Ryan Bradley's "Country Medley"

Me with today's highlighted skater, Ryan Bradley in April, following the Penn State Ice Show in State College, PA.

This week's theme is underrated U.S. Men: The purpose of this week's posts are to highlight some of the superb U.S. skaters who glided under the radar throughout their careers. Today's profiled skater is Ryan Bradley, the 2007 U.S. National silver medalist, 4th place finisher at the 2009 and 2010 U.S. Championships, 2010 U.S. men's Olympic team alternate.

Today is also Ryan's 27th birthday. Happy Birthday, Ryan!!!

My first memory of Ryan is from the 2004 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Atlanta, GA. I remember watching the men's competition on a TV in the upstairs of my house as I packed my suitcase in preparation for my trip back to Penn State after winter break later that day. Considering the disastrous men's event at nationals the year before, I wasn't expecting too much from the competition, but boy was I wrong! The 2004 Championship proved to be significant not only because the top 6 men in the competition skated great, putting the disappointments of the year before behind them, but also because it marked the arrival of a new, talented generation of U.S. men's skating, which included Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek, and Ryan Bradley. These three skaters would be top contenders for the next six years. Out of all of them, Ryan stood out to me--one, because he was the same age as me, and two, because of his incredible showmanship and ability to incorporate humor and unbridled excitement into his skating.

From the first strains of Ryan's "Country Medley"--an intentional selection to play to the Atlanta crowd--I could tell that Ryan was going to stand out from his competitors because his approach was immediately different. He didn't look serious, or nervous, as one might be at a national competition. Instead, he looked revved up and ready to perform! And did he ever!

He gets into character, looks into the audience, and performs for the fun of it to make other people happy. He's a truly authentic performer who is doing his craft for all the right reasons. Okay, so at times, he loses his concentration and doesn't deliver all of his planned program content, but each time I watch this, I find myself saying, "Who cares??" He's not what you'd call a refined or beautiful skater, but I don't think that's what he's going for anyway. Ryan has always been true to himself, and true to his fans, and that's why he's so appreciated!! (Though I still feel he's underrated, hence why he's being profiled during the Underrated U.S. Men week. Ryan is brilliant at what he does, but maybe not as well-known, or as accomplished, in terms of titles, as Weir and Lysacek). If Ryan's skating doesn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what will!

Ryan, originally from St. Joseph, MO, lives and trains in Colorado Springs, CO., under coaches Tom Zakrajsek and Becky Calvin. While Ryan hasn't officially announced his retirement from amateur skating, he is not competing this season, as far as I know. He's performing in a variety of skating shows this fall, including Improv on Ice, which airs on NBC next Sunday (Nov. 21).

On another note, Ryan was the guest skater at the 2010 Penn State Ice Show. As soon as I found out this news, I knew that I had to do everything in my power to cover this exciting event for a local news source. Not only did I want to spread the word about Ryan performing so as many people as possible could see him, (and to help raise money for the wonderful Penn State figure skating program), it is also a lifelong dream of mine to combine my two passions and write about figure skating. (When I was 10, I announced that I wanted to be a figure skating commentator, but over the years, the dream evolved into wanting to be a figure skating researcher, to a reporter, and skating magazine staff writer! Skating blog writer is a more recent dream that is currently being realized!) Ryan's visit was a perfect opportunity for me to cover a skating event, and it was just extra fortunate for me that he is one of my favorite skaters. The stars seemed to align, so I jumped at the chance. As a PSU Journalism graduate, I had the credentials to make an article happen, and was lucky enough to find a news outlet that was interested in running the story.

I found Ryan's e-mail through his home rink's Web site, and sent him an e-mail asking if I could do a phone interview with him about the upcoming PSU Ice Show. Ryan got back to me immediately and agreed! I was impressed with his prompt reply. When it finally came time to interview him, Ryan couldn't have been any nicer during our phone conversation. I was a little star-struck at first, as you can imagine you might feel with someone you've watched on TV and read about in magazines, but Ryan was so easy to talk to, and that was a great relief to me. ( Not that I didn't think he would be, but it just made me feel more comfortable during the process). He was very laid back, humble, interesting and quotable. I will never forget how amazing it was to finally accomplish my goal to publish something about skating, and the fact that Ryan was so kind and gracious, made the experience that much nicer! It was so satisfying to be able to share my love for skating with other people. I hope that I get more opportunities to do so!

I also had the opportunity to meet Ryan at the PSU Ice Show. Just as he was in our interview, he couldn't have been any more friendly and polite when I met him. He even signed my copy of the article and wrote, "Thanks for everything!" Imagine, him thanking me, when he was the one that accommodated me! I know everyone involved in the show really enjoyed meeting him and was so impressed with how genuine and down-to-earth he was. What I appreciated most is that I know how busy he was around the time of our phone interview, how deflated he must have felt from his disappointing season, and how tired he was when he came to State College for the ice shows, and yet he was still 100 percent friendly, courteous, entertaining, and respectful. What a class act!

Come to think of it--and somehow I had almost forgotten about this--my sister and I also briefly met Ryan at the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. He was in the lobby a little while before the competition began. We went up to him, asked him to sign our program, and told him how we couldn't wait to see his skating later that day, because he was always so entertaining. His response was something like, "I try!" The thing is, I don't think Ryan has to try very hard--he's a natural performer who loves to make the audience laugh and smile--and it works!

Please check out the article I wrote about Ryan and the Penn State Ice Show in the April 15, 2010 Altoona Mirror Life section.

For more information on Ryan, check out his official Web site.

Don't miss watching the video of Ryan's 2004 U.S. championship freeskate to

"Country Medley" posted below. It's so much fun!