Keeping focus on the ice

A bevy of volunteers work feverishly to aid skaters at
events.

January 12, 2002

LOS ANGELES -- The figure skaters, wearing headphones,
warm-up suits and sneakers, pranced through the
concrete corridors of the Sports Arena, twirling and
leaping into the air to get their timing just right.
"1-2-3, 1-2-3" the precocious Olympic aspirants
counted, passing each other and continuing preparation
for the most important competition of their adolescent
lives, this afternoon's women's finals at this week's
U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Staples Center.
But as the national eye focuses today on the marquee
event -- the ladies free skate, featuring the graceful
motions of Michelle Kwan and Laguna Niguel's Sasha
Cohen -- there is much more action that goes on out of
the spotlight. Hundreds of volunteers, including many
from Orange County, have been scurrying around the
Sports Arena and Staples Center making sure the
skaters' only anxieties are about axels, artistic
impressions and keeping triple lutzes from becoming
triple klutzes. So, say there were a skater who needed
to know where's check-in, or the location of the
closest bathroom.  What if there were a hair emergency
or a makeup mess-up?  And who would collect all the
Beanie Babies and stuffed animals the audience tosses
on the ice after a star's performance? Turned out it is
not a problem.  Volunteers such as Carol Kusumi of
Anaheim, wearing gray fleece sweaters, give directions
to lost skaters.  Scattered outside the perimeter of
the rink, shifts of volunteers were poised to curl up
(hair), touch up (makeup) and pick up (fan items thrown
onto the ice). "We're just part of the hundreds of
people behind the scenes trying to make this event go
smoothly," said hair stylist Celeste Aviva, 28, of
Tustin. Among the most visible volunteers have been the
so-called "sweepers," whose job it is to pick up all
the stuffed toys, fan letters and mementos that are
tossed onto the ice after one of the stars completes
her routine.  Breanna Burrows, 8, of Anaheim is one of
the 40 Southern California boys and girls, ages 6 to
15, who won their divisions at All-Year Figure Skating
Club competitions last year.  During a recent practice
at the Sports Arena, Burrows waited eagerly for one of
the rink's doors to swing open so she could skate
swiftly onto the ice and scoop up all the tokens tossed
on her quadrant of the rink. This year the sweepers,
who also included Kelly Kusumi, 11, of Anaheim and
Breanna Flanigan, 11, of Huntington Beach, weren't
picking up the traditional bouquets or long-stem roses
that are scattered on the ice in many televised
competitions. Post-Sept. 11 security measures
prohibited spectators from bringing floral items,
potential carriers for dangerous chemicals, into the
Sports Arena and Staples Center. But there were plenty
of stuffed animals, letters and mementos to retrieve.
"We're not supposed to overload ourselves with the
items so much that we drop some, stumble over them and
fall down," said Flanigan. "We're supposed to make
numerous trips." Like the competitors they watch, these
sweepers have skated in weekly private lessons since
they turned 5.  They have Olympic-size dreams as they
twirl around, their pixie bodies clad in turquoise
spandex skating dresses and colorful shoulder straps.
They also have grown-up personalities. "I like skating
a whole bunch because it takes me from the pressure of
normal life," Breanna Flanigan said. The pressure the
sixth- grader at Marine View Middle School refers to is
being in honors classes, having plenty of homework and
skating 10 hours a week. "Being here gives me a chance
to see what it's like to be a real skater," said
Burrows, who won her division (Freestyle Basic Level 4)
at a recent skating club competition to qualify as a
sweeper. Her mother, Kathy Burrows, has chaperoned the
sweepers. She made sure their hair and costumes were
perfect. She pulled blankets over their bare, shivering
shoulders as they awaited their next sweep. Meanwhile,
across the arena, Aviva and her 16-volunteer crew of
all-black- clothed stylish stylists -- all with great
hair and from The David Salon in Costa Mesa - set up
makeshift hair and makeup salons at the Sports Arena
and Staples Center. The crew brought in three stand-up
vanity mirrors, two pump-up chairs, four sets of hot
curlers and three drawers full of brushes, combs,
curling irons, flat irons and wax sticks.  Plus, there
are ropes of ribbon in 30 colors to match every shade
of sequin or spandex. From 9 a.m. to as late as 10 p.m.
this week, stylists and makeup artists have primped,
powdered, braided and blow dried about 20 skaters a
day. Appointments for their services have been
appreciated, but unlike some shops, "We take walk-ins,"
Aviva said. "It has been crazy around here since the
opening ceremonies," she said Friday. "But that's what
it takes so everyone can look absolutely fabulous."
Stylists have made ribbon into a laurel braid, which
looks like a laurel wreath.  They have twisted locks
into the popular "Hugs and Kisses" braids -- an X-
shaped braid atop the head and an O-shaped braid in the
back. "Figure-skating hair is different than regular
hair," said Aviva, who has been a stylist for the sport
for two years. "If (in real life) a piece of hair falls
in the face, people might think that's sexy.  "But in
figure skating, falling hair could get in the way, be a
distraction during a competition and ruin a career. So
everything needs to be tight, neat, secure and clean."
The stylists have worked through the dozens of brushes,
combs, jars of pomade, bottles of mousse and cans of
hairspray to get the 10s for the dos.  "Everything has
to be just perfect," Aviva said, preparing for the next
would-be Olympian felled by a sudden hair emergency.
Meanwhile, the gray- fleeced volunteers directed
skaters to their staging areas. And sweepers skipped
and scrambled to their rink-side seats, excited to be
part of the greatest show on ice.