Just 18 years old, this Carson, Calif. native is a rising star on the U.S. Speedskating Team and the youngest member of the squad that will represent the USA at the Short Track World Cup, Oct. 17-19 in Calgary, Canada.

Although the majority of her World Cup teammates reside at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Garcia finds that sticking around close to home and training under the California sun with her coach, Wilma Boomstra, suits her just fine.

“I was planning to go to Colorado Springs this year and join the team there to train, but my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, and I wanted to be with her and the rest of my family until she got better,” Garcia explained.

“It is kind of difficult to train here because I never know what everyone else is doing or how they train, but there are two other girls here that are my age and we can all train together. It would be nice to train with some of the people I compete with, but for now, I’m happy to be here with my family.”

The talented speedskater graduated high school in June and plans to begin college in the fall of 2004. By that time, she hopes to be a member of the training team in Colorado Springs and enroll in one of the schools in the area, studying physical therapy or sport science.

Garcia’s career on the ice began as a figure skater when she was just a little girl. After practice one day, she received a flyer indicating that there would be speedskating opportunities offered at the rink, so she decided to give it a try. That was back in 1992.

“I actually hated speedskating when I first tried it,” she remembers. “I did it for a month before returning back to figure skating. It was four years later when I tried speedskating again and decided to stick with it.”

She hung up the figure skates, laced on the speed skates and never looked back. One would think that the transition between figure skating and speedskating would be quite a challenge, considering one sport focuses on finesse and choreography, while the other is determined by sheer speed. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case with Garcia.

“Actually, it wasn’t really a big deal. I had been skating since I was five years old so I had a pretty good feel for the ice. The techniques were sometimes hard to figure out and the training was much different, but for the most part, it wasn’t a difficult transition.”

She has shown dominance in the 19-and-under junior division, winning the U.S. Junior Short Track Championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Prior to the 2002 Olympic Games, she competed in the U.S. time trials and finished 17th, only tenths of a second from being in the top 16 and advancing for the chance to be one of the six members of the Olympic team.

At the time, she was battling an ongoing injury in her right knee and actually underwent surgery on February 8, 2002, the same day as the opening ceremonies in Salt Lake City. The entire experience taught Garcia a valuable lesson.

“I learned a lot during that time,” she explained. “Not making the team gave me a lot more desire to train harder and come back for 2006. Watching the team compete and seeing them win medals was amazing. I just hope that next time I can be there and experience it for myself.”

The 2006 Games in Torino, Italy are quite a ways off, but still linger in the back of her mind.

“You never know what’s going to happen, but I’m training for it and going to give it my best try.”

Right now, her focus is on the Short Track World Cup and putting her best foot forward for the U.S. team. She may be young and from a state that is atypical for winter sports, but Maria Garcia has already proven that she can hang with the best of them. And she’s only just begun.