Sparkling in a Style of Tiffany : Ng Aims to Surpass Chin’s Achievements in Figure Skating

Pardon Joanna Ng if she doesn’t throw a triple salchow when she is compared to Tiffany Chin. Ng, a figure-skating phenom, is flattered by the comparison, but she prefers to be recognized for her own achievements.

“I think Tiffany was a really good skater,” said Ng, 11, of Woodland Hills. “But I think that I can be better than her if I keep working.

“Sometimes I say to myself, ‘Well, Tiffany did this move, but did this wrong and did this wrong.’ I say I’m going to do this better and this better than her.”

Ng (pronounced Ing) is off to a strong start.

Ng won the silver medal in the Novice Division of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Salt Lake City in March, missing first place by only one-tenth of a point. She was the youngest skater ever to win a medal at the nationals and she accomplished the feat against Novice opponents who ranged in age from 12 to 16.

“I wasn’t really disappointed (about failing to win),” Ng said. “I was the youngest (skater) and I’ll be older and more ready next year.” In 1991, Ng will compete in the Junior class against opponents at least four years older.

Ng has a specific goal, one that Chin never achieved.

“I want to win the gold medal in the Olympics,” Ng said. “I want to have a title, and I think that the Olympics will bring me higher.”

In 1985, Toluca Lake’s Chin was regarded as the premier skater in the nation, winning the U.S. Seniors national skating championship. Chin, a fourth-place finisher in the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984, was called the favorite to win a gold medal in the Calgary Winter Olympics four years later. But a muscle imbalance in her legs in 1985 forced Chin off skates and subsequently ended her competitive career.

“Certainly many people in this sport feel that Tiffany never achieved her potential,” said Frank Carroll, who coached Chin and now coaches Ng at the Ice Castles International Training Center in Lake Arrowhead. “It is very important to watch the physical development. It is an extremely physically demanding sport.”

Carroll said that it is not surprising that Ng and Chin are compared so often.

“There are many parallels,” he said. “Both are Chinese, both are very advanced, and both are wonderful.”

Ng prides herself on her ability to play well to an audience.

“That’s my favorite part about skating,” she said. “When I skate in front of an audience and the audience gets behind me, it brings me up and I skate better.’

The ebullient sixth-grade student at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas understands that skating is a full-time activity. It doesn’t leave much time to socialize.

“Most of my friends are skating friends because I am at the rinks so much,” Ng said. “But I don’t mind.”

Each morning at 5 a.m., Ng skates at Pickwick Ice Arena in Burbank or at Conejo Valley Ice Arena under Coach Doug Varve. Her blades are strapped on again after school. She travels to Lake Arrowhead to practice with Carroll as often as possible.

It is a grueling schedule, incorporating freestyle skating, compulsory figures practice and dance.

“I really don’t mind when I have to go to bed early, because I love to skate so much,” said Ng, who turns 12 in August. “It doesn’t bother me when I have to miss a birthday party or can’t go to a movie with my friends because I understand that I have to compromise.”

Ng does little compromising on the ice, performing extremely technical routines. She has been doing triple jumps (three full rotations in the air) since she was 9, and performs a Biehlman spin, a dangerous move in which she spins on one leg while holding the other leg above her head.

“I like to do a lot of different moves,” Ng said. “I like to jump the best, but I like the variety in my routines.”

Ng believes that Carroll “brings the sparkle out” in her programs. His style of teaching is sophisticated. He teaches difficult jumps and complicated programs and expects his students to learn quickly and to perform accurately.

“He has helped me so much,” Ng said. “He’s a great coach, and I don’t think that I could find anyone better.’

Ng maintains a straight-A average and also plays the piano. “I like to do a lot of different things,” Ng said. “Of course I love skating the most, but I also like dancing, piano, painting shirts and skiing. I like everything, actually. I’m just a happy kid.”

Ng stands 4-foot-10 and weighs a mere 70 pounds, but she is a powerful performer on the ice. “There are some things you cannot teach, like the relationship between the audience and the skater,” Carroll said. “She is so bubbly, so up all the time that they just adore her.

“You can never make predictions about skating. Look what happened to Tiffany Chin. But as far as having the equipment necessary to be a world champion, she has it.”