Pleasanton Teen Skates To 2nd Place At USA Roller Sports Indoor Nationals

PLEASANTON, CA — A Pleasanton teenager who first learned to skate at the Val Vista Skating Rink turned in a career-best performance this month, finishing second overall at the USA Roller Sports Indoor National Championships, held in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Hiranyaa Rathod, a rising sophomore at Foothill High School, took 2nd place overall in the nation in her age division (14-15 years) after strong showings across the 500-meter, 1000-meter and 1500-meter distances. She earned a bronze medal in the 1500m and silver in the 1000m.

Rathod got her start in the sport in 2021 at the Val Vista Skating Rink in Pleasanton before advancing through club racing with Pac West Inline Racing. She credits her coach, Deborah Alpers, with helping guide her development as a speed skater. To keep up with training, Rathod practices at rinks across the Bay Area, such as Antioch, Rohnert Park and Mountain House.

Beyond competing, Rathod has also been working to raise the profile of inline speed skating locally, teaming up with Coach Deborah to introduce more young athletes in the area to a sport that remains relatively under-the-radar compared to other youth athletics in the Bay Area.

Rathod is grateful for her school and PUSD for supporting her sport and allowing breaks when needed for out-of state competitions throughout the school year.

Beyond the medals, Rathod says the sport has shaped her well beyond the track. Balancing rigorous training with a full course load has demanded discipline, time management and mental toughness, while the physical demands of racing have built endurance, strength and body control. Those closest to the sport often point to it as a builder of character as much as fitness, teaching young athletes patience, resilience and confidence that carry over into everyday life, well beyond competition.

Rathod's success is also a sign of how far the sport has come in Pleasanton and the surrounding area. What started as informal sessions at the Val Vista Skating Rink has, over the past few years, grown into a pipeline producing athletes who can compete at the national level. Community skating events elsewhere in the region, including one in Mountain House that recently drew roughly 170 athletes from clubs across the state, point to a broader surge of interest in inline speed skating across Northern California, but Rathod's run at nationals shows that Pleasanton itself is now part of that pipeline, not just a feeder to it.

Rathod and Coach Deborah hope her results help put Pleasanton on the map as a place where young skaters can go from a local rink to the national podium, and both are working to bring more kids in the area into the sport.

With the season now behind her, Rathod says she's already looking ahead to next season, and bringing more young skaters into the sport along the way.