Dean Copely

Dean Copely began skating in 1993.^[1] He began as a singles skater and competed at the intermediate level coached by Priscilla Hill for six years.^[2] He began training in ice dance at the age of 12 at which time he partnered with Rachel Siegel and competed with her on the juvenile level. He later partnered and competed with Ashley Foy in ice dance.^[2][3] Dean also competed for a season in juvenile pair skating with Meredith Pipkin.^[2] Dean qualified for the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships in all three disciplines.

Copely competed at both the Novice and Junior levels with Anastasia Cannuscio until April 2008 when he relocated to Canton, Michigan,^[2] to train with Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva known for coaching many North American and European teams to national and Olympic podiums. There he teamed up with Charlotte Lichtman following the 2008 Lake Placid Ice Dancing Championships.^[4] They began competing on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series during the 2009–10 season.

Lichtman and Copely won gold and bronze medals competing in the 2010–2011 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, and qualified for the JGP Final in Beijing, China, where they finished fifth. Together they won the gold in Junior Ice dance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina,^[5] after which they were featured in the Smucker's Skating Spectacular exhibition show and the RISE Tribute performance (choreographed by Randy Gardner and later included in the USFSA's skating documentary RISE). They went on to win the bronze medal at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Gangneung, South Korea.^[6]

Lichtman and Copely announced the amicable end of their partnership on April 27, 2012.^[7] Dean is a graduate of Western Michigan University. He currently coaches at a number of rinks throughout Michigan.

His sister is the former Lithuanian National Ice Dance Champion Katherine Copely.^[4]

(with Lichtman)