The Cutting Edge

Pelham teen Yankowskas fulfilling big dreams on ice

By Alan Siegel
asiegel@eagletribune.com

Life has become slightly more complicated since young Caitlin Yankowskas marched into the Salem Icenter, looked at the figure skaters spinning and gliding in front of her, and announced, “I want to do that.”

Almost a decade later, the precocious beginner from Pelham is an 18-year-old pairs dynamo whose two-page photograph appeared in the Nov. 3 issue of Sports Illustrated. She may only be 5-foot-2, but Yankowskas packs a lot of personality and determination into her diminutive frame.

"She is a diva to the maximum," her coach, Dalilah Sappenfield, said endearingly. "She does not like being second. She won't go down without a fight. That's just who she is."

As a result, Yankowskas, who moved to Colorado Springs - one of three United States Olympic Training Center sites - in June 2007, has quickly achieved world-class status. She and her partner, 22-year-old Kansas City native John Coughlin, finished seventh at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Cleveland last month.

"I chose to be in this sport because I love it," said Yankowskas, who knew Sappenfield from pair skating camps they'd both attended. "I'll sacrifice whatever to achieve my dreams and goals."

Sacrifice? For starters, after attending Pelham's St. Patrick School from kindergarten through eighth grade, Yankowskas chose to forgo high school and take DVD-based correspondence courses so she could spend more time on the ice.

"You only live once," said Yankowskas, who after only five months of ice time together, took sixth with Coughlin at the 2008 U.S. championships. "I had a gut feeling skating was going to be something great for me."

In 2007, she moved westward, searching, she said, for "a breath of fresh air." Through Sappenfield, Yankowskas was introduced to Coughlin that summer. Both had just split from their respective partners.

Their nine-day tryout went exceptionally well. Coughlin's presence, Caitlin's mother Tricia said, was like "Manna from heaven."

Coughlin, however, had other plans, choosing to move to Michigan to pair with another skater.

"It was something more comfortable initially," Coughlin said. "It was less of an unknown. But something was missing."

So he phoned Yankowskas - who was considering pairing with a skater from France - to apologize. By late August, Coughlin was back in Colorado Springs. Thus began their official working relationship, which is going strong today.

Soon after teaming with Coughlin, Yankowskas went from being a novice skater (two rungs from the top) to the senior level (the highest), skipping junior (the second highest) completely.

"It was instant, their connection," Sappenfield said. "Really, it was easy for them."

Sappenfield was impressed, but not surprised.

"She's so sweet off the ice," Sappenfield said. "On the ice, she means business."

'Like a marriage'

At 13 or 14, Yankowskas was smitten by the idea of pair skating.

"Skating with a boy was very cool and romantic," she said.

She first put on skates at 4 years old, took up competitive skating in earnest at 10 and joined the Boxboro-based Colonial Figure Skating Club at 12. When her first partner, Newton's Daniyel Cohen, first asked if she wanted to skate with him, she didn't know what to think. It took three phone calls before she agreed join him.

"I had butterflies," she said. "When I was 14, (it was like), 'Oh my God, he asked me on a date for figure skating.' "

The pair was successful, finishing second in the novice division at the 2007 U.S. championships. But soon after, Yankowskas was ready for a bigger challenge. (Cohen and his new partner finished fifth at this year's U.S. Championships - in the junior division.)

Yankowskas' rapid rise has left little time for teenage rituals.

"The child's barely had a boyfriend," Tricia said of her daughter, who only recently got her driver's license. "She's been relentless."

On the ice, Yankowskas and Coughlin have developed a symbiotic relationship.

"I immediately trusted him," Yankowskas said.

Their physical make-up - John is 6-2, Caitlin is 5-2 - is ideal, Sappenfield said.

Yankowskas' New England accent, on the other hand, took some getting used to.

"Her Boston accent is toned down a little bit," Coughlin said with a laugh. "But when her (older) sister (Erica) comes to visit, it's the 'I just came out of a Boston Red Sox game' accent."

Coughlin said Yankowskas' initial shyness is fading.

"She's totally the dominant person on the ice in that relationship," Sappenfield said. "That's part of what makes her good."

A successful skating pair isn't made up of two robots. Personalities cannot mesh perfectly.

"They're going to go through dirt and mud to make it," Sappenfield said. "Lots of stress, lots of expectations. You really want to be successful."

She added that a big part of a coach's job is to make sure her pair's relationship is built for the long haul. And that it's often easy for one skater to blame another for mistakes. Then, Sappenfield made an interesting analogy.

"It's like a marriage."

Taking the hard road

Yankowskas wakes up at every morning at 6:30 and heads for the Olympic Training Center.

She warms up on the ice and then skates for two or three hours with Coughlin. Then she takes an hour break. Then it's back on the ice for two more hours of pair work. Then she spends about 30 minutes on her own, working on jumps.

Somehow, she fits in homework, cardio and perhaps a 90-minute yoga class. Somehow, Yankowskas is unfazed by this schedule. She knows it's the life she chose.

She's also unfazed by having to monitor her weight.

"Coach, she just says where she wants me weight wise," Yankowskas said. "I'm in charge of getting down there. She doesn't yell at me. It's very fair that way."

A day rarely goes by without minor aches and pains, she said, but she's been fortunate to avoid any major injuries. Coughlin hasn't been so lucky. While attempting a triple twist in the fall of 2006, he and his former partner's legs got tangled. To Coughlin's horror, her skate blade sliced through the tendons in his left wrist.

"I was hysterical," he said.

He got sutured up in the emergency room and was simply prescribed rest.

"I went three weeks without even lifting a pencil," Coughlin said.

Then it was off to Bulgaria for a competition. On the flight, he said, "My hand swelled up like a balloon. It was a mess."

Admittedly, the mental aspect of the recovery was more difficult than the physical part.

"I was spooked on that element it happened on," he said, pointing out that his quick return to the ice could've been a disaster if he fell on his injured wrist. "But I had to get back into jumping."

The sport has its risks. Injuries are going to happen.

"I'm a fighter, I guess," Yankowskas said. "Going into skating, you're going to fall. No guts, no glory."

Glory, she hopes, is a result of their sacrifice. Coughlin once played the trumpet, took karate lessons and played baseball and football. One by one, he gave them up. Coughlin knew skating had to come first.

So now, with the 2010 Winter Olympics in sight, Coughlin and Yankowskas are going for it all.

Like Yankowskas said, "You only live once."

The article appeared in the Sunday edition of The Eagle Tribune in North Andover, Mass.