Date: Fri 04-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Rollerskating-Quintiliano

Full Text:

Roller Skating Champion

Chrystie Quintiliano

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

Chrystie Quintiliano, 11, of Sandy Hook will be heading off to Fresno,

California, later this month and it's all because of some birthday cake and a

pair of $2 tag sale roller skates.

Chrystie, who will be entering the sixth grade at Newtown Middle School in the

fall, will be off to Fresno for the United States Roller Skating Championships

and she is heading there as the Northeast Regional Champion after placing

first in figures and first in freestyle at competition in Schenectady, New

York. It is the same type of thing professional figure skaters like Nancy

Kerrigan are doing, only there is no ice and the sharp blades of steel are

replaced by four wheels and a stopper.

Chrystie got into the sport simply from attending a friend's birthday party

three years ago at Skate Tyme in Monroe. She got into roller skating really

for the first time at Skate Tyme and asked to be brought back.

" She loved it so much, " said Chrystie's mom, Betsy, " that we kept going

back. "

The first class she took was a Saturday morning group session, and that led

was the first step to Chrystie joining the Skate Time Club in July of 1992. In

September of 1992 she moved on to private lessons.

For almost a year she kept practicing on her first pair of roller skates until

her mom went for the upgrade.

" They told me better equipment would make her skate better . . . the bearings

are better, she would roll better, that kind of thing, " said Betsy. " I kept

thinking, how much better could you possibly be with better equipment?

" It was like night and day, " she added.

Chrystie's first competition was in Rahoboth Beach, Delaware, in January of

1994. For the first time out, she did well . . . finishing 12th out of 32 who

entered. " It was scary, " said Chrystie, " because I didn't know what to do.

It was my first time out and I was really confused. "

Chrystie made it to 1994 United States Roller Skating Championships in

Buffalo, New York, in her first year of competition after finishing second in

the 1B girls' singles competition at the Northeast Regional Championships in

Milford. Massachusetts.

She got there that early in her career because of lots of hard work.

Chrystie spends about four or five hours a day practicing. Generally, she

skates on Mondays from 5 to 8 pm, Tuesdays from 3 to 8 pm, Wednesdays from

5:30 to 7:30 pm, Thursdays from 3 to 9:30 pm, Saturdays from 3 to 7 pm, and

Sundays from 8 am to 12 noon. Sprinkled amid that hectic schedule are figure

and freestyle lessons.

The woman guiding Chrystie through all this is coach Sherri Nichio, who

designs and choreographs the routines - the jumps, the spins, the footwork and

hand work - for the whole Skate Time Club.

But it's Chrystie's routine that is going to need some work in the next couple

of weeks.

" I'm going to have to practice really hard, " said Chrystie. " I've changed a

few jumps and all of my spins from the regionals. "

She will be practicing hard, too, because next month, when the 1995-96 season

starts, Chrystie will be moving up into Elementary Singles, which is in the

Standards division.

There, she will be asked to perform a lot of double jumps - double mapes,

double sowcow, and double flip - and lots more difficult spins.

It's a far cry from $2 roller skates and practicing in a friend's basement,

that's for sure.