Island Park Elementary fifth-grader Faith Cook said her friends at school really don’t believe that she’s a figure skater. After all, there’s not much ice around here. Cook, age 10, competed Oct. 1 in the 2012 Northwest Pacific Regional Figure Skating Championships in Spokane.

Her coach is Jeri Campbell, the 1987 Junior Ladies Nationals Champion and the Olympic alternate in 1988. Campbell has been Cook’s coach for a year. Cook trains at Castle Ice Arena in Renton.

Cook placed third out of seven girls in her class, called non-test girls, the first level of skaters who go to regionals. Campbell said this is a transitionary class before pre-preliminary ladies, for a non-qualifying competitor.

“That’s excellent for a child her age. She has a lot of talent,” Campbell said. “She’s young, and this was her first regionals — it’s a lot of pressure.”

Cook is now officially a regional bronze medalist as a non-test girl; Campbell said next year she will most likely compete in the pre-preliminary ladies/girls.

The youngest of seven children, Cook started skating at age 3 at Lloyd Center in Portland, but stopped a year or so later, resuming the sport at age 8 when she moved here with her mom, Victoria, and brother, Kwame, 15.

Cook said watching the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver ignited the spark to skate again. After that, Victoria Cook said, her daughter went online and found Campbell, met with her, and they’ve been together ever since.

Cook can perform the axel jump — the only jump counted as a jump element, that starts from skating forward. The axel has an extra half rotation, and as with all jumps, is landed with the skater gliding backwards.

“I picked up the axel pretty quick,” Cook said. “Usually, it takes three years, but I’ve been doing it like I’ve been at it for years.”

Yes, this is one confident little girl, “skating” in her living room in her bare feet while being interviewed. She never stops skating, her mother said.