Pursuing a dream

By Jerry Battiste
Hendricks County Flyer (Avon, Ind.)

BROWNSBURG, Ind. May 30, 2006 10:44 am

— Anton Pedersen loves to skate. And he loves to go fast. He loves to go fast on skates.
Barely 10 years old, Anton is the youngest person ever to be recognized for outstanding performance by the Amateur Speedskating Association of Illinois.
Since he first strapped on a pair of skates at the age of 3, Anton has been in love with the thrill of speeding across the ice.
His father, Doric, said the talent to skate seemed to come naturally.
“He put on a pair of plastic in-line skates and in no time he was skating circles around the driveway,” he said. “He wore the wheels out in no time. And he was only 3 years old.”
They initially tried other types of skating, but Doric said Anton showed little interest.
“We signed him up for figure skating once and Anton was always the first to make it from one end of the rink to the other,” Doric said. “Finally he said, ‘Dad, I don’t think I want to do this. I just want to go fast.’”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Anton was born in Champaign, Ill., and still belongs to the Champaign Club for skaters. It takes his mother, Linda, almost four hours to drive her son to the hour-long practices and back each week, but she said the trip is worth every second. Plus, she said, Anton has developed a strong bond with his coach, Bruce Merrill.
“We truly believe Anton has a God-given talent for skating and we want him to have every opportunity to develop his gift,” Linda said. “And having the right coach can make a big difference.”
On the ice, Anton speeds around the track at about nine meters per second. That’s the length of a football field in less than 12 seconds. At those speeds, a cracked skate or a simple fall could mean serious injury. Anton has suffered both and still managed to work through it. His cracked and dented helmet bears the evidence.
“You have to strategize what you’re gonna do on the ice, off the ice, so when you get out there, you’re ready,” he said.
In the off season, Anton practices karate, which helps him maintain a good stretch for the coming skating season, but he also pursues more traditional pastimes like baseball and soccer.
He uses an indoor slide to practice the side-to-side motion familiar to anyone who has seen a speedskater perform and maintains a healthy lifestyle all summer, so when skating season rolls around, he is in better shape than most of the other skaters in his club.
Anton is an honor roll student at Eagle Elementary School, and his parents say that is intentional.
“He knows he must maintain a high academic standard if he wants to continue training,” Doric said. “But we would never take skating away from him altogether as a punishment.”
In the seventh grade, they said, Anton spent an entire season off the ice and his grades suddenly declined.
“This is what he loves do, and it’s not about winning all the time, it’s about training and developing his technique,” Doric said.
Anton shares a name with Olympic speedskating champion, Apolo Anton Ohno, and dreams one day of competing beside him. Or possibly against him.
“I never brag unless I know I am competing against somebody way better than me,” Anton said. “When I met Apolo I told him, ‘I want your medals’ and he said, ‘Come and get them.’”
For now Anton has to keep practicing and developing his skills before he can move to Category 1 status. As a Category 1 skater, he will have access to Olympic-level training camps and coaches, moving him one step closer to an actual appearance at the Olympics.
But his parents say they are in no rush for Anton to move ahead. They are more concerned that he has a good time skating.
“The Olympics are still a little farther down the road,” Doric said. “Right now he happens to win, but if he doesn’t win, that’s OK too.”

— Jerry Battiste writes for the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.

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