When Ross Miner takes the ice this weekend at the US figure skating championships he’ll be doing it in front of a hometown crowd.
“The fact that it’s in Boston is very exciting to me. Having the national championships in my own backyard is really cool,” Miner said.
Ross lives with his family in Watertown.
He was born in Vermont and that’s where he learned to skate when he was just two and a half.
“There was an outdoor skating facility right by my home in Vermont and I think my mom was like ‘we’ve got him out of the house, he’s tearing the house apart he needs to be outside doing something,’” he said.
He quickly became fascinated with figure skating and once he made the switch, he started to see success quickly.
“I was doing really well in competitions and I was totally a ham-bone and loved winking at all the judges, just typical me,” he said.
The success also led to more sacrifices for him and his family.
When Ross was 12 his family left Vermont and headed for Boston so he could train.
“It was important because it was something he really loved to do, like you could see the joy in his face and if you have a passion you should really dedicate yourself to that,” his mom, Gloria Miner, said.
The dedication is really paying off now.
Ross has won several medals competing internationally and now with the Olympics just two great skates away he’s keeping things in perspective.
“You could say it’s the culmination of everything but it’s also so not about that. It’s about the journey of getting there for me, how long I’ve been working and no matter what I want to feel like I did everything I can,” he said.