Adrienne Koob-Doddy

Hi everyone! I’m writing to you from The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ. I’ve been here since late August but it feels so much shorter. Time really flies while at school! Both my partner Rob Antonelli and I are freshmen here and it’s only fitting that we go to the same college since we basically grew up together.

We initially picked this school because it was located near all of our rinks and off-ice facilities but after much deliberation, we decided to just attend school and stop competing. It took quite a while to come to this conclusion for both Rob and I. There were many talks, some tears, but in the end a decision that we are both happy with. For me, it was really important to go to college as a normal freshman because of my abnormal high school education. Throughout my four years at Voorhees High School, I left everyday at 11:30 to go pick up Rob and head off to the rink. To allow for such a schedule, I home schooled two classes every semester, generally English and History. I am very fortunate in that my high school was so understanding of my needs and I’m sure the last 4 years of my career would not have been as successful without their help. However, I wasn’t too much of a fan of high school and I could deal with that, but I wanted college to be different. Rob felt the same way, and with his knee surgery and loss of training time, it just felt natural to stop in the spring after a successful season of Junior.

Luckily, college has been everything that I’ve wanted it to be. The students are awesome and my professors are challenging yet reasonable as well. The school itself is very competitive, the campus is beautiful, and I’ve made so many great friends. I was also blessed with a great floor to live on where we all get along, hang out together, and take care of one another.

I’m still skating, just not as much as before. I tested my Senior Moves before the summer began and have been tackling the last of my Gold Dances. All I have left is the Quickstep and then hopefully I can test some Internationals as well. Rob and I skate in some local shows every now and then, but mostly when we’re both skating is when we are teaching. While I don’t miss the physical and mental fatigue of training, I do miss competing and seeing friends from across the country. Although it was great to be able to make it so far in skating, I’m greatly appreciative of all the wonderful people I’ve been able to meet through the years. I really miss the skaters, parents, coaches, and judges I met through skating. They were the people that helped make skating so memorable for me.

Rob and I haven’t ruled out a return to competitive skating. When we graduate we will only be 22! If we put our minds to it we’ll work back into shape and possibly compete for a spot on the 2010 Olympic Team. Who knows? But for now, we’re going to enjoy college to the greatest extent that we can and just take life as it comes.

Adrienne Koob-Doddy

*Adrienne Koob-Doddy and Robert Antonelli finished 5th at the novice level at the 2003 and 2004 US National Championships. They finished 6th at the 2005 US National Championships at the Junior level.