This is what you have to call dedication and it's just about what it takes in this day and age to climb to the upper echelon of any sport.
Norwich teen Sara Bailey no longer goes to school in Norwich and no longer sees the majority of her family with the exception of weekends.
"I miss my twin sister, my brother and my dad but I've made new friends here," Bailey said from Spokane,Washington where she had just competed in the State Farm U.S. ice dance championships.
Bailey and her partner, Kyle Herring, still have a ways to go but they climbed another rung of the ladder this week with a second place finish in the novice competition. From here, they hope, is junior and senior competition and, if all goes well, the ice dancers ultimate goal- the Olympics.
But remember what it has taken Bailey.
She has moved from Norwich, with her mom, to train at the University of Delaware and now lives with her mother in Middletown, Delaware. The two make the long drive to Connecticut generally every weekend to re-unite with the rest of the family. A sacrifice, Dad Mike Bailey told me, but a necessary one.
Bailey goes to school only on a half-day schedule and makes up the rest on-line. She trains, works out and practices six hours a day. It's the kind of schedule and dedication one must have if they want to be one of the best in the world and, hopefully, for Sara Bailey- it's all worthwhile.