School and skating are alike because in both I’m aiming for high goals. In school, that would be straight A pluses, whereas, in skating, it would be more about constantly improving.
– Vincent Zhou, USA Team Olympic Ice Skater, 2017 World Junior Champion
Vincent Zhou recently made history by becoming the first person to successfully perform the first quadruple Lutz which many consider impossible in Olympic history. He achieved the incredible feat at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games.
Training and excelling at a sport takes years of practice, innumerable sacrifices, and unwavering focus. And when you must excel at your studies as well, it all seems nearly supernatural. Vincent not only managed both his studies and ice-skating, he excelled at both. All this at the tender age of 17!
Striving to Excel at Both Sports and Academics
Vincent was hooked on ice-skating ever since he went as a 3-year old to a local skating rink with his father. With time, his love for ice-skating grew. He says, “When I’m out on the ice, I feel free because I don’t have to put my mind on anything else…just on what I love and what I’m really passionate about.”
Vincent’s parents are Chinese and both are techies. While his father works for Google, Vincent’s mother worked at Oracle. With his parents excelling at academics, Vincent was also supposed to be good at academics besides being top notch at ice-skating. They extended their full support to Vincent. So much so that Vincent’s mother left her job at Oracle to help Vincent concentrate on his training and studies.
Finding a Unique Solution
It was his deep love for skating that pushed Vincent to find out an out-of-the-box solution. They found an alternative to regular school education in the form of Connections Academy. It is a tuition-free, online public school for K-12 students. Anyone with an Internet connection can plug-in and complete the lessons at their own convenience.
He shares, “In my previous school when I had labs and activities, I would always be racing off to my next competition,” says Vincent. Now, he could complete all his classes regardless of where he was for a competition.
Achieving Excellence on Both Fronts
Naturally gifted at his studies, Vincent was allowed to skip a few grades. Vincent managed to graduate at 16. He also received the Presidential Award for Educational Excellence from President Obama.
Vincent became the youngest ever US intermediate champion in 2011; in 2012 he became the US novice champion; and finally, in 2012, he came the youngest US junior champion. An injury kept him out of action during the 2014-15 season, but he came back strong and created history at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Vincent’s success shows that striving is not just working harder but also smarter to achieve your goals.
