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The Big Dipper Ice Arena. The Polar Ice Arena. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Patty Center. Name a sheet of ice in Fairbanks, and chances are Cordero Zuckerman has skated it before most kids his age are awake.

For Zuckerman, it’s been up and out of bed by 5 a.m. for some time now. During the school year, he has an hour of practice starting at 6 a.m. before he has to leave in order to make it to Lathrop High School in time for the opening bell. During the summer months, that practice time changes to 8:30 a.m., but to the typical 16-year-old high school student, the 7:30 alarm still isn’t the most desirable of morning wake-up calls.

But according to his mother, Jo Zuckerman, the figure skater’s drive is all his own.

So far, it’s a drive that’s served him well.

Starting at the age of seven, when watching his older sister skate was no longer enough, Cordero has been skating for more than half of his life.

“Ever since he started skating, he’s just had an undying passion for it,” Jo said of her son’s figure skating.

It’s a passion that drove him to enter every competition possible while growing up. It’s the passion that’s driven him to wake himself at 5 every morning, sharpen his skates when needed and train himself for the nearly six months he was without a coach. It’s the passion that drove him to spend most of the summer based out of Salt Lake City so he could be closer to major competitions across the country.

“He’s self-motivated,” Jo said. “When you see that much passion, it’s hard (for a parent) to say, ‘No.’”

So far, though, there has been little for Jo to regret concerning Cordero’s ever-expanding horizons.

While based out of Salt Lake City, he competed in both the Broadmoor Open in Colorado Springs, CO and the Liberty Competition in Philadelphia — or two of the biggest figure skating competitions in the country.

And despite the self-training period and the distance from Alaska, he succeeded.

“He just loves skating,” said his current coach, Kristin Dean-Papp. “He’s a great performer. When he’s skating you can’t help but watch.”

He placed fourth out of 648 competitors in the Broadmoor Open in June. In July, he took seventh out of nearly 800 in Philadelphia.

And in doing so, he made Fairbanks history as the first male figure skater to pass senior level moves in the field — or the first to have learned and grasped the senior level edges and skating patterns (non-jumping) used in figure skating.

“We were so proud of him,” Jo said. “He kind of takes it all in stride. He’s very humble, but we’ve seen a number of male figure skaters come through and we’ve seen a number of male figure skaters quit.”

Asked to reflect on his skating career and his latest accomplishments, Cordero was sentimental as he looked back.

“It’s weird,” he said, “sometimes I find myself wanting to get away from skating. There are so many sacrifices that go into it, but the love I have for it keeps me coming back.

“I love skating. I love competition. There’s nothing like it.”

Which exactly why he’s now training hard in order to qualify for Junior Nationals this fall.

With two practices a day, it’s easy to see what his mother is talking about.

Listening to Cordero, it’s easy to see why he’s stuck with skating after all these years.

Passion.

And that’s exactly why he’ll be on the ice first thing in the morning.