“It hurt a lot, but we had to push through it, work around it and be resilient to help us get through that season. But I think we did good, and I think we learned a lot from it, and I think now this season we can build on that,” Devin described.<\/p>\n
The Meeks kicked off their second season on the junior level by winning the First Coast Classic NQS event at the beginning of August. But just days before that event, the two learned they were heading to their first Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event.<\/p>\n “I was driving to the rink, and I opened my phone. I got an email that said we were back on the ISP (International Selection Pool), and I was excited about that. Then five minutes later, I get into the parking lot of the rink, and I hear that we’re going to a JGP, and I was super happy,” Devin explained.<\/p>\n Though he was so excited about getting the opportunity to compete at a Junior Grand Prix event, Devin didn’t tell anyone at the rink that day until he came home and talked with his mom and sister, who also had received an email with the news.<\/p>\n “I was really excited,” Juliet, 14, added. “I also started thinking about training and how we’re gonna get ready for the competition, but I was mostly excited [going to a JGP].”<\/p>\n Both Juliet and Devin say they are most looking forward to competing against skaters from so many different countries because even though they have had other internationals, they have only had a chance to compete against skaters from the U.S. and Britain. They say their goal for this event, given that it is their first Junior Grand Prix, is to skate two clean programs with their harder elements. The Meeks have two throw triples in their free skate this year and have added harder side-by-side jumps, elements and lifts into their programs.<\/p>\n While pairs remains their primary focus, both Devin and Juliet continue to compete in singles as well. Juliet skates intermediate while Devin is a novice singles skater.<\/p>\n “Singles is good because it keeps our stamina good and it makes our jumps better, and it is also fun,” Devin expressed. “I like competing by myself and doing singles on top of doing pairs. But we’re kind of just doing it for the experience.”<\/p>\n Though Juliet and Devin were both born in California, the Meek siblings have called Jacksonville, Fla. home for the past decade. The Meeks train at the Community First Igloo. Their mom continues to be their primary coach.<\/p>\n “I like working with my mom a lot because it feels easier to talk to her because I know her. There’s, obviously, some challenges, but I really like her having her as a coach because she’s amazing,” Juliet replied.<\/p>\n Their coaching team also consists of 2010 Olympian Jeremy Barrett, who works with the team by phone from Park City, Utah, and 2022 Olympic Champion and World Champion Brandon Frazier, who advises the team through weekly Zoom chats from his home in Irvine, California. The Meeks also spend time with Frazier when they visit family in California.<\/p>\n “Brandon is great,” Devin noted of the 2022 Olympic and World Champion.\u00a0 “We work with him a lot.”<\/p>\n The Meeks also work with Alex and Michelle Aiken and 2011 U.S. Champion Ryan Bradley, who are coaches at Team Level Up in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n “Michelle helps with our skating skills and Alex and Ryan do our jumps,” Devin explained of the other members of their coaching team. “They’re great also. They’ve helped me through a lot.”<\/p>\n This season, the Meeks are skating to “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence for their short program, which was music recommended by Juliet.<\/p>\n “I kind of suggested it as a joke, but then we were thinking on it, and we were actually like, ‘Wait, there’s a boy and a girl singing, so this could actually be like a really good program to skate to,”<\/p>\n For their free skate, the two will skate to a medley of Michael Jackson songs (“Can You Feel It”, “Planet Earth (Earth Song)”, “Beat It” and “State of Shock”). Both programs were choreographed by John Kerr, a former ice dancer from Great Britain.<\/p>\n “When Michael the movie came out, we went to go see it and we were like, ‘wow, Michael Jackson was really cool and really interesting, and his music is really good,” Devin said, noting that their little brother, Parker, listens to Michael Jackson quite a bit. “So we decided that we wanted to skate to that, to kind of remember Michael Jackson in a way.”<\/p>\n While skating takes up much of their time, Juliet and Devin also remain focused on their education. The two are enrolled in ICL Academy, a virtual private school for athletes. Juliet will be entering ninth grade this fall, while Devin will be a junior. Their educational plans also extend beyond high school. Devin wants to go to college to study finance or statistics.<\/p>\n “I’m aiming to get into Harvard or Princeton, like one of the Ivy League schools. That’s my goal,” Devin replied.\u00a0 “You know, staying together is important also for pairs, so if we do need to stay here, I’d probably go to a Florida college. I want to get a degree in finance or like statistics because I want to pursue a career in finance like Brandon Frazier.”<\/p>\n Juliet’s interests extend well beyond the ice, with several possible career paths on her mind, despite only being a high school freshman.<\/p>\n “There’s just so many things that I have interest in,” she said. “Maybe I want to do some sort of kinesiology or do like sports psychology. Or maybe I want to do cosmetology, or something in art.”<\/p>\n Beyond the Junior Grand Prix in Riga, the Meeks are also looking ahead to the John Nicks Pairs Challenge, taking place in Norwood, Mass. two weeks after their Junior Grand Prix debut. Based on how they do in Riga, they are hoping for a second Junior Grand Prix or some other internationals this fall.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, the Meek have several goals in mind as they continue to develop as a pairs’ team.<\/p>\n “For this season, I’d say our goals are probably to skate clean programs at our international competitions and hopefully, get a medal. That would be pretty nice,” Devin told Figure Skaters Online<\/i>. “Then domestically, to get a medal at the Pairs’ Final and Nationals, and get a new personal best score would be nice.”<\/p>\n “I’d say past this season, our goal is to move up to the senior level and hopefully, in the future, get a senior national title, and then make the Olympic team,” he added.<\/p>\n While there may not be a wealth of siblings pairs’ teams, the Meeks say they have a strong bond that they see as their strength.<\/p>\n “We have good chemistry. We get along pretty well for siblings,” said Juliet.<\/p>\n Who is more competitive during practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n Juliet:<\/strong> I don’t know. I feel like we’re both pretty competitive.<\/p>\n Devin:<\/strong> I think it depends on the day for sure. There will be a day where Juliet will be on on fire, and I’ll be doing bad, and she’ll be like, ‘Let’s have a competition,’ and she just smokes everyone in the rink. And then there will be days where I’m doing good, and she’s kind of in La La Land, and you know I’m like, ‘let’s go, let’s have a competition.’ She’s like, ‘no, not today. I’m too tired,’\u00a0 So yeah I’d say it depends on the day.<\/p>\n Who is more likely to forget choreography?<\/strong><\/p>\n Juliet:<\/strong> That’s me! Choreography slips my mind. It’s awful.<\/p>\n Who gets more nervous before competing?<\/strong><\/p>\n Juliet:<\/strong> Me!<\/p>\n Devin:<\/strong> You really? I think I get more nervous.<\/p>\n Juliet:<\/strong> Sometimes I get really nervous. I think I get more nervous for singles than I do pairs. But also when I’m nervous, I start acting really goofy and silly. So you can’t tell, but on the inside, I’m panicking.<\/p>\n Devin:<\/strong> I say I get pretty nervous as well, but when we do pairs, it’s good because if we’re both nervous, it’s kind of comforting.<\/p>\n Who would forget their skates on a competition day?<\/strong><\/p>\n Devin:<\/strong> Me?<\/p>\n Juliet:<\/strong> No, I have done that before. I was at a competition and I was on my way to practice and I got to the rink and I left my skates at the AirBNB.<\/p>\n Devin<\/strong>: I’d say probably both of us on that one because I may be so focused on getting there that I leave my skates (behind).<\/p>\n Who is the first one ready to get on the ice at a competition and who is dragging behind and not ready?<\/strong><\/p>\n Juliet:<\/strong> He’s probably on the ice five minutes early.<\/p>\n Devin:<\/strong> Yeah, I get everyone at the rink ready. I’m like, ‘Guys, it’s 12:30 p.m. You guys need to put your skates on. You’re not even dressed.’ It’s pretty funny. I’d say I’m the one who is there ready to warm-up and then I got to tell everyone else to warm-up and get ready with me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Gina Capellazzi, Team FSO website administrator Photos by Robin Ritoss Ilse and Erik Pausin, a brother and sister from Vienna, made history as the first sibling pair to win an Olympic medal in 1936. To this day, they are still the only brother and sister pairs’ team to win an Olympic title. But there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290,8,529],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-headline","category-junior-grand-prix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58496"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58556,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58496\/revisions\/58556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Juliet-Meek-and-Devin-Meek-nationals-26-sp074A0026-3.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\nExcited for Riga<\/h3>\n
Skating solo<\/h3>\n
The team behind the team<\/h3>\n
<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\nBring the King of Pop to the ice<\/h3>\n
Off-the-ice interests<\/h3>\n
Setting their sights<\/h3>\n
Which Meek is it?<\/h3>\n