sasharussian
01-20-2007, 08:30 AM
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/rotator/article_1550184.php
Very interesting article on Caroline Zhang, it shows her personality and how mature she really is, some quotes...
Caroline's determination...
And behind her shy appearance is a confident athlete who even at a young age was not about to be intimidated. When a skating teacher's yelling left her classmates sobbing, Zhang refused to shed a tear.
"What's the point?" she said. "Crying's not going to help you." Zhang deals with spills with equal coolness. "My motto is, 'If you fall, at least make it creative,' " she said.
Caroline is a voracious reader...
Spokane and Germany are the next major steps on a road many believe will deliver Zhang to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
"I want to go to the 2010 Olympics, but I really don't think about it," Zhang shrugged.
After all, daydreaming about Vancouver would cut into her reading.
Like the rest of Zhang's life, the road to Vancouver 2010 will be strewn with books. Between international triumphs, Zhang nailed down the first chair violin spot in her school orchestra, bugged her parents about getting a dog, forgot to clean her room and read. A lot. She read seven books in one day. On another she devoured a biography of Henry VIII cover to cover.
"It was 800 pages, but it was pretty cool," Zhang said.
During a parent-teacher conference two years ago, Zhang's sixth-grade teacher told her mother, Shuguang Zhao, that if she really wanted to punish the girl she should take away her books, which might take some doing. Zhao's Ford Explorer is basically a version of the teenager's bedroom on four wheels.
"Books everywhere," an exasperated Zhao said as she drove her daughter to practice this week. "Ahhh, I get so mad at her. You can't step foot in my car without stepping on a book. It's just like her bedroom, our whole house – books everywhere."
Zhang could read by the time she discovered skating at age 4, following a friend to a rink across the street from the Costa Mesa dance studio where they took ballet lessons.
"The thing I like about skating is the freedom the ice gives you, the freedom you feel on it," Zhang said. "To be able to do things that you can't do off the ice."
Her coach's cautious comments on her outlook...
In her reading Zhang finds herself returning over and over to British history. "It just really fascinates," she said. "There's so much drama."
Much like skating, a sport with a history of 13-year-old sure things who never made it to the throne. The double-edged sword is age.
Zhang will be 16 when the 2010 Games open. "Her age is perfect for the Olympics," said Mingzhu Li, one of Zhang's three coaches, alluding to the fact that since 1992 only one person who was not a teenager has won the Olympic women's title.
But a lot can happen in three years. Nam was also 13 when she nearly upset Kwan at the 1999 U.S. championships. Injuries kept her from competing at the U.S. championships again until last year.
"You have to be careful about injuries. You have to control their weight," Li said. "What happens if they grow? If they get injured, lose control of their weight, they could lose everything. But Caroline has this determination."
Very interesting article on Caroline Zhang, it shows her personality and how mature she really is, some quotes...
Caroline's determination...
And behind her shy appearance is a confident athlete who even at a young age was not about to be intimidated. When a skating teacher's yelling left her classmates sobbing, Zhang refused to shed a tear.
"What's the point?" she said. "Crying's not going to help you." Zhang deals with spills with equal coolness. "My motto is, 'If you fall, at least make it creative,' " she said.
Caroline is a voracious reader...
Spokane and Germany are the next major steps on a road many believe will deliver Zhang to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
"I want to go to the 2010 Olympics, but I really don't think about it," Zhang shrugged.
After all, daydreaming about Vancouver would cut into her reading.
Like the rest of Zhang's life, the road to Vancouver 2010 will be strewn with books. Between international triumphs, Zhang nailed down the first chair violin spot in her school orchestra, bugged her parents about getting a dog, forgot to clean her room and read. A lot. She read seven books in one day. On another she devoured a biography of Henry VIII cover to cover.
"It was 800 pages, but it was pretty cool," Zhang said.
During a parent-teacher conference two years ago, Zhang's sixth-grade teacher told her mother, Shuguang Zhao, that if she really wanted to punish the girl she should take away her books, which might take some doing. Zhao's Ford Explorer is basically a version of the teenager's bedroom on four wheels.
"Books everywhere," an exasperated Zhao said as she drove her daughter to practice this week. "Ahhh, I get so mad at her. You can't step foot in my car without stepping on a book. It's just like her bedroom, our whole house – books everywhere."
Zhang could read by the time she discovered skating at age 4, following a friend to a rink across the street from the Costa Mesa dance studio where they took ballet lessons.
"The thing I like about skating is the freedom the ice gives you, the freedom you feel on it," Zhang said. "To be able to do things that you can't do off the ice."
Her coach's cautious comments on her outlook...
In her reading Zhang finds herself returning over and over to British history. "It just really fascinates," she said. "There's so much drama."
Much like skating, a sport with a history of 13-year-old sure things who never made it to the throne. The double-edged sword is age.
Zhang will be 16 when the 2010 Games open. "Her age is perfect for the Olympics," said Mingzhu Li, one of Zhang's three coaches, alluding to the fact that since 1992 only one person who was not a teenager has won the Olympic women's title.
But a lot can happen in three years. Nam was also 13 when she nearly upset Kwan at the 1999 U.S. championships. Injuries kept her from competing at the U.S. championships again until last year.
"You have to be careful about injuries. You have to control their weight," Li said. "What happens if they grow? If they get injured, lose control of their weight, they could lose everything. But Caroline has this determination."