By Alex Costello
Classes begin at 7:30 a.m., but most days she's not there until after 10 a.m. And not only do her parents know about it, they encourage it. And so does Oceanside High School.
"She trains three hours a day, every day, before going to school," said Cesario's mother, Joanne. "The Oceanside High School has really worked with us this year, knowing what her training is all about. So she goes in later everyday to school."
Cesario's unconventional schedule is a byproduct of her unconventional interest: she's a figure skater.
Before this year, Cesario was up at 4 a.m. to get her practice done before school. But this year, she and her family worked out a schedule with Oceanside High School, so she's allowed to go in later. That means that Cesario can sleep in to 5:15 a.m. now, and is on the ice by 7 a.m., where she stays until 10 a.m. every day. "It's a crazy schedule," her mother said.
Straight from her early morning practice sessions with coaches Mary Lynn Gelderman and Peter Burrows, Cesario heads to school. After classes, she has different workouts she does to keep up her stamina.
"I only take major subjects, so I don't have art and gym or things like that," Cesario said. "But I do have to miss Spanish on some days and other subjects, a little bit of them. So the teachers will help me make it up."
"But I usually do well in school, so it's not that big of a problem," she added.
"We want to be flexible to someone with a special talent, someone who is going to have an opportunity to maybe even represent our country," said Oceanside High School Principal Mark Secaur. "But when we have situations [like this], we want to be sensitive to the needs of our students and create situations that work for the district as well as the individual." Thursdays and Saturdays are the days that Cesario's schedule changes. Those are the days that Cesario heads upstate with her coaches. On Thursdays, she goes to school until 11 a.m., and then leaves with her coaches for a day of training at their facility in Rockland County. And she does the same on Saturdays, except her parents drive her up.
Cesario, who is 15 years old, first began skating when she was 7 years old, and has loved it since.
"I took her for group lessons because she was invited to birthday parties for skating, and she was like, 'I wish I knew how to skate,' and she wound up loving it," her mother recalled. "All the other kids wanted off, and she was like, 'I love it. I want to continue.'"
And continue she did. Cesario began skating competitively at 8 when she was introduced to her present coaches by a local amateur coach. "He looked at her when she was 8 years old, and she's been with him ever since, and she's 15 now," her mother said.
Cesario's years of training have paid off, as just recently she won the Eastern Regional competition of U.S. Figure skating, which is the country's figure skating league. She'll be competing in the Eastern Sectionals soon, against the regional winners from the entire eastern seaboard. And if she places in the top four in the sectionals, Cesario's on to the national competition.
"She's always done well in the regionals since back when she started skating, but this year she won the region," said her mother. "This is like one level away from the big time senior skaters that everyone knows of, so it's kind of exciting."
In the little free time that she has, Cesario spends it like most typical 15-year-old girls.
"I do hang out with my friends on the weekends and after school and whenever I have time, but not as much as a normal kid, I guess," she said. "I do miss out on certain things, but I don't mind it because I'd rather skate."
Cesario has high aspirations for her skating career, but it is not necessarily a quixotic quest. "I hope to be a world and Olympic skater," she said. "And for this year, hopefully to make it to nationals and do well there."
Comments about this story? ACostello@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
