School/Sports: A Balancing Act for Young Team USA Hopefuls

Rachael Flatt wakes up early.

By 6:40 a.m., the 17-year old is taking notes in her first class of the day at Cheyenne Mountain High School: Advanced Placement physics. When physics is over, it's time for AP English. At 8:30, she heads over to her rink for the first intense figure skating practice of the day, one of countless hours of preparation for the Olympic trials that will in five months determine whether her athletic dream of competing for Team USA comes true.

She'll be home in 12 hours, after she gets through AP calculus, AP French, several more hours of after-school ice time, a grueling workout, and a dinner spent rubbing elbows with Olympic marathoners, pentathletes and wrestlers.

And as soon as she arrives at home?

"I'm really tired by then, so it's hard to get my homework done," Flatt says. "But I try to get it done in the middle of the day."

Although Flatt is rather unique in her course of study at high school - AP courses are for exceptional students who wish to test out of basic classes in college - she is not the only Olympic contender who balances the normal demands of high school with the unusual demands of elite sports competition.

Of the thousands of athletes who vie for spots on Team USA for winter and summer sports, many of them are still students, in high school or college. The average age of Olympic athletes has increased over the past few decades, but in certain sports such as figure skating, an early start is crucial to later success. Although she's been competing as a senior skater for only one year, Flatt has been skating since age four.

And she's been juggling academics and her Olympic aspirations for almost as long.

"My teachers want me at school more often, and Tom [Zakrajsek, her coach] wants me to be at the rink more often. I admit it's hard to maintain a balance," Flatt says. "But as my parents point out, in the phrase 'student-athlete,' 'student' comes first. So education comes first."

With college applications, hours of homework, SATs and loading up on activities to impress admissions boards, even those high school students who aren't competing in sports at an international level are occasionally overwhelmed. Add four hours daily of practice and training, and an obsessive focus on the very real possibility of making the U.S. Olympic Team, and the average teenager would crack under the pressure.

Fortunately, Rachael Flatt is not an average teenager. She manages her time down to the minute. And her love of skating, combined with her irrepressibly positive attitude and her long-held dream of competing at the Olympic Winter Games, keeps her going during difficult days. And like all athletes, she has help:

"My parents are both incredibly supportive. They do everything they can to make my life easier outside of school and skating."

It's 2:30 p.m. in Colorado Springs, where Flatt lives with her parents, who relocated so she could be near the Broadmoor Skating Club and the U.S. Olympic Training Center. In addition to the rest of her day, which will include five more hours of intense physical activity, she's facing an immensely challenging senior year: four AP courses, and applications to five or more of the most prestigious universities in the country; on top of the hours of studying and training time she needs to succeed at both of her passions.

This year is of course punctuated in January by the Olympic trials at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships - and then, if her hard work pays off, a chance to realize her dreams in February at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

However, if Flatt is feeling the pressure, she hides it well. When she thinks about the long year ahead, Flatt is as cool as the ice she skates on.

"It's just exciting knowing that I have this opportunity to really stand out this year, and show my true colors with how much I dedicate myself to both school and skating. I'm looking forward to it," Flatt says.

"It's senior year - how can that not be exciting?"

Rachael Flatt is a two-time silver medalist at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships; 2008 Junior World Champion; 2010 Team USA hopeful; and high school senior. Keep up with Rachael Flatt at www.twitter.com/rachaelflatt, and become her fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rachaelflatt.