On Ice and Online, Isabeau Levito is Driven to Succeed

At 13 years old, Isabeau Levito has spent nearly her entire life on the ice.
 
When her home rink – the Igloo in Mount Laurel, New Jersey – shut down for two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the longest Levito had ever been off the ice. So she had to get creative.
 
She practiced the piano. She played with her cats. And she had one of her best friends teach her how to knit.
 
"I knitted my mom a scarf, and I knitted a scarf for myself," Levito said. "And I also made a little tiny hat and scarf and little boots for my cat."
 
But the two months off was far from a vacation, and when Levito resumed training in May, it was with new levels of both skill and drive.
 
She spent her time off the ice attending virtual classes arranged by both her coach and U.S. Figure Skating, spending a significant amount of time working on her dance abilities. But it was the introspection that was perhaps the most beneficial.
 
"I did a lot more thinking to myself, like I think a lot of people did," Levito said. "I even more understood how much I love skating, and couldn't picture myself really doing any other activity."
 
Levito made her debut at the junior level at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where she earned the silver medal. She'd been too young to make her ISU Junior Grand of Figure Skating Prix debut in 2019, and it was further delayed when the 2020 series was canceled.
 
"I was pretty disappointed, because I was excited to go to my first Junior Grand Prixes and kind of put myself out there a little bit," Levito said. "I'd like to get the experience. But we still have a little bit of a season left, and there's always next year."
 
That season has thus far taken place entirely virtually. Levito is competing in the International Selection Pool (ISP) Points Challenge, where she placed third in the first opportunity for junior ladies. She also won the virtual 2020 U.S. Novice and Junior Challenge Skate, earning a total of 171.97 points.
 
Competing virtually, she says, has its pros and cons.
 
"I prefer competitions in person. To me, it's more fun," Levito said. "So when you have a whole crowd there watching, and the judges, to me, it's all a lot better. But with these [competitions], you're in your home rink. And then you have your friends to kind of get you pumped up right before you go. So that was the good side about it. But I do miss the atmosphere of being at the competition."
 
But once it was time to compete, the same old feelings came right back.
 
"Before I did my first virtual competition, I was thinking, 'It's my home rink. There's no one watching. There's no judge. I'm not going to get nervous whatsoever,'" Levito said. "But somehow I still got some nerves. Even though it was not with all the competitors, judges and audience, it still felt pretty much like a competition."
 
The world of virtual competitions is brand new territory for everyone, even Levito, who's been schooled online through the International Virtual Learning Academy for the last four years. Her schooling was entirely unaffected by the nationwide shutdown, and, in fact, she managed to get ahead of the curve, and is now halfway through her second semester of eighth grade.
 
"I don't really stop during the summer," Levito said. "I kind of just take a smaller break and then keep going. It's still enough of a break, and it helps me get through school a little bit quicker. And I did a lot more during quarantine, so that way I could be more ahead."
 
That motivation to succeed – and succeed quickly – is something that carries over into her skating as well. She's currently working on improving her skating skills and putting her best skate forward every time she's on the ice, but there are other loftier hopes for the future.
 
"I definitely want to…" she trails off, giggling modestly. "All the Russians are doing quads, and everyone of course wants quads."
 
For now, though, the quad remains a work in progress.
 
This season, Levito kept her programs from 2019-20, skating to "Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps" by Doris Day for her short program, and "Malaguena" by Stanley Black for her free skate.
 
"We've made many changes to choreography and the setup of jumps, because we changed a lot of entrances to my elements after quarantine," Levito said. "So I feel like it's a different program, it's just the same music, same dress, and same character and story."
 
Levito's coaches had initially planned to keep these programs for two years and use them for her Junior Grand Prix debut.
 
"Sadly that didn't happen," Levito said. "But at this point it was also just easier to keep the same programs when the whole pandemic happened. We're just hoping for the next Junior Grand Prix, but we'll have different programs next year."
 
Next year – perhaps in-person competitions again, perhaps a Junior Grand Prix debut, perhaps a quad – might currently feel like a very far-off prospect.
 
But for now, Levito is focusing on the season in front of her, and improving the way she knows she's capable of, regardless of where and how she gets to compete.
 
"Being in this pandemic is a big challenge," Levito said. "To me, I kind of saw it all like, imagine that someone has an injury or something, and then you have to be out for awhile. But being able to compete helps me a lot, because I feel the need to be ready for the competition.
 
"I don't really always focus on the win. Usually I focus on doing my best, and performing, and just kind of marking off my little goals, what I want to do to get better. The improvement I made in practice, I want to show it off in the competition."