were by New York City so I’d go in and shop a little bit, but I was not a normal teenager. I didn’t go to parties or anything.
BH: Now that you’re here, it’s kind of like the opposite of that world right?
PC: Yeah, complete opposite.
BH: Was there a reason you came to Delaware over other schools? What other schools did you apply to?
PC: So during the Olympics I got really behind on my school work and so a lot of the colleges that I wanted to go to needed my grades by then, but I didn’t finish. So out of the schools I got in to, it was between here and Tampa. They’re complete opposites.
People think I came here cause of the skating, but when I chose it I was — I hated skating.
BH: Thinking you weren’t going to do it.
PC: Ever.
So I guess I just came here and loved the feeling of the campus. I wanted the actual, traditional college.
BH: Here, from what some of your other teammates were telling me, this is a time in a lot of people’s careers where they either stop or continue on, but it’s not as serious. What’s that adjustment been like and did you look forward to that?
PC: It’s kind of weird actually because I’m so used to going on the ice having my coach — like I had Russian coaches so they were always so strict. Now I get on the ice do a little skating and then get off. For the competitions, the girls scream so loud that you can’t even hear your music. At like a normal competition, not collegiate competition, that does not happen. It’s like so weird.
BH: It’s like super silent?
PC: They’re cheering, but they’re not like screaming the whole time. Non-stop screaming. Yeah. It’s definitely fun. It’s kind of weird because it’s a team and I’m so used to individual. So we’re getting points. If I come in second and one of my teammates comes in first it’s like the team came in first and second, not like I came in second. We won.
BH: And that’s a lot different right?
PC: It’s so different. In normal skating, if you come in second. You came in second. You lost.
BH: One of the things that I jotted down — when I asked you before about all of these fringe people thinking you’re best friends after you to the Olympics — do you feel the opposite now. You’re kind of like — I don’t want to say anonymous — but the person that comes across you on average, that you’re doing a group project with, doesn’t know you’re an Olympian and you’ve been to all of these different places. First of all, do you find that to be true? And if so, how do you feel about that?
PC: So in classes, everyone’s like, “Do you tell everyone that you went to the Olympics?” I’m like, “No!”
It’s really nice to be a normal kid. The people that do know, when they introduce me to someone they’re like, “This is my friend. She went to the Olympics.” Which everyone would think, “Oh that’s so cool,” but it gets a little much.
BH: You probably get tired —
PC: Yeah.
BH: Well then I appreciate you doing this even though I’m sure you’re tired of it.
PC: Oh no, it’s fine. This is different. Like, in other situations. But in class, I never tell anyone. And then they follow me on Instagram and on my bio it says like “2018 Olympian,” they’re like, “Why didn’t you tell me? It should’ve been the first thing you said.” And I’m like, “Why?”