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 Sasha's
mother, Galina, was a gymnast and ballet dancer while she was
growing up in Odessa in the Ukraine. Galina's father, Lev, was
a gymnast who once performed for Stalin. Lev, a Russian Jew, was
an engineering professor, but Galina says she never realized she
grew up in a restrictive society. "We just accepted life," Galina
said. When she was 16, Galina's family came to San Diego. Galina
met and married Roger Cohen while she was attending San Diego
State. Roger is a lawyer specializing in Internet start-up companies.
Because Sasha's mother is from Russia, Sasha can understand Russian.
Sasha never learned to speak Russian because her father is American.
At age five, Sasha began gymnastics. She reached level 5. Sasha
began figure skating at age 7 1/2. It began simply enough with
group, public skating sessions once a week. Many skaters begin
when they're younger, at around age 4 or 5. That couple of years
can make a big difference. It meant that she had to catch up.
Sasha began training seriously in figure skating at age 10. Sasha
didn't start out to be a competitive skater, but she was born
a competitive person. Sasha's skating developed rapidly. In 1997,
she made the decision to leap into the world of big-time figure
skating by joining coach John Nicks, a native of England who has
been coaching top U.S. competitors since the early 1960s. That's
when Sasha started getting very serious and began realizing what
she was going to have to sacrifice in order to be a good skater.
Driven Sasha must be. Her schedule: Mondays she has three skating
sessions at the Ice Chalet in Costa Mesa from 8:40 a.m. to 1:20
p.m. There is a break for lunch before the third skating session,
then two hours of ballet lessons before dinner, homework and bed.
Tuesdays she has three skating sessions, lunch, and an hour of
stretching before homework. Wednesdays she has three skating sessions
and 5 1/2 hours of tutoring at Futures High School, a private
institution in Mission Viejo. Sasha talks to teachers, turns in
assignments, gets more work. Sasha no longer attends regular school,
but is taught one-on-one by tutors. Thursdays there are three
more skating sessions and her Pilates training. On Fridays she
has three skating sessions and more ballet training. And weekends?
Usually, she takes them off . . . except for the ones she spends
training in Lake Arrowhead. Hers is a schedule that no parent
or coach could force a teenager to keep. Sasha wants it. Says
Sasha, "Most of my friends are skaters, but I do have old friends
who don't skate. It's hard to keep in touch. To be a really good
skater, you have to work hard and you really have to love it."
The work has paid off. She finished second in the juniors competition
at the U.S. nationals in 1999. Cohen since has won two other events
in the 1999-2000 season. John Nicks, however, believes to duplicate
that success on the seniors level, Cohen will need to improve
on those all-important jumps. Cohen's efforts to reach those heights
were complicated when she missed time from training with an injury
to the growth plate in her right heel. She appeared healthy heading
into the 2000 nationals. At the 2000 Nationals, Sasha delivered
a brilliant performance in the short program, winning first place.
In the long program, she fell on one jump and received second
place, winning a silver medal at her first senior National championships.
At the 2000 Junior World Championships, Sasha had difficulties
and placed 6th. In the summer of 2000, Sasha performed in some
of the stops of the Champions on Ice tour. In the 2000-2001 Season,
Sasha will compete in two grand prix events. Hopefully, Sasha
will be able to perform consistently at her best level and improve
further in the years to come. Sasha has already achieved for herself
a place as one of America's leading figure skating stars. |
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