There is an unwavering optimism in Jason Brown's voice.
The 25-year-old figure skater from Chicago has faced daunting challenges — injuries, losses, coach changes, a pandemic — with an eye on the horizon, searching for the silver lining's validating glint.
Right now, Brown said his heart and mentality are set on the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. After winning the bronze medal in the Team Event at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, and then failing to qualify for the 2018 U.S. Olympic team, Brown said he's hyper focused on progressing in his craft and getting to Beijing.
"Every setback I've gone through, I've grown so, so much from it," Brown said. "I'm just so determined. I can't even put into words what it would truly mean to make the Olympics."
After 2018, Brown made some big changes to his life. He moved to Canada for training and started working with Tracy Wilson and Brian Orser in Toronto after working with Kori Ade for 18 years.
He said he feels fortunate to have built such a strong foundation with Ade continue to work on with his additional training, and his new coaches are helping him get even stronger. With Wilson and Orser, he is always pushing for quadruple jumps, and working every single day on the performance aspect of the sport.
"I'm always determined to figure my way out of any situation and try to adapt as much as I can, be the best I can be," he said.
Brown noted one of the biggest challenges he has faced is trying to prove his self-worth while navigating the sport. He has had some technical issues in the past, and had trouble not letting that define him, especially in a judged sport.
There's constant barriers, he said, and always something to prove. People would tell him, "You will never reach X without landing a triple Axel. You will never reach Y without having a quad."
"I believed that I wasn't good enough, or I wasn't worth it if I didn't have that certain element," he said.
But the point of the sport is that it's a sport, he said. No matter what he can or cannot do, what matters is what happens that day on the ice, and those times on the ice go on to be his best memories.
"I am fulfilled in that sense," he said. "I feel so grateful as far as memories and what the sport has given me."
Brown attributes his positivity to his parents. When his mother, Marla Brown, thinks about her son, a flurry of adjectives come to mind. Warm. Sweet. Family-oriented. Optimistic. Persevering. Dedicated.
"Ever since he was a little kid, whatever he took up, he had to be excellent at," Marla said.
Whether it was the monkey bars, a school project, or small lanyards he used to enjoy making, Jason took the time to make sure everything he did was done right.
She enrolled Jason and his sister in ice skating classes when Jason was 3 years old after they moved to Chicago from California and learned that figure skating birthday parties were popular. She never imaged he would be headed toward the Olympics.
Marla was conscious of letting Jason be the driving engine behind all his aspirations and achievements instead of casting any of her own desires onto him. If he had an early practice, she'd drive him, but she was never the one to wake him up. She was always there to support Jason, she said, but the ambition had to come from him.
"If you're in it for the long haul, it really has to come from the child," she said.
She said she admires her son's work ethic above all. While training for the Olympics, Jason is still working his way through college. He even started taking a class in Japanese because of his fan base in Japan. Now he has a Japanese tutor and even made some speeches in his new language.
"That's just kind of how he is," she said. "He just wants to do it, so he takes it upon himself to do that thing."
Few things are the same anymore in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, and ice skating had to adapt this season as well. Brown wakes up at 7:30 a.m. for virtual pilates class, and FaceTime sessions his other workout instructors. He competes virtually. Only 10 people are allowed in the ice rink at once — 3 coaches, 7 skaters — so his time on ice is limited. But when he is there, it feels like home.
"All things are different, but ice is ice," Brown said. "There's this exhilarating feeling of 'How is this going to unfold? I can't wait to see what I create today.'"
While he's skating, he said he feels calm, in the way that a painter might feel painting a canvas. While performing, there's a sense of freedom and gratefulness for the opportunity to skate in front of an audience.
When Brown puts together a routine, it has to be something he loves and can connect with, and something he can look forward to performing. As the year goes on, he said he learns to pick on the most minute details in the program. He reevaluates constantly how he can better connect to the music, or better express the emotions it makes him feel and how he can evoke those emotions from the audience.
"I don't look at it as 'there's jumps and there's spin and footwork'," he said. "I look at it like one piece of art."
Fans can expect to see his attention come to life in his two new programs that will be debuted at the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Las Vegas next week. His short program is the energetic "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone, and his free skate is set to "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" by Richard Rodgers and the New York Philharmonic.
With the Olympic season around the corner, the 2021 U.S. Championships will be the first big stepping stone to achieving his dream. Despite a year of uncertainty, Brown's work ethic and optimism remain his constants that will help guide him as he takes the ice in front of the cutout crowd in Las Vegas.
Fans can follow Jason Brown next week on the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships Virtual Fan Experience. The site provides quick access to everything fans need to know about #ToyotaUSChamps21, including TV and streaming schedules, feature stories, Fantasy Skating presented by Xfinity, HomeLight Home Ice Bingo and more!
