Candice and Ashley Clifford train six days a week for most of the year all to shine at less than five events per year.
The sister roller figure skaters do homework in the car, driving up to Redwood City to practice their sport, often spending late nights catching up with school work after going several hours working out at the rink.
It’s paid off for the Morgan Hill duo as they took home medals this summer from regional and national championships.
“They’ve been competing for 10 years and having a great time,” said their mother Lori Clifford. “This is what they enjoy.”
The girls’ first regional competition was in 2005 and since then, they’ve taken off.
But the practice does take its toll.
“It’s tough for them to juggle high school activities, the homework and the skating, so you just have to set your priorities and set your goals,” Lori said.
The girls have found ways to juggling both and are doing so with impressive success.
For Ashley, the hard work as also earned her a trip to Taipei to compete against the rest of the world for team USA.
The effort resulted in a 10th place finish earlier this month.
She said the world competition is an experience that doesn’t quite compare to national events. There’s more eyes on you, she said, but she tries her best to focus on what she has to do and worries about the crowds later.
“At the worlds, everyone is watching you. It’s a lot of strain,” Ashley said. When you step out on the floor and you go to skate, you don’t think about who’s watching it. … After I’m done, I go on Facebook and there’s all these people who say, ‘Oh you did great.’”
This last year, Candice and Ashley skated in four contests and this year they will probably skate five. There is a lack of skating competitions in the area, so the girls are usually traveling around the country to compete.
The girls have been skating for most of their lives — Candice since she was 3 and Ashley at 18 months.
Candice — who also juggles a full high school load that also includes taking college course work and theater — is trying to make sure the Cliffords are well represented at Barcelona next year for the 2014 world competition.
“My goal is to make it to worlds. I’d love to place at worlds, but getting there is my first priority,” Candice said.
Ashley made it to worlds last year, representing the United States in New Zealand. She placed eighth.
Ashley said her goal was to reach the top 10 and was hoping to improve on that mark, but said her coach told her that each competition is different and it’s hard to compare how you do between different ones.
“Every year at worlds it’s a different competition,” Ashley said. “What he tells me is you can’t look at the place that they give you. I could actually skate better and get a lower placement or a higher placement, it just depends on who’s there.”
The competition can be harsh on the international stage. Ashely said he goal is to make sure the US is at the top of the international competition.
Although there is stiff competition between the groups, there are often gestures of goodwill between teams.
It’s customary to trade items between the international teams, typically pins or jackets. Ashley was approached by a member of the Italian team after last year’s competition and offered a trade.
“She has my jacket and I have her Italy shirt, so it’s actually pretty cool.”
For Candice, while her goal is compete on the biggest stage and succeed, she too wants to entertain and inspire others to skate.
Candice’s love of entertainment shows in her love of the stage. She is also appearing in Miracle on 34th Street for South Valley Civic Theatre.
“When I’m able to share something I love and when people are able to see I love it and they love it too, it just makes me feel happy,” Candice said. “I guess it has to do with stage too, because stage is about making the audience happy. I kind of incorporate into the skate sometimes.”
A lot of people stop skating when they go on to college. Ashley, however, wants to make sure she can keep going.
“I really don’t want to stop, because a lot of these girls I looked up to when I was little stopped then,” Ashley said. “I don’t know how I could stop in two years. I would really like to advance and bring the USA back up higher than we have been in the world championships.”
She hopes to be sponsored when she gets older.
