You have to get up pretty early to have the ice rink at Bryant Park in New York City all to yourself.
Yet for Oona and Gage Brown, a brother and sister ice dancing team, getting up to hit the ice in the morning is no big deal. The teenagers are proud members of Team USA, and they compete at the junior level all over the world.
Oona, 16, and Gage, 18, live with their parents in Long Island, New York. They come from a family of seven children, and they are all homeschooled! The two of them also practice intensely for about 24 hours every week, running 5K races in between training on the ice to keep their stamina up.
“We started skating as a homeschool class once a week when Oona was 4 and Gage was 6,” they wrote on GoFundMe. “We started competing together as an ice dance team at ages 10 (Oona) and 12 (Gage).”
Over Thanksgiving break, the pair went to Bryant Park early in the morning so they could have the place to themselves. They performed a gorgeous dance to “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica and Marlisa, and just thinking about it gives us the chills!
The Brown siblings were there to practice their free dance routine for the 2020-21 season. While the novel coronavirus pandemic has kept them from competing with their usual regularity, they are still dedicated to perfecting their routine for future competitions.
“Even though many national and all international competitions have been canceled this season, that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to train, in the hopes they can qualify for Junior Worlds next year and possibly earn a spot at the Olympics one day,” they explained on YouTube.
Oona and Gage rank third in the U.S. for ice dancing at the junior level. They’re also in the top 10 internationally. One look at their amazing performance at Bryant Park will tell you why they’re so well-respected in their field!
In a video, they soar across the ice effortlessly, blending their movements as if they are controlled by the same mind. Even better, they have a stunning backdrop for an ice dancing masterpiece!
No wonder they earned the bronze medal at the last Junior Olympics! It’s just a matter of time before these gifted athletes hit the world stage at the Winter Olympics.
Watch their flawless routine in the video below, and be sure to share this story so you can say you knew them before they made it big!
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