FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — NASCAR has Daytona. IndyCars have the Brickyard. And in the world of inline speedskating, there’s Pattison's West.
You can find some of the fastest inline skaters in the world at Pattison's West along Highway 99 in Federal Way. Over the past four decades, Team Extreme has won hundreds of national titles and produced several Olympians.
"It makes me pretty proud," said Mike Pattison.
Mike Pattison started up the rink in 1979, and now his son Darin is in the family business.
"The skating rink environment in the area is very strong, so there were a lot of skaters around,” said Darin Pattison. “The local competitions were always very strong, and the numbers rose, and then the talent came from that. And in time, we just kind of build a tradition and a foundation of winning, and the athletes just kind of followed from there.”
Three-time Olympian KC Boutiette, the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympic athlete Apolo Ohno, three-time Olympian Joey Mantia, Aaron Tran, and three-time Olympic medalist J.R. Celski all trained at Pattison's West.
"My roots, it's where I learned how to skate,” said Celski. “Blood, sweat and tears, ups and downs, and it's really my foundation in the sport of speedskating.”
It's a hotbed for skaters that became an Olympic breeding ground.
“The Pattison family has done a really good job over the years of bringing kids through that facility,” said Miguel Jose, a coach for Team Extreme. “Once you create an environment where you have so many good people, the numbers aspect really helps carry, right? So, you get 10-20 kids that are ultra-competitive. It's just hard not to create the next you know Apollo or J.R. It just happens.”
Olympian Corie Stoddard just happens to be the next in line.
"Everyone who ends up skating [at Pattison's West] becomes like to their fullest potential," said Stoddard.
Since there's no inline at the Olympics, Stoddard transitioned to the ice like those before her, but she credits her training at Pattison West for helping her reach her Olympic dreams.
"The main thing is we would race a lot at practice, like, I feel like sometimes other places do a lot of drills, but don't do a lot of racing,” explained Stoddard. “And at our practices, it was always racing, and that's the whole point of the sport, is racing. So, I mean, the more racing experience you get, the more you learn, and the better you get.”