In February 2010, Amber Glenn was a mere 10-year-old girl watching the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver with her mom when Evan Lysacek topped the podium. Back then, she wasn't too familiar with the gold medallist, but her mom was a big fan and was really pulling for his victory. Flash forward to her first Champs Camp experience in the summer of 2019 and the now 19-year-old Glenn came face-to-face with the Olympic champion when he appeared as a special guest speaker.
"I remember my mom loving his skating style and how passionate he was," she said. "It was so cool to see him in person after seeing him on TV as a kid. He just gave us a nice motivational speech."
Motivational speeches and pep talks are very valuable to Glenn before heading to a competition. From Lysacek, she learned about his experiences with training and handling media attention. Glenn said the most useful piece of advice she's received is, "You're already trained. You're going there to do your job, not to keep training, so [don't] overdo it in practice when you're there or over think. You do it every day, so just go out there and pretend it's practice."
She put these words of wisdom to use recently at the 2019 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City, where she only had one opportunity to practice on the official ice surface prior to competing. She relied on her previous preparations to earn an international personal best score of 186.28 points and a bronze medal.
Heading into Skate America presented by American Cruise Lines in Las Vegas later this month and the rest of the 2019-20 season, Glenn has her sights set on breaking the 200-mark. She's earned 70-plus points for her short and 130-plus points for her free skate at separate times. "I know I am capable of it, I just need to do it together," she said.
Her other goals are consistency and improving her artistry. "I want to keep building on my consistency, which has gotten better this year and has been a really big focus, but I also want to start incorporating more artistry," she explained. "My last two competitions have been about getting the job done, but I want to continue doing that while also being able to express how I feel about the programs and being able to put my all into the choreography as well."
This season, Glenn carefully selected two pieces of music that she really connects to on an emotional level, which she hopes will help her connect to the audience and judges. Her ballet and contemporary dance training have given choreographer Cordero Zuckerman a plethora of artistic elements to incorporate into the routines.
"My short program is to 'Scars' by Madilyn Bailey, but it's a cover of a punk song that I used to listen to a lot in my youth when I was really struggling at times," Glenn shared. "It's really cool that I'm able to perform a program to something that has such deep meaning to me."
Glenn's free skate, set to "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles, will sound familiar to fans who follow skating closely. She used this song for her short program last season. This year, she's added a new section that doesn't have lyrics. She explained that the choreography is similar, but still different enough to be a brand new program.
"It really says a lot to figuratively listen to the lyrics," Glenn said. "It could be physical or mental scars that you have and just overcoming them and knowing that your past is your past. Move on to the future. Look forward. Never look back. And if you do look back, look at it as a lesson learned. You know, the short really conveys that and then my freeskate's kind of about moving on and just living your life now and throwing out all that toxic-ness [of] the past and going to a better future."
Glenn has a tight-knit bond with her training mates in Dallas, considering Jimmy Ma her best friend. She trains under the tutelage of Darlene and Peter Cain, parents of U.S. pairs champion Ashley Cain-Gribble. Cain-Gribble and partner Timothy LeDuc also share the ice with her and are on similar schedules this season. They've gotten to go to Champs Camp and U.S. International Figure Skating Classic together, where they both medalled, and look forward to traveling together to Vegas for Skate America.
"We all had to push through that on-ice cardio, running more programs," she said about relating to one another. "We were all doing it together and motivating each other."
Sharing a coaching team with so many elite skaters can often prove challenging, because when one athlete is at a competition with the main coaches, it means training mates are at home without the coaches and vice versa. This arrangement of sharing a competition schedule is advantageous to Glenn and her friends.
Another skater Glenn considers one of her closest friends is Bradie Tennell, who won bronze at her Skate America debut in 2017 in Lake Placid, New York. This career breakthrough came during the 2017-18 season and she ultimately made the U.S. Olympic Team just a few months later. Glenn is hoping to pick her friend's brain for some pointers on how to follow in her footsteps as they both compete in Las Vegas next week.
At her home rink in the Dallas area, her coaches, skating students and their parents will throw competitive skaters send-off parties after a joint stroking class on the Saturday prior to leaving for Skate America. Glenn will be joined by Cain-Gribble and LeDuc as they cut cake and receive good luck wishes.
Don't miss the Texas contingent compete next week at Skate America, taking place Oct. 18-20. Stay up to date with all results on competition central and watch live on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold.
