Itoh Moves Closer to Cutting Edge : Relocating Near Burbank Rink Beneficial to Up-and-Coming Figure Skater

While living in Northern California, the Itoh family had grown weary of its morning ritual: Awakening at 3 a.m., Mark made breakfast, and then his wife Michiko took their daughter Jennifer, still in her pajamas, on an hourlong drive to an ice rink for a morning of figure-skating lessons.

So when Mark was transferred by his employer to the Los Angeles area in 1984, the family decided to live as close as possible to an ice rink. How close did they get? Any closer and their heating bills would be astronomical.

The Itoh’s geographically desirable townhouse is directly across the street from Pickwick Ice Arena in Burbank. It is so close that Jennifer can roll out of bed at 7 and be at her lesson by 7:15. No more pre-dawn alarms. No more tiresome commutes.

For a figure-skating family, this is almost a normal lifestyle.

Almost.

Living in the shadows of an ice rink has made things more convenient for the Itohs but no less trying. Until she finished ninth in the recent U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jennifer, 20, had not made a dent on the national scene, in part because of two broken ankles she suffered as a junior.

Her parents have supported her through the bad times. Two years ago, they felt even more than the usual pangs of remorse and loss when they sent Jennifer to live at a training facility at Lake Arrowhead. Mark and Michiko are native Japanese, having moved to the United States in 1970, a year before their only child was born.

Splitting up the family was difficult enough; being in a foreign land made it even more so.

“We missed her very much,” said Mark, who is in the import business. “But since we know she devotes her life to skating, we had no choice.”

Jennifer, a U.S. citizen who has spent her whole life in this country, has a slightly different perspective on her year away from home. For the first time, she went to a conventional high school instead of taking independent study with a tutor. As a senior at Rim of the World High, Jennifer discovered what she had been missing.

“I loved it totally,” she said. “Football and basketball games. Homecoming dances and proms. I did it all.”

Her father, who was raised in a small town in Japan, smiled at his daughter. “Her outside appearance is Japanese,” he said, “but she is American.”

For the past few months, Jennifer has been living with a skater’s family in San Diego to be near her coach of almost a year, Richard Callaghan. Her performance at the nationals has given a boost to her career, making her eligible for her first international team.

“It was definitely a surprise” to come in ninth, she said. “All I’d been aiming for was top 15.”

Callaghan, who also coaches two-time men’s national champion Todd Eldredge, believes that Jennifer has talent but always has lacked confidence. “I knew if she could perform up to her ability, she’d be in the top 10” at the nationals, he said, describing her as a skater “with a lot of power who also has an artistic side.”

Jennifer, however, is at a crossroads. She wants the future to include college and perhaps a career in music editing, which will effectively put an end to her skating. But the decision to retire is still on hold.

“I’ll keep going with (skating) until I’m bored or until my parents are totally broke,” she said with a laugh.

Will the Itohs return to Japan?

“We are determined to stay here as long as Jennifer stays,” Mark said.

So it’s up to Jennifer.

No problem. “I’m staying,” she said.