May 2022 Newsletter

Alpine FS would like to recognize our very own Beck Strommer. He has already accomplished so much! Needless to say, we are extremely proud to have him in our club. Continue reading to learn about Becks incredible journey as a figure skater.

Beck started LTS right before his 10th birthday. Soon after he turned 10, he started private lessons twice a week on public sessions. Later that year, he tested his pre-pre tests in November 2015. During the 2018-19 season he competed at the Juvenile level. He won Regionals and was 8th at Sectionals. The 2019-20 season, Beck joined Alpine SC. Beck was Intermediate this season. He won Regionals and was 4th at Midwestern Sectionals. He qualified for the National Development Team.

2020-21 season was Covid. Beck moved up to Novice and won the US Figure Skating Novice Virtual Championships. Throughout the season and during the shutdown, he participated in a ton of National Development Team online classes/seminars and did about 15 off-ice classes with various coaches each week. When the rinks were closed, he did some rollerblading each day to keep his feet and ankles used to being in skates and to keep his cardio up.

2021-22 season Beck was named to US figure Skating's International Selection Pool (ISP) and moved up to Junior. He was also placed in USFSA Team D envelope based on his placement at the Novice Championships. Junior season had highs and lows. The lows were early in the season when he was struggling with an achilles injury and was learning the ropes of being a Junior man in the ISP. Beck and his family actually learned the most during the difficult times and were able to apply those lessons learned to help turn the season around. Beck ended the season on some high notes, placing 3rd at the National Qualifying competition in Henderson NV and 4th at the one in Spokane WA. He qualified for Junior Nationals with the 11th best Jr Men's score in the country with his score of 174.50 from Spokane. At Nationals, he took 6th overall.

2022-23 season Beck will remain a Junior and has again been named to the ISP. He also qualified for Team D envelope again by placing 6th at Junior Nationals. Beck's summer plans for competition so far are The Broadmoor Open. Then he heads straight to Milwaukee the following week to compete in the Junior Team Cup. This is an invite-only competition for international age eligible Juniors in the ISP to compete for Junior Grand Prix spots. US Figure Skating will use the results from this competition to determine which Juniors will represent the US internationally at the 7 Junior Grand Prix events that will be held throughout the world this season. After Milwaukee, he plans to compete at Glacier Falls in Anaheim, CA. After that, we're uncertain and will wait to see what internationals assignments are handed out and plan from there.

Beck is coached by Tammy Gambill, Viktor Pfeifer and their amazing support staff. Beck loves skating, he lives and breathes it. He trains on ice for about 3 hours a day. He does about a 20-30 min dynamic warm up before each session and then about 15 minutes of cool down/recovery after his sessions. Beck does some combination of off-ice conditioning, dance and Pilates each day as well.

Beck is 17 and wrapping up his Junior year of high school. He went to in person school in Fort Collins through 8th grade and then transferred to Denver Online HS. He was participating in their hybrid program until Covid hit. Then it went all virtual. During the pandemic we moved to Colorado Springs, so he has remained fully online since the pandemic. Beck is taking 2 college classes a semester through Denver Online HS, partnered with CSU Global and should graduate HS with about 24 college credits. He works hard to balance school, skating and downtime. He loves to take care of his house plants, he currently has about 30 plants in his room. His other favorite hobby is baking. He enjoys spending time with his 3 rescue dogs and 1 cat. On his day off, you'll find him doing one or all of these things or spending time with his friends.