Longwood freshman to represent Team USA in international roller skating competitions

I've had that dream of being on Team USA and representing my home club alongside the best of the best from every country. That dream is now real and I am so incredibly honored to be able to represent the United States and the Chester Skating Team this fall.

"I can't even begin to describe how much this means to me," said Gray, who started roller skating at age 8 and began competing not long after. "I've had that dream of being on Team USA and representing my home club alongside the best of the best from every country. That dream is now real and I am so incredibly honored to be able to represent the United States and the Chester Skating Team this fall."

Gray is one of 26 members of Team USA competing in the world events, and one of only two in the Junior Women's Division. First, she will travel to Buenos Aires at the end of this month for the World Figure Cup. Then she will compete in the Artistic Skating World Championships 2025 in Beijing in October.

Artistic roller skating is very similar to figure skating, but performed on a gymnasium-type floor instead of an ice rink. Just like in figure skating, artistic roller skaters perform highly choreographed routines that include jumps, spins and step sequences to show off their skill, artistry and style.

"My signature move is probably an inverted lay back," Gray said. "Or a split jump, where I jump in the air and then do a split."

At the competition in China, she will perform two routines and her scores will be combined. The Artistic Skating World Championships is an annual competition sanctioned by World Skate in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion. The event, where skaters compete in different categories including singles, pairs and juniors, is considered to be the highest competitive achievement in artistic skating.

The Midlothian, Virginia, native, who is majoring in biology with a concentration in pre-med, is currently training six days a week to prepare for the world competitions. Three days a week she travels an hour and a half to Chester Skateland, her home rink, for practice with her coach, a former world champion skater. On Fridays she trains near her home in Midlothian, where she stays to practice over the weekend as well.

"I'm training six days a week, so it's a lot of dedication," Gray said. But she wouldn't have it any other way.

When I put my skates on or walk into the rink, it's kind of like my outlet, my safe space, where I can just let go of everything and just do what I love and not have a care in the world without anything else.

"I'm training six days a week, so it's a lot of dedication," Gray said. But she wouldn't have it any other way.

"What I love most about roller skating is the freedom and the discipline that I get from it," she said. "When I put my skates on or walk into the rink, it's kind of like my outlet, my safe space, where I can just let go of everything and just do what I love and not have a care in the world without anything else."

This isn't the first time Gray has competed at the international level. In 2023, she qualified for a world team and competed in Germany. But this is the first time she has had to juggle college and competition.

"During the week it's school and then practice and then getting home and having to eat, shower, do homework and get ready for bed so that I can start it all over the next day-it's a lot, all of it," she said. "But I am managing to juggle everything."

She said her class workload right now is manageable, which helps. Her professors have been very helpful and accommodating, especially as she makes plans to keep up with her classwork when she travels to Argentina and China to compete.

Gray said her career plans are to go to med school and eventually become an emergency room physician. During high school she became a nationally registered certified medical assistant, so she already has a head start on her medical career.

As for whether she thinks she might continue competing throughout college, Gray said she doesn't give herself a deadline for when she will stop skating.

"I kind of re-evaluate every year and think about what my next year is going to look like," she said. "I would love to skate through undergrad."

Artistic roller skating is not yet recognized as an Olympic sport, but Gray said each year there is a petition to make it one. Even when she is done skating competitively, she wants to stay involved in the sport and is working on getting her judging certification. Whether she's competing, judging or coaching in the future, she wants to continue to give back to the roller skating community.

"I've been given some great and special friendships from the sport that will last a lifetime," she said. "Not many people can say that with their sport, but there's something special about skating. It's definitely like a family."