Samuel Mindra

• Specialty: freestyle
  

• Club: Portland isc

Samuel is a national medalist, international competitor, and member of Team USA. From humble beginnings, he has dedicated himself to the sport and cultivated a deep passion for figure skating. From not being able to walk to winning his first international competition at the 2020 North American Cup, Samuel has shown resilience and perseverance through hardship. His latest achievement includes winning the bronze medal at the 2021 US Championships in Junior Men after a difficult training season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite facing many challenges along the way, he holds true to his motto: “Never give up.”

Throughout his competitive career, Samuel has trained alongside some of the best skaters in the world, including Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou. He has also been counseled closely by Olympic coaches Rafael Arutyunyan and Christy Krall. As a competitive athlete, he attributes most of his success to maintaining a growth mindset and setting achievable goals. His love for competition pushes him to become better each day. After all, there is no better feeling than seeing your hard work pay off. He hopes to pass this attitude on to his students.

Samuel began coaching to share his knowledge about the sport with athletes of all levels. In 2020, USFS granted him the Athlete Alumni Ambassador (3A) award, a scholarship that recognizes skaters who have achieved figure skating excellence while actively volunteering. As the Junior Board Vice President for Portland Ice Skating Club, he hopes to get more people involved and engaged in figure skating.

Coaching is just one of the ways he wants to give back to the sport that has given him so much. His mission is very simple: make every student better than they were before.