The Official Web Site of JR Celski - Team USA's Speedskater

About J.R. Celski

J.R. is the youngest of 3 sons born to Bob & Sue Celski. “J.R.” stands for John Robert which has great meaning for two special men in his life: Robert John Celski – his father and his Mom’s late brother, Al Mendoza Sabado, Jr. who was lovingly called “JR” by his five sisters. Thus the name “J.R.” given in honor of both great men. Born and raised in a disciplined army family, J.R. especially had his Dad and two older brothers to emulate.

Back in 1991 in Monterey, Chris and David received their first pair of inline speed skates and on his 3rd Birthday in Federal Way, J.R. was given a pair of plastic Playskool adjustable inline skates. He always wanted to keep up with his big brothers and Dad. With mom Sue working nights, Dad took The Boys to Pattison’s West Skating Rink in Federal Way. After attending their school skate parties they heard of the inline speed team and in 1994, all four of them started inline skating for Pattison’s Team Extreme. In 1995, J.R.’s competitive skating began along with playing soccer and inline hockey (sometimes all in one evening!).

After a long and storied inline career (ending at age 12!), J.R. chose to transition to Short Track Ice speedskating in mid-2002. J.R.’s first home ice rink was the Puget Sound Hockey Center in Tacoma, Washington with his first coaches Gary Gandee, Jan Zurcher and Chang-Ho Lee.

After a lot of thought and strategic planning, J.R. made the decision that to pursue a short track ice career to the next level, he needed to move to southern California to be with Coach Wilma Boomstra. This was because of the world-renown reputation for Wil’s technical expertise and a club filled with excellent skaters. J.R. was 13 years old. Our family of five discussed the pros and cons. Mom and Dad were too tied into their jobs to be able to make a move. David was a college student and Army ROTC cadet at Central Washington University. Chris, a San Jose University graduate chose to make the move with J.R. and be his guardian. Thus “The Family Project” was born. In August 2004, we moved Chris (23) and J.R. (14) to an apartment in Long Beach, California. It was a suitable location, close to both the Lakewood High School’s Merit Scholar Program and the Glacial Gardens Ice Arena where the Ice Club DeMorra of the Southern California Speed Skating Association and Coach Wilma Boomstra were located.

It was quite a balancing act for J.R. at first. He was in his Freshman year, with school full-time, skating and training 6 days a week and helping Chris maintain their apartment. Chris did the cooking, J.R. did the dishes, they both did the laundry. David visited when vacations allowed and Dad and Mom would take turns to visit every three weeks. Our family vacations were spent in ice arenas wherever J.R. was skating. There were challenging times in the beginning for J.R. not knowing anyone in his new school and not having time on a daily basis to make new friends with his demanding schedule.

J.R.’s schooling and skating progressed rapidly as he was ranked in the top ten of the U.S. He made his first Junior World Team at age 14 however he was declared too young by the International Skating Union to skate the competition. The next year he took the Silver medal at U.S. Juniors and was competing in Mercurea Ciuc, Romania at the World Junior Championships where he was taken out during a race and hit the boards, injuring his lower back. It was shortly after his return from Italy when homesickness, back injury, balancing school workload and ice training combined with burnout was taking over. J.R. finished his Sophomore Year at Lakewood High School and decided that he needed to come home to Federal Way to re-evaluate things.

The “Family Project” was on hold. It was truly a very sad time when J.R. told Coach Wil that he was going to stop skating and return home. He needed a break from the rigors of skating and never took one since he was age four. As much as we all wanted him to skate, we knew that it was up to J.R. if he would ever return to the ice again. So J.R. said goodbye to his new found high school friends, and he and Chris packed up the apartment in Long Beach and returned back to Federal Way in June 2006.

Having J.R. return home was a blessing in disguise. He was able to touch base and spend quality time with us, our extended family and his lifelong school friends. He attended the Business and Industry Academy of Todd Beamer HS where he raised his GPA back to 4.0 and given future business insight into his dream of running his own construction company and owning a chain of restaurants! J.R. kept in shape with running and joining the swim team. (In the water vs. On the water…quite an adjustment!) Although he didn’t win his races, he finished them and that meant a lot. Yet something was missing that meant even more to him: skating. He didn’t leave skating because he didn’t like it, he just needed to be away from it to miss it.

The five of us got together to discuss and make the decision to continue “The Family Project” in December 2006. Soon after, J.R. presented his rejuvenated enthusiasm to skate to Coach Wil and return to Long Beach. Sue had an unsuccessful attempt to transfer her employment to California. The only other option was for Bob to accompany J.R. as he resumed his skating career, be present with him during his Senior Year in high school and to help J.R. meet the rigors of SAT prep, college boards, applications and a tough academic curriculum. Lakewood High School was ready with open arms to take J.R. back in the Merit Scholar Program as was Coach Wil. After the 16 month break from skating, Bob and J.R. packed up and returned back to Long Beach in a bigger apartment closer to school. Dad took over as J.R.’s nutrition coach, personal chef and school mentor along with his new consulting job while Mom & Chris stayed behind in Federal Way. Shortly before their journey back to Long Beach, David graduated from Central Washington University and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Army.

J.R. was on the fast-track again on the ice. Mom would visit monthly and attend as many ice meets as possible. School and Skating priorities were met. The SATs went extremely well and J.R. was accepted at four different Universities of California. He chose to attend UC Berkeley. At age 17, J.R. graduated with High Honors from Lakewood High School at the same time David (24) was deployed to Iraq. This weighed heavily on our minds yet we needed to press on like David inspired us to do.

After high school graduation, it was time for Bob to return home as his job was done (temporarily). J.R. took on 3 new roommates: Niels Kersholt and Atze Kerkhof, both national team short track skaters from The Netherlands and Chris McLaughlin of Ice Club DeMorra. They all became very good friends and training partners.

After the American Cup I in September 2008, J.R made his first Senior World Cup Team and was asked to join the U.S. National Short Track Ice Team in Salt Lake City. J.R. then began working with coaches Jae Su Chun, Laurent Daignault and Jimmy Jang who would coach the USA team into Vancouver. Three days later Bob drove from Federal Way to Long Beach to pack up J.R. and drive out to SLC where he shares a condo with Alex and Morgan Izykowski.

The 2008-2009 season would be a breakthrough for J.R. with his skating the Senior Circuit winning medals and traveling through North America, Asia and Europe experiencing exciting new cultures and making new friends.

A big family event occurred in June 2009 when brother David married Brit Samson in Southern California. The wedding was attended by 260 family members and friends, coming literally from every corner of the country and as far as from the Philippines. Chris and J.R. lit up the crowd with their speech to the new couple.