Jason Wong had a self-declaration, at the advanced age of 5. He wanted to be a figure skater.
It happened while watching TV on his mom's lap as Kristi Yamaguchi won a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France.
''I tried to imitate Kristi on the carpet and started jumping around and I hit my head on the fireplace,'' recalled Wong, whose technique has come a long way since.
Now a 14-year-old freshman at Lexington High, Wong, who is coached at the Boston Skating Club by Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson, was 10th among 12 competitors in the novice men's short program yesterday at Northeastern University's Matthews Arena on the first day of the US Figure Skating Championships.
It was the latest stop on a skating odyssey that began at Hayden Rink in Lexington when Wong, then a first-grader, came home with an application - on deadline day - for skating classes.
''So we went out and bought his first pair of ice skates at Murray Sandler's in Belmont,'' recalled his mother and biggest fan, Ada, who joked that ''after what I paid for them, I told him that he'd better stay with it.''
Jason, who trains six days a week, three hours on the ice and another hour away from the rink, obviously has granted mom's request. He was one of the younger skaters competing yesterday.
''I want to go to the Olympics someday,'' said Wong, who was coached originally at Hayden by Carla Wilson. ''That's what keeps me motivated and getting to Nationals was my main motivation this year. It's really cool. A lot of my friends [from the Boston Skating Club] are here and it was a goal of mine to make Nationals particularly because they are in Boston.
''It's a once in a lifetime experience,'' he said. ''Being here is my goal. I just want to have fun and do the best I can. If I do that, I don't care if I come in last because there's always the next season.''
He remembers his first day on figure skates because it is a reminder just how far he's come. ''I thought the [skate] guards helped you skate as a beginner and I went on the ice and just fell,'' he said with a grin. ''I found out it was a hard and challenging sport and that's what kept me going.''
Wong steadily has moved up the competitive ladder. He was a preliminary winner in the boys' B class in 1997 at the Charter Oak Open in Simsbury, Conn., the 1998 New England Regional titlist in the Juvenile boys' competition in Marlborough, and a seventh-place finisher at the US Juniors in his first taste of national competition.
Last year, Wong won the New England Regional intermediate men's at Acton and was fifth at the Junior Nationals in Buffalo. His first experience at the international level was at the North American Challenge in Ontario last summer and Wong finished an impressive - and admittedly surprising - second in the novice division.
''He came to the Boston Skating Club five years ago as a small kid who couldn't do very much, but even then, I could tell he had a lot of potential and I thought he could go pretty far,'' said Mitchell. ''He had a natural jumping ability and he wasn't afraid to try. He didn't mind falling and in this sport, you have to take the falls and not let it bother you. He's pretty much learned all of his jumps and his triples are really coming. There are six different triples and I imagine by next year he'll have at least five of them.''
Although Wong said he's not putting a lot of pressure on himself this week because he wants to have fun, Mitchell, a former US World Team member, understands that the Nationals are ''always exciting and nerves come into play. It's being able to control those nerves and use more of the excitement that gets you through it.''
Wong said he is always trying to adjust to the mental demands of the sport, but there are times when watching old tapes that he realizes he's making steady progress.
''I just try to keep a positive attitude,'' said Wong, whose other coach, former Swedish national champion Johansson, said he has gone from ''a total beginner to a skater who now has goals of international competition.''
Matching pair
Victoria Devins of Skaneateles, N.Y., and Kevin O'Keefe of Limestone, Maine, began skating together in September 1999 and were the surprise of the 2000 Junior National Championships in Williamsville, N.Y., where they won gold in the intermediate dance.
Yesterday, the pair finished first in the novice dance compulsories and are scheduled to wrap up their US Figure Skating Championships debut today at 1 p.m. at Matthews in the dance finals.
O'Keefe, 18, who used to endure an eight-hour automobile trip from Maine on Saturdays to the Boston Skating Club for practice with Devins, then stayed with friends and returned home Tuesdays - recently has cut his travel time dramatically. He's now a freshman at Northeastern. ''I used to catch up on a lot of sleep on those trips from Maine,'' he said.
Devins, 16, moved from New York to Arlington, where she lives with BSC member Jesi Valentine and Valentine's grandmother and is a currently a sophomore at Arlington High.
The pair was initially matched up at the Lake Placid dance tryouts by Tom Lescinski, now one of their coaches at the BSC, along with Barret B rown and off-ice coach Karen Cullinan. Brown and Lescinski recently were named USOC/USFSA Developmental Figure Skating Coaches of the Year.
''They have a great work ethic and it paid off today,'' said Brown. ''Their performance was very expressive and very athletic.''
Lescinski said that since Day 1, the pair has been ''the perfect match in height and body type. They met with different techniques and styles in their backgrounds and they've developed into a very consistent and very smooth team.''
He's the tops
Franklin's Matthew Lind, who was first at the 2001 Eastern Novice Championships, maintained his pace yesterday. Lind, who will turn 18 Feb. 24, enters today's free skate at the top of the pack after finishing first in the novice men's short program yesterday. Lind got the first-place nod from all nine judges.
