Jeremy Barrett may have bagged your groceries at Publix.
Amanda Evora may have been your classmate at MCC.
Mark Ladwig may have taken your order at the Beach Bistro.
They have quietly lived in the area for years, and now your next-door skaters are headed to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Not only will they be representing the United States in pairs figure skating, but Bradenton, Ellenton, Parrish and Venice as well.
Maybe you've seen them around.
They have lived here, studied here and worked here. They like it here.
This is their home. Here is the dead giveaway:
"I root for the Bucs," said Ladwig, who grew up in Moorhead, Minn., but has lived in Bradenton since 2002.
Of the four figure skaters who train at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, only Barrett was born in the area, though the other three have strong local ties.
Barrett was born at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, grew up in Venice and learned to skate at the old Ice Chateau in Nokomis.
Skating, it seems, has always brought comfort.
When Barrett was young he played the part of Avery in Charlotte's Web at the Venice Little Theatre.
He was so nervous that he was allowed to act and sing while wearing rollerblades. They helped to calm him. His mother, Laurie Andrews, still has the videotape.
"To him it was probably one of his most embarrassing moments," Andrews said. "To me I thought it was amazing."
Barrett, 25, and his skating partner, 16-year-old Caydee Denney, recently won the national championship in Spokane, Wash. Ladwig and Evora finished second.
Denney is a Florida native who drives from Wesley Chapel each day to train in Ellenton.
Barrett attended Venice Elementary and Laurel Nokomis Middle School before taking high school courses online. As a kid he participated in T-ball and gymnastics at the Venice YMCA and loved to be buried in the sand at the beach and ride the rollercoaster at Busch Gardens. At 16 he bagged groceries at the Ellenton Publix between skating practices.
Evora, 25, moved to Bradenton from Houston in 2001 to train at Ellenton. She moved into an apartment on University Parkway with her mother before living with several host families in Ellenton.
Evora originally attended a school at the ice rink and is also a 2006 graduate of the State College of Florida, formerly Manatee Community College. She was taking business courses at USF but has since taken time off.
Evora was born to Filipino parents who were living in Bahrain as her birth approached. The family quickly moved to New York City in 1984 so she could be a U.S. citizen.
Evora worked at Banana Republic, Applebee's and Mangrove Grill to pay for lessons and ice time in Ellenton. "I'm from Houston, a large city, and when I moved here it was a huge step back for me," Evora said. "When I was younger I thought everything was a huge city.
"This was more of a small town, but with that people actually took more of an initiative to know you and to say hello to you."
When Ladwig moved to Bradenton from Minnesota in 2002, he left behind his family and future wife. He has been here so long that he jokes he doesn't sweat anymore during summer.
In addition to working at the ice rink, Ladwig, 29, has been employed at several area restaurants to help pay for figure skating.
Among the restaurants was the renowned Beach Bistro on Anna Maria Island, where he worked off and on for the past eight years. He began as a busboy and eventually worked his way up to a weekday waiter in the best section of the restaurant.
Sean Murphy owns the Beach Bistro and his son played hockey at the Ellenton rink. One of his son's coaches recommended Ladwig for the job.
"He said, 'I know a great kid who needs work,' so we hired Mark," Murphy said. "He's a phenomenal person and a hard worker."
Ladwig worked 4 p.m. to midnight four days a week, coming in after skating practices that began at 7 a.m.
"Mark was also a talker and people would talk to him about what was going on with skating," Murphy said.
Since Ladwig is from Moorhead, which is close to Fargo, N.D., he was known around the restaurant as "Fargo."
On a wall at the Beach Bistro are autographed pictures of famous athletes and celebrities who have eaten there, including Robert De Niro. Ladwig's could be next to go up.
"We'll have to have Mark's autograph now," Murphy said. "I haven't asked him yet."
Of the four skaters, Ladwig is the only one who is married, though Barrett and Evora are dating.
Ladwig and the former Janet Beverly met in seventh grade in Minnesota and went to high school prom together, though only as friends.
"I had a big crush on him but nothing ever came of it," she said.
They began dating in 2002, but she stayed in Fargo to attend school while Ladwig moved to Bradenton to skate.
In 2003 she joined him for a year and they lived in a Bradenton apartment.
In 2004 she went back to school at North Dakota State while Ladwig remained in the area. They spent the next three years apart, including the year after their 2006 marriage.
Janet worked at Outback in Bradenton, in human resources at a local Target and for Arthur Rutenberg Homes before being laid off. She currently works as a bartender in Bradenton.
The road has been hard, but the past six months have been quite remarkable for the Parrish couple.
In August, Janet graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa after studying interior design.
On Sept. 13, son Holden was born and four months later Holden was in Spokane when his father made the Olympic team.
Holden, who now has a baby U.S.A. shirt, was also on hand last Saturday when hundreds of people showed up at the Ellenton rink to get autographs from the four skaters. Many were familiar faces.
"You'd be surprised how many of them we have known just from skating or being neighbors over the years," Evora said.
"Florida is the longest place I've ever lived and I feel like this is my home."
