Twin Groves Student Skates with Evan Lysacek

What do eighth-grader Rudi Baruch, CASA of Lake County and Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek have in common?

Here’s the answer: Rudi’s parents, Wynne and David Baruch were at a charity event supporting CASA of Lake County, “a nonprofit membership organization that advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children within the juvenile court system.” At that event in 2010, Wynne says, “The room was filled with live and silent auction items. I only saw one. It was a private lesson with men's Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek. It also came with four tickets to Smuckers on Ice, which starred amongst others, Rudi’s idol, Sasha Cohen."

This was purchased as an incredible Bat Mitzvah gift for their daughter, who lives and breathes for the ice. Four days a week, Rudi is at the rink by 5:30 a.m. to get some skating in before school, and then she diligently goes again every day after school. Rudi only began skating four years ago and some people believe that’s awfully late to get up to speed when so many others her age already had years of tutelage on their side. But that didn’t stop Rudi! With determination, strength and passion for the sport she began to excel in the arena. Her coach, Denise Myers, said, “Rudi is such a special girl and skating today with Evan is a golden opportunity, it’s every skater’s dream.” 

Making this private skating lesson come to fruition took some time for Terri Zenner Greenberg, executive director at CASA and Evan’s publicist to find a date that worked for all parties involved. But on Thursday, Evan, a Naperville native, took the ice at to practice and warm up before his lesson with Rudi. 

Watching this man skate was incredible. His 6’ 2’’ frame was a surprise to me. I overheard his mom say that watching a tall man skate is beautiful when he skates well, however any mistakes or errors seem so much larger when a tall skater makes them. All I saw was his confidence, grace, strength and boy was he handsome!

Rudi took the ice privately with him for a full hour, during which he demonstrated, explained and taught different aspects to her spins and jumps. Rudi’s smile was infectious and watching them work and skate together on the ice was simply beautiful. Rudi was almost speechless after her time with Evan.

What was her favorite part about the day? “Everything!” she exclaimed. Evan was impressed with Rudi, especially because he too got a late start into the skating world. He didn’t start until he was 9 years old. He was impressed with her ability to pick up new things, her body awareness and her strength. He said, “She’s got a powerful style, she can jump high and has a great body for skating.”

I think Rudi can feed off of those comments for a long time coming. What I love most about this story is that in addition to this wonderful skating opportunity, a donation to CASA was also made to make it happen. Really, it’s the giving that was the impetus for this once in a lifetime event.

As always, email me with any news, topics or ideas that you want to read about. Remember, I’d like to be the first to know! I can be reached at laurenbgpatch@aol.com.