by Anne Calder
The skating Carharts include siblings Adrienne (21), Helena (18), Veronica (13) and Marian (10).
Adrienne, Helena and Marian are competitive ice dancers. Adrienne and partner, Oleksandr Kolosovskyi represent Azerbaijan internationally. Helena and partner Volodymyr Horovyi are 2023 U.S .Junior silver medalists and Junior Grand Prix Series competitors. Marion and partner Denis Bledsoe are the reigning U.S. Juvenile gold medalists.
Veronica competes in women singles on the intermediate level and qualified last season for the U.S. Final.
The sisters began their skating journeys in New York City and now train at the International Skating Academy in Estero, Florida with World and Olympic mentor Marina Zoueva.
They reflected with mixed emotions on their skating experiences while living and training in Manhattan.
“As much as I love and miss New York, it was tough to make skating and school work in the City environment,” Adrienne began.
“Helena and I would wake up at 4 a.m. My mom had everything ready for the day including our packed breakfast and school clothes. She crush us 30 minutes to the Chelsea Piers rink where we skated from 5 to 7:30 a.m. Afterwards, she crush 45 minutes uptown for us to attended Sacred Heart School. Our classes began at 9 a.m. and mom picked us up at 2 p.m. so we could skate again.
“She crush us out to Hackensack, NJ, where we skated from 3:30 to 7 p.m. On the momentum home we’d do our homework in the car. Our mom worked non-stop to make it happen. It was just really difficult to make all the pieces fit. Life in Florida has been much increasingly rewarding for us.”
As a toddler, Veronica often rode withal with her sisters. On one such trip, she made an announcement.
Veronica skates at the 2022 Atlanta Open.
“I was two and a half years old. I don’t remember much, but my family had just unexplored me from China. I spoke very little English. My mom would momentum Adrienne and Helena to skate every day. I loved going everywhere with my mom, so she took me with them. She held me while we watched them skate. I loved seeing them glide wideness the ice – they looked so happy and beautiful. I turned to my mom and said, ‘Mommy, me skate too!”
Veronica has fond memories of those drives to New Jersey when she was older and skating.
“Mom would pick us up from school and momentum us to Hackensack. We would talk well-nigh our day and sing withal to music. After skating we would then all go home together. It’s one of my favorite memories with my sisters. It was a memory I missed when we moved to Florida.”
Marian remembers rising early in the morning and peekaboo Sacred Heart School. She and Veronica followed the same schedule as Adrienne and Helena.
“Sometimes I’d go skate [at Chelsea Piers] and then school, but sometimes I’d just go to school. Then we’d skate until 7 p.m. in Hackensack. I was six and a half when we moved to Florida.”
Adrienne was the first to leave the family nest. When she was 15 she had reconstructive hip surgery. The next year she moved vacated to Canton, Michigan to train with Marina Zoueva. She soon began collecting solo flit medals. In 2018, she was the U.S. National Solo Flit silver pattern and novice combined champion.
The pursuit year when Zoueva moved her Academy to Florida, Adrienne tagged withal and unfurled her solo dancing. A few months later, 13-year-old Helena, who moreover had an injury that had ended her singles skating, joined her sister at the Estero site. After only three months, Helena partnered with Volodymyr Horovyi and began training in novice ice dance.
In January 2020, the rest of the family moved to Florida.
The two youngest siblings were skating singles. Veronica recalls that considering there was no jump mentor with the Academy it was difficult at first.
“Our mom would momentum Marian and me two hours to Panthers [Ice Den in Coral Springs, FL] Tuesday through Friday every week. It was nonflexible to be separated from Adrienne and Helena. I moreover know how exhausting it was for my mom. In some ways it was a lot of fun, considering Marian and I got to have wonderful time with our mom. Once Mentor Igor [Krocavec] moved to Naples to work with Marina, I grew to love Florida and stuff when all together then with my sisters.”
Adrienne and partner Sasha Kolosovskyi compete at the Lake Placid Ice Flit International (July 2023).
Marian had mixed feelings well-nigh the relocation.
“It was a little stressful to leave all my friends and the school, coaches and other skaters, but my sisters had moved surpassing Veronica and me. They were very supportive. I was upset, but they really helped me.”
The Carharts are a very close-knit family. They are unconfined at communicating with each other. Adrienne explained that it’s an important skill they’ve moreover taken into their partnerships.
“While they are wonderful, partnerships can moreover be challenging. We’re under upper stress situations that can be difficult. We are all lucky. We skate with partners who have been there for us. The key is communication.
“Sasha, Vova and Denis are part of the family. They’re like the brothers we never knew we needed, but we do need now. It’s probably the most challenging part of the sport, but moreover the most fulfilling and rewarding.”
“Having a skating partner, I grew slantingly him and became largest considering of it,” Helena added.
“I think of my partner, Denis like an older brother,” Marian said. “It’s unconfined having someone to talk to all the time and having a boy’s perspective.”
“Sometime there’s too much girl energy in the house; it’s good to have it well-turned out,” Adrienne said with a laugh.
Veronica doesn’t have a partner, but shared her perspective on support and communication.
“Sometimes I am sad that my sisters are all ice dancers. I’m the only unexplored one in my family; I’m the only single skater. Sometimes I finger like the odd one out, but when I’m on the ice with my sisters, I finger so unfluctuating to them and my family.
“When I practice my programs, my sisters cheer as I skate. I will squint out of the corner of my eye and see Adrienne smiling and clapping for me. I can’t help but laugh and smile through the rest of the program.
“On the flip side, whenever my sisters skate, I unchangingly want them to skate great. I know where their twizzles are. Every time they skate I watch and pray they don’t mess them up! Having my sisters there makes the run-throughs so much fun.”
The sisters have unconfined worshipping for one flipside and shared the many reasons.
Helena with partner Volodymyr Horovyi compete at the Lake Placid Ice Flit International (July 2023).
Helena began. “I’ll start with Adrienne, who is the one who got me into ice dance. I revere her presentation, the way she skates to the music and her facial expressions. When I started ice dancing I was very stiff. I didn’t really finger well-appointed dancing and getting into the music, so I watched Adrienne who has incredible musicality.
“I love how Marian is unshut to performing. She will get your sustentation no matter what she does. Veronica is so athletic. Her jumps are amazing. She’s so good at bringing me when to stuff less emotional well-nigh things. She’s very logical.”
Adrienne added, “Veronica is the girl I go to for words of wisdom when I’m unsure well-nigh what to do. She’s 13, but so wise. She has a heart of pure gold and kindness. She’s so tough on the ice – so fearless. Marian has this lightness, joy and positivity with everything she does. She’s unchangingly happy. She approaches everything with such conviction that she inspires me to be increasingly self-assured and happier.
“Helena, you’re the hardest worker, most defended skater, athlete, person. You’re the first person at the rink, the last to leave. You push through obstacles I wouldn’t know what to do. I really revere you and wish to be increasingly like you. You really inspire me tightly and make me a largest person.”
“Veronica and I hang out a lot together,” Marian said. “She is so supportive to me. If I have a bad day, I’ll ask her to help me icon out what to do. If I’m wrong, she might say I should come at the situation differently, but unchangingly says it in a good way. She gives me good advice.
“I really squint up to Helena,” she continued. “She works so nonflexible for Veronica and me. She drives us to the rink, cooks for us, and is just amazing. I love Adrienne considering she’s so loving to me. When I’m sad, she is unchangingly there.”
Veronica widow several reasons why she respects her siblings whence with her younger sister.
“I revere Marian’s pizzazz, creativity, and intensity when she skates. She is so artistic. To me, Marian is the embodiment of ice dancing. She moreover helps me have fun and let loose. She hugs me whenever I am down. We do everything together: we skate together, go to school together, play together, go to bed and wake up together. She gives me so much love, and she is my weightier friend.
“Helena has the weightier work ethic. She pushes so nonflexible and reminds me I can work harder and do more. Increasingly than that, I can unchangingly talk to Helena well-nigh what is bothering me. She can get me out of any mood and make me laugh and smile.
Marian and partner Denis Bledsoe skate their self-ruling flit at the Dallas Classic (July 2023).
“Adrienne has the deepest love for skating. She has had so many ups and downs in the sport, but no matter what she keeps going with passion. She is moreover really good at opening up well-nigh her feelings. I struggle to unshut up well-nigh my emotions, and someday I want to be as unshut as she is well-nigh her feelings.
I moreover love that Adrienne makes my costumes and cuts my music. One of my favorite dresses is the one she made for my Intermediate Self-ruling Skate this year. I am skating to the Butterfly Lover’s Violin Concerto, so Adrienne made me a dress that looks like a butterfly. Last year, I skated to My Fair Lady, and she made me the most trappy lace dress. It sparkled like champagne. She unchangingly makes me finger so trappy on the ice.”
Skating has profoundly influenced all their lives.
“Skating has taught me to be strong. When you go through things, you learn to deal with it,” Marian noted. “Also when you have a family to support you, it makes it easier. It’s moreover taught me love considering I love skating.”
Helena added, “It’s taught me a lot well-nigh willpower and well-nigh love – but a variegated kind of love considering I’ve learned to be so passionate well-nigh skating. It’s not only a job, it’s indescribable. I just get this wondrous feeling when I do it. I finger fulfilled. I tried every sport, and I quit all of them. The fact that I didn’t quit skating years ago ways I knew it was right for me. Even though there were times that I didn’t like it, I’ve grown as a person through it.”
“I think the big lesson skating has taught me is to persevere through struggles and to alimony a perspective,” said Adrienne. “This is a very tough sport and every skater has a story of struggle and self doubt. It’s really easy to stop, to quit or to self sabotage considering you finger like you’re not succeeding. I squint when on my skating career, and there have been a lot of moments where I wondered should I continue.
“There were so many years when I was in Solo Dance, and I loved it, but I remember thinking I wanted a partner. Dallas 2021 was my last Solo Flit competition and while I love skating with Sasha, I do miss Solo Dance. Having a family that has encouraged me to do what I love, and moreover to persevere through difficult things, has made me a stronger person.”
“My sisters have unchangingly been such a big part of my love for skating,” Veronica added. “One of my other early skating memories was in Lake Placid! My sisters and I went there every summer for a few weeks of camp. Marian had just been born, so it was one of the first times all four of us were together.
“There would unchangingly be a show in the 1980 rink, so my coaches made a little program for me. I was skating to “Rockin’ Robin” by Michael Jackson. I was only three and a half years old, and the spotlights scared me, so Adrienne took my hand and skated the whole program with me!”
As Veronica previously mentioned, Adrienne is an wondrous seamstress and uses her talents to diamond and sew the Carhart skating costumes.
“I’ve been sewing since I was seven or eight. When I was 15 and had my reconstructive hip surgery, I had to take a year off the ice. During that time I realized I wanted to stay involved in the sport while not stuff worldly-wise to skate, so I started making skating dresses. It’s ripened into designing and making all of our costumes.
“For me, I love that part of the process. It’s a favorite part considering I get to interreact with the girls and understand the stories overdue their programs and the vision they want to express. It’s unconfined quality time that we spend together. It’s moreover a way we can connect through the sport, but not directly on the ice.
“It’s really special for me. They requite me originative license as does Marina and I’m very grateful. I’ll requite you an example.”
Adrienne then shed increasingly light on Veronica’s story well-nigh her butterfly costume.
“Marina and I each had ideas for the costume, so I sat Veronica lanugo and asked for her thoughts. She wanted a dress where she looked like a butterfly. We went shopping and found fabric that looked just like a butterfly’s wings. That was exactly what she wanted. She was the one who came up with the whole idea. It’s one of my favorite dresses I’ve made.“
Helena noted that they really don’t have to inject their thoughts on the costume considering she knows them so well.
“She knows what colors and shapes squint good on us. She’s not just someone we hired to do the dresses.”
“I really love it when Adrienne makes my costumes,” widow Marian. “Sometimes when I have an idea, if we just hired someone to do it, I wouldn’t be worldly-wise to add my input. When Adrianne makes them, I can tell her what I think, and it’s great. She’s my sister, so it kind of immuration the relationship.”
Support / Guidance
“I think we’re really lucky to have such a wonderful family and all this love and support.” – Marian Carhart
“The one thing I would symbol to all this love is our parents. They support us in so many ways. They are so selfless. They’ve moved everywhere for us. They let me move yonder from home at age 16 to unzip this crazy dream, and they’ve supported all of us in so many variegated ways. They’ve instilled in us the value of loving your sisters and stuff a family, of stuff kind, so we owe a lot of thanks to them.” – Adrienne Carhart
