Hitchcock committed to excellence
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
She'd been working on a new routine for weeks, but Alexandra Hitchcock said she was still a little nervous when she skated between periods of the high school hockey game a couple of weeks ago.

Alexandra Hitchcock performs to the music of "Danse Macabre" between periods of the Whalers' hockey game at Nantucket Ice a few weeks ago. PHOTO BY JIM MCINTOSH

"It was a brand new program, and although I can perform in front of people I don't know I was so nervous skating at home," she said.

She needn't have worried. Hitchcock's performance to the music of Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" came off without a hitch.

The 17-year-old high school junior has been skating competitively for several years now, but she hadn't laced up skates at all before Nantucket Ice opened its doors in July, 2002. Like many island children, Hitchcock welcomed the opportunity to skate. "I just went out and got on the ice." She soon noticed that an older student was skating in a more complicated manner. "I saw Hilary Leibowitz doing crossovers and backward crossovers and I said, 'Hilary, you've got to show me how to do that.'"

Leibowitz became her first skating teacher. "My parents saw how much I was enjoying it and asked if I wanted to take group lessons," Hitchcock recalls. She jumped at the opportunity.

As she improved, her lessons became more rigorous. Coaches flew over from the Cape to teach at Nantucket Ice, but before long Hitchcock was going to them.

She began taking lessons at the Tony Kent Arena in Dennis with Leibowitz and several other girls from Nantucket. To help cut down on travel expenses, Don Allen Ford donated a van for their use.

For the past three years, Hitchcock has been traveling twice a week to Dennis - after school on Wednesdays and all day each Saturday. She has three lessons a week; one on Wednesday and two on Saturday. Her mother, Elizabeth, accompanies her on Wednesday afternoons and her father, Dave, takes her to the rink on Saturdays. Hy-Line Cruises offers her and her family a special athletic discount so that her lessons aren't too much of a hardship.

She's gearing up now for the Summer Challenge sponsored by the New England Figure Skating Club at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Mass. on May 16, 17 and 18. The facility features five fullsize ice surfaces, and the competition is tough.

Hitchcock is working now on juvenile freestyle and intermediate moves. In the intricate and involved system of figure skating advancement, skaters must mas- ter specific moves, spins or jumps and pass exhaustive tests before moving on to the next level.

Although she only began skating six years ago, Hitchcock has progressed to a level where she is now teaching younger skaters who are much like she was when she began - eager, enthralled and excited. She likes the sport, she says, because "it's difficult and I always have something to learn. It's incredible."

Her enthusiasm for the sport is infectious. Her father now skates with her, for example. Her brother, William, is goalie on the high school team.

Her college plans at the moment are centered on Boston University and Northeastern University, both of which have notable collegiate skating programs.

In the meantime, she'll work on her axels and double toe loops, staying focused on this summer's competition,

and to her commitment to the sport of figure skating. I