When he was six years old, he dreamed of playing hockey, but Keenan Prochnow, sophomore, and medalist at the 2014 US Figure Skating Championships, soon found out he would never be able to do so. If Prochnow played, there was a chance he could become deaf.
Prochnow has a medical condition in his inner ear, known as large vestibular aqueduct syndrome, which would cause him to become deaf if he was hit in the head with a hockey puck. But he didn’t walk away from the ice defeated. Instead, he turned to figure skating and now holds a third place national figure skating title after competing this January in the 2014 US Figure Skating Championships held in Boston.
While Prochnow does compete individually in some competitions, he competed at Nationals with his partner Sophia Pearson. Pearson, who is in the eighth grade in the Libertyville school district, has been skating with Prochnow for three years. At Nationals, they competed in the intermediate pairs level.
“Being at Nationals is hard to explain. It was a really amazing feeling just to be there, skating on the same ice as some of the Olympians, and it was amazing to think that we were as far as we could be for our level,” Prochnow said. “It was even cooler to see famous skaters that I look up to and aspire to be like walking around.”
To compete at the national level, Prochnow and Pearson practiced six days a week for two to three hours at the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills.
There are two levels of competition hosted by the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) before Nationals: Regionals and Sectionals. At these competitions, five skill levels compete. The intermediate level, in which Prochnow competed, is in the middle. These levels are based on ability and experience, and winners at the senior level qualify for the Olympics.
“In order to move up a competition, you must place within the top four,” Prochnow explained. “Because there were five [intermediate] pairs in the region, [USFSA] bypassed us to Sectionals to make for a better competition.”
Prochnow and Pearson placed first at Sectionals to advance to Nationals.
“By the time we arrived at the actual event, we were adequately prepared. I had no doubt that we would have a successful skate,” Prochnow said.
Prochnow says that while he does have Olympic dreams and “trains with all intentions of making it as far as I am capable,” he keeps his focus by training and living in the present.
“The feeling of [being at Nationals] was electric,” Prochnow said. “It was worth going for the experience. Bringing home a medal was just a bonus.”