Parker started his skating career at the tender age of three years, after going to a public skate and thoroughly enjoying it. “I was a kid who was always bouncing off walls,” Parker remembers. “Skating had a way of calming me.” By the time Parker was six, he was seriously learning to skate. “I fell in love with the sport and have been doing it ever since.”
Parker has always been a singles skater and was coached at one time by Carol Heiss Jenkins. In May 2007, Parker left Colorado Springs and moved to Fairfax, Virginia to begin coaching with Audrey Weisiger, along with coaches Chris Conte, Ross Lansel, and Nick Perna. He is currently back working with Jenkins in Cleveland, Ohio, along with Roberta Mitchell.
Parker's competitive highlights include winning the National title at the Junior, Novice, Intermediate, and Juvenile levels…he is the only men's' skater to have done so. “My career highlight had to be winning the National Junior title,” Parker says, “but landing my first triple axel at Eastern Sectionals in 2003 was a huge achievement as well.” Most recently, Parker placed third for his short program at the 2009 Nationals in Cleveland, Ohio.
His favorite childhood memory is winning the National Intermediate title in 1996. “I was 6th after the short program and fought back to win the gold,” remembers Parker. “I never stopped believing and that helped me skate the best I had ever skated to that point.”
Winning the Midwestern Sectional title crowned his 2005 - 2006 season. “It was my first big win in several years, and it may have been toughest victory ever,” muses Parker. “I learned a lot about myself this season, and my perseverance and fight were stronger than ever.”
Parker's goals for this upcoming season, 2011-12’ will be to bring a fresh new look to his skating as well as many others he is getting the privilege to work with. His lifelong dream has always been, and continues to be, to make a difference, touching each and every person he has the chance to meet. He enjoys sharing his love and passion for the art and sport of figure skating and hopes to one day share this passion with the World. He continues every day with an open mind, exciting about the joys that only pure passion can deliver and skating is at the forefront of that truest passion.
Outside of skating, Parker was in National Honor Society throughout high school and was on the US Figure Skating Scholastic Honor Team. Additionally, Muscular Dystrophy awarded him Volunteer of The Year award twice(once in Connecticut and once in Ohio) for his work as Producer of "Skate for Life". Also, little known fact, Parker was a stunt double for Woody Allen in a commercial after September 11th that aimed to get people back to New York.