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Most of the skaters at the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy can't even drive yet, but many of them say they're already veterans when it comes to competing on the national scene.
Last week, 10 young skaters from the Washington, D.C., area competed against 20 of the nation's best skaters—some almost twice their age—for the top spots at the U.S. Junior Nationals Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The Phams' teammates, 9-year-old Lorraine McNamara, of Germantown, and 12-year-old Quinn Carpenter, of Wheaton, were also on the podium with the pewter medal of fourth place while Kristina Rexford, 11, of Silver Spring, and Michael Parsons, 13, of Derwood, placed fifth.
Carpenter, competing in his third national championship since he began skating at age 6, said gliding out on the ice with his partner McNamara at such a high level has become second nature to him.
"It just becomes sort of the normal thing you do," he said. "It almost becomes subconscious."
As if performing a required amount of jumps, fancy footwork and turns with a partner in front of meticulous judges wasn't enough pressure, Carpenter and McNamara came into the last day of competition in 10th place. Their hopes of winning a medal were slim.
Carpenter said he can't remember what he was thinking during their last dance, to Frank Mills' "Music Box Dancer," but that when they finished he knew they nailed it.
Carpenter's confidence and poise comes from his discipline of spending hours and hours on the rink, said his dad, Josh Carpenter.
"It's a sport that really brings out the best in terms of discipline and maturity and [being] able to handle things emotionally," he said.
Carpenter and his teammates at the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy practice about nine times a week, taking only Sundays off and some days doubling up 4-hour evening practices with 6 a.m. practices.
The academy was started by three professional Russian skaters who wanted to bring the Asian style of group training to the U.S.
Alexei Kiliakov, the director and head coach of the academy, said he thinks his program has been successful because it turns the American idea of training alone – "like pilots," he said – on its head.
While the skaters say group skating is more fun because they can spend time with their friends, Kiliakov and his two assistant coaches aren't exactly known as softies.
When asked how hard his students train, he laughed.
"You have to love, love what you're doing," he said.
Silver Spring resident Karen Rexford, whose 11-year-old daughter, Kristina, is fresh off a fifth-place finish despite having sprained her arm days before while her partner battled the flu, described the academy as a "very competitive group of friends."
"The Russians are not permissive," she said of her daughter's coaches. But their tough love instills confidence and a desire to succeed no matter the circumstances, Rexford said.
"I think if we were just a lonely little skater plugging away every day, it wouldn't be nearly as fun," she said.
Andrew Hickey, 13, of Silver Spring, competed in his first championship since joining the academy two years ago. He and his 7-year-old partner, Katherine Gourianova, of Potomac, placed 14th in the juvenile category of ice dancing.
Hickey said his quick rise to the sport's highest levels is because of his coaches' expectations for him.
"They have really high expectations," he said. "It's a good thing. If they didn't have high expectations, then I wouldn't think I could go far."
But to stay competitive, skating has to stay fun, said Carpenter, echoing his coach's words. And right now the young champion and his teammates say they're having a ball.
"It's so much fun, I just can't stop," Carpenter said.
