Plazas and Fernandez Take Different Path in Skating

This week, Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez make their international debut at the 2022 John Nicks Pairs Challenge and U.S. International Figure Skating Classic events in New York City and Lake Placid, N.Y.
 
The pair, who have been together for two years, have a unique background in the sport.
 
Valentina "Val" Plazas's life journey started not in the United States, but in South America. She was born in Bogota, Colombia, to Colombian parents. The family immigrated to the U.S. 16 years ago when Plazas was 6 years old.
 
"I'm so glad we moved here," Plazas said. "We got our citizenship in 2017 or 2018."
 
Plazas played soccer as a child. At age 12, she decided to try figure skating. Most elite figure skaters start skating at an earlier age, but Plazas proved to be a quick study.
 
"I progressed and got my jumps really quickly," she recalled. "All the coaches were like: 'You could go to the next level.'"
 
By 2019, Plazas was competing in juniors.
 
Then an opportunity arose for Plazas to represent Colombia in singles skating, an option open to her as a dual citizen. She held talks with the Colombian Skating Federation.
 
But at the same time, another opportunity presented itself: The chance to skate pairs with Maximiliano "Max" Fernandez for the United States.
 
Like Plazas, Fernandez, 26, comes from a family that has roots in South and Central America. His mother, a former ballet dancer, immigrated from Peru, while his father's family immigrated from Cuba. Both settled in Miami, Florida, where they married and raised their family.
 
As a child, Fernandez pursued hockey while his sister, Daniella, participated in figure skating. Fernandez played hockey from age 4 until 13, when his hockey team broke up. His sister then urged him to try figure skating.
 
"I started very late, just like Val," Fernandez noted. "I think I did 12 [figure skating] tests in one year."
 
At age 17, Fernandez was competing in novice at the Eastern Sectionals when he caught the eye of pairs skaters Danny O'Shea and Nate Bartholomay, who were on the lookout for athletes who might want to try pair skating with their coaches, Jim Peterson and Amanda Evora.
 
Fernandez jumped at the opportunity. He'd always been interested in skating pairs. Soon, he left his home in Miami and moved to the Gulf coast of Florida to train with Peterson and Evora. During the next few years, Fernandez partnered with Cirinia Gillett and Joy Weinberg. He and Weinberg won the U.S. junior pairs title in 2016 but parted ways a year later.
 
"I stopped skating and went back to school in Miami," Fernandez said. "I studied aviation management at flight school, and I started flying. Then I became basically the head maintenance guy for my flight school. I repaired wings, engines, instruments, you name it."
 
Fernandez also got into building and flying drones. He flew drones competitively, even qualifying for the 2019 Multi-GP Drone Racing Championship (which he described as "the Worlds for drone racing"). Eventually, he started a commercial drone business, contracting with utilities companies to take pictures of electricity poles and antennas.
 
Fernandez hadn't forgotten about skating. But he didn't know if he had a future in the sport. His email inbox wasn't exactly overflowing with interest from potential partners.
 
"I had no feelers," he admitted. "I'm pretty short; I'm only 5'7". To find someone who's height-appropriate for me in pairs is pretty tough."
 
But his luck was about to turn. In mid-2019, Fernandez went to Pines Ice Arena in Pembroke Pines, Florida, to help his uncle film skating classes. The director of the rink recognized him as a former U.S. junior champion and asked why he wasn't skating. Fernandez replied that he had given up looking for a partner.
 
"She said: 'I have someone perfect for you.' And there was Valentina," Fernandez recounted. "We had a tryout, and it went pretty well. We did double Axels, and I hadn't done double Axels in forever. I saw Valentina cranking some triples out, and I said, 'Okay, she's the one.' I asked her – and she said no."
 
Plazas wasn't sure. She was still considering the Colombian option, and she didn't know much about pairs skating.
 
"So I was persistent," Fernandez said with a smile. "I started working at that rink, commuting an hour away [from Miami]. I would go almost every day, just to see if I could run into Val. I'd work from 6 to 9 a.m., and then Valentina would walk in."
 
Fernandez offered to teach Plazas pair skills, and she accepted.
 
"I got her up to double twist, and I had her doing all the lifts, up to reverse," Fernandez said.
 
Eventually, Plazas agreed to a second tryout. They went up to Ellenton, Florida, to try out with Peterson and Evora and get their feedback. All parties agreed that the second tryout was a success. By February 2020, Plazas and Fernandez were officially a team. 
 
Fernandez had found his perfect match. There were so many connections between him and Plazas.
 
"We both started skating late," Fernandez said. "But as long as you're dedicated and disciplined, and you want it, you can do it."
 
Plazas and Fernandez also shared a heritage. They are one of few pair teams in the world, and relatively few skaters generally, who are of Hispanic/Latino background.
 
"It means everything to us," Fernandez said.
 
"It's really special," Plazas agreed. "People are like, 'Hispanics just play soccer.' But no. You can be different and do something that's not the norm. It's special to show people that, yes, we're Hispanic, but we still do figure skating."
 
"We represent our heritage, but we represent our country," Fernandez said proudly.
 
Plazas and Fernandez are both bilingual.
 
"We speak mostly English with each other. But when we have a talk, sometimes we speak Spanish. I'm more Spanglish. She's more Spanish," Fernandez joked of their Spanish-speaking styles.
 
"I don't have that much of an accent, so people sometimes don't think I can speak Spanish or that I'm Hispanic. I like when people take notice of that [identity]," Plazas added.
 
In December 2020, Plazas and Fernandez left multicultural Miami to move to Detroit, Michigan, with coaches Evora and Peterson. They train at the Arctic Edge rink in Canton, Michigan. The move was a big transition, but they've embraced the opportunity.
 
 "We've gained a lot from it. Florida is expensive. And Michigan's nice; we've got four seasons now," Fernandez commented. "Michigan has such a rich culture of figure skating. It's one of the oldest skating schools here in Detroit."
 
The ice dancers of the new Michigan Ice Dance Academy (MIDA) school also train at their rink.
 
"We do some group classes with them," Fernandez said. "We get to see their posture and charisma constantly. It's a good reminder of what we want in pair skating, too."
 
This season, Plazas and Fernandez hope to show off their presentation skills with two new programs. Their short program is set to "Maria" from West Side Story, a nod to their Hispanic heritage. Jim Peterson took the lead in choreographing the program.
 
"Jim really wanted to use West Side Story," Plazas said. "We picked it the moment we saw it in theaters, or even before."
 
The duo's free skate is set to Marvel movie theme music, with Plazas playing Black Widow and Fernandez portraying Captain America.
 
"Not many people have done a Marvel program," Plazas noted. "We, Jim and Amanda are all big Marvel fans. We go watch every Marvel movie together. It's a team thing."
 
Amanda Evora was the principal choreographer for the program.
 
"You have to do a lot of superhero moments, so it was very acrobatic. And Amanda's really good at that," Plazas explained. (Evora and her partner Mark Ladwig, who competed at the (Olympic Winter Vancouver 2010), were known for their complex, challenging lifts.)
 
Plazas and Fernandez debuted their new programs earlier this summer. They said judges particularly praised their West Side Story short program and their lifts.
 
"Lifts are definitely one of our strongest attributes as a team," Fernandez remarked. "They're extremely difficult, but we get them done with such ease that we almost need to have a little more 'ta-dah' at the end of them."
 
"I love lifts. They're fun and creative," Plazas agreed.
 
The duo also enjoy performing triple twists, which Fernandez called "one of my favorite elements." They feature side-by-side triple toe loops in both programs and double Axels in their free skate.
 
"We're working on triple Salchows and triple flips," Plazas said.
 
The team is also focusing on improving their crossovers, power, speed and posture.
 
"Our goal is just to do the normal program that we do every day," Fernandez said of their upcoming events. "Obviously, we would like to skate 10% better [than in practice].
 
"That's what Jim and Amanda are known for: Having the most prepared teams. So we're going to be ready."