Skating ‘a full-time job’

LYNNWOOD — Like every competitive skater, Kylee Berger has taken her share of spills. And whenever she goes down, the idea is to get right back up.

But a year ago she had a fall unlike any other.

At the 2010 USA Roller Sports National Figure Skating Championships in Lincoln, Neb., Berger was a favorite in women’s free skating. Her goal was a national title, but instead she had a day to forget.

If only she could.

Berger, a 2008 graduate of Shorecrest High School who lives today in south Everett, lost both her concentration and her confidence in a nightmarish final program. Despite many months of diligent preparation, she flubbed one jump after another. Doubles became singles, triples became doubles, and each mistake cost her dearly with the judges.

When it was over Berger not only didn’t win, she failed to finish in the top three. And that kept her from advancing to the world championships for the first time in six years.

To this day she doesn’t know her placing. “I didn’t look because I wasn’t on the team (to worlds), so it didn’t matter. … I don’t know why I let everything get to me. There was no reason for it, because if I’d skated the way I normally do, I would’ve been the champion.”

Afterward, she said, “I was devastated. I didn’t know if I was going to come back. I didn’t know if I could handle it again.”

But after a few days of grieving, Berger returned to the rink because, she said, “I knew I couldn’t go out like that.”

In a few weeks the 21-year-old Berger will have a chance to atone for last year’s misfortune. She is headed to the 2011 nationals on Aug. 1-3 in Fort Wayne, Ind., “and I can honestly say that I’ve never been stronger in my entire life,” she said.

Nationals will be the start of a busy stretch for Berger. In late August she travels to Shanghai, China, for the Artistic Roller Skating Grand Prix, followed by the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, from Oct. 23-27, and then the world championships in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 14-27.

Berger skates five days a week at Lynnwood Bowl and Skate, and on Mondays and Thursdays she works out twice a day. She spends 20-25 hours a week at the rink, and many more hours training at a local fitness club.

“It’s a full-time job,” said Berger, who is also a pre-med student majoring in biology at the University of Washington. “If I’m not (at the rink), I’m usually at the gym. I’m rarely at home.

“I have no normal life,” she admitted wryly. “There’s no dead time. It’s go, go, go.”

Still, an arduous training regimen “is part of my personality,” she said. “I’ve always been a real hard worker. I started skating when I was 9 years old, and I pretty much had to give up things like birthday parties and sleepovers. I’ve just needed to give it my all.

“Skating has given me goals. It’s given me a lot of respect from the world. And it’s given me a great group of friends. I’ve been able to travel all over the world and have the opportunity to compete with the world. So I’ve been really lucky.”

Roller figure skating is similar to ice figure skating, but probably more difficult. For several reasons, including the weight of the skates, spinning jumps are generally harder on roller skates. But Berger is one of the best jumpers in the world, and is one of the few who can execute full triples (three-spin rotations).

“Kylee’s strengths are her speed and her jumping ability,” said her coach, Anna Carrier-Barnett, herself a six-time world champion who has been working with Berger for 13 years. “She’s the best jumper in the United States and one of the four best jumpers in the world. She’s an incredible jumper. She has strength and explosiveness. She has everything to make it beautiful and effortless, which is what you want.”

Berger has “all the makings to be a world champion,” her coach added.

Two years ago, Berger was third at the world championships after the short program, and ended up finishing seventh, becoming the first American to finish in the top 10 in several years. This year her goal at worlds is a top-three finish, and then a world title in 2012.

Ambitious, yes, but by now Berger says her confidence is fully back.

“I have the opportunity and I’m good enough to do it,” she said. “I have the content, I have the coach and I have the routine. I have everything I need to be on the podium (this year). And then the following year I plan to win.”

If it happens, “it would be really emotional,” she said. “This is what I’ve put everything into since I was 9 years old. I’ve overcome all these huge obstacles, and especially how devastating last year was for me.

“So to be able to stand on that top step and know that I accomplished my goal, there are not even words to describe what that feeling would be like.”