New London -- The Seidel family is used to having to explain their sport to other people.

“No one knows what artistic roller skating is. If I just say I do artistic skating, they just assume ice,” Cassie Seidel said. “But it’s kind of fun because I get to tell a story.”

Along with her two younger sisters, Brianna and Gabby, and mother, Bethany, Cassie is an accomplished artistic roller skater. At the beginning of the month, she won a gold medal in the juniors couples dance at the World Championship Artistic Skating in Novara, Italy, the first team dance gold for the United States in 13 years.

“It’s really nice that some other countries are realizing how much the U.S. is working and how much we’re trying to get back on the map,” she said. “We only got four medals, but they were all gold, so that was a nice win for the U.S. and it’s nice that we’re coming back up.”

The current generation of local skaters started when Cassie was 4. She said she had been begging to go skating, and her mother, who also used to skate competitively, took her roller skating instead of ice skating. Even though she was annoyed at the time, the 19-year-old has loved the sport ever since. Her coach was also her mother’s coach. Brianna, 17, and Gabby, 13, also started skating as toddlers.

The sisters now train at the rink in Plainfield. While most people think artistic roller skating is like figure skating on wheels, they compare it to dancing. Brianna said she enjoys skating because it’s expressive, like dancing on wheels. Cassie said artistic roller skating is more like modern dance while figure skating is more like ballet.

“It’s a lot harder to make it beautiful,” she said. “On ice, you just glide, your skate just glides … When you do a turn on roller skates, you have to make sure your foot turns.”

Artistic is also more physically taxing because roller skates are heavier than ice skates, though many of the skills and techniques can be applied to both sports. Bethany said many famous ice skaters, including figure skater Tara Lipinski and speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, started their careers on roller skates.

Like any sport, training for artistic competitions is tough. The Seidels practice in Plainfield four days a week and attend seven or eight meets around the country every year, including annual competitions in Florida and Nebraska. Each discipline also requires a different set of skates, and each style of dance requires a different outfit.

Cassie started skating with her partner Benson Kuan a year and a half ago, and to prepare for the world championship she took off a semester from her studies at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and skated four to six hours six days a week in Texas.

“It takes a lot of dedication, and you’re going to have to make a lot of sacrifices,” she said. She had to miss her prom and didn’t have sleepovers, but now she has friends around the country and around the world.

Nevertheless, the sport continues to be a family affair. Family patriarch Jeff tracks statistics and serves as the “pit crew,” and their mother coaches free dance and helps make the girls’ outfits. They joke that the family is always together, just not at home.

“I feel like we’re a closer family because of it,” Brianna said.

“It’s really hard to ignore each other because we’re always on a long car ride together,” Gabby added. “I know a lot of people who barely even talk to their siblings.”

All three sisters have attended The Williams School, and they all pursue activities outside of skating; Gabby plays soccer, Brianna dances, and Cassie does theater when she’s not training for worlds. However, they have stayed with artistic roller skating because they enjoy it. Jeff said the younger skaters at the rink crowd around them when they come to practice.

“The competition level when you get to nationals is as good if not better than it was back in the day,” Bethany said. “One of the cool things, for me at least, is to know that we have the caliber of coaches in this area and in the United States that you can send your kids to that you can train to become a world champion.”

“It’s such a crazy experience but I think it’s all worth it,” Cassie said.

a.hutchinson@theday.com