Senior Josephine Billings poses outside of Crypto.com Arena, home of the Los Angeles Kings in downtown Los Angeles. Billings was recently selected as a rookie member of the Kings Ice Crew for the 2026 season. Photos courtesy of Josephine Billings
Josephine Billings, a senior Sport Administration student, commonly known around campus by faculty and friends as “JoJo,” has made a great accomplishment by bringing Pepperdine’s sports culture into the professional world.
Earning a spot on the Los Angeles (LA) Kings Ice Crew, Billings’ story extends beyond the blades and bright lights of the rink, tying every experience and accomplishment back to the place she calls home.
“Pepperdine has brought me so much that I just want to stay here forever,” Billings said. “I’m so sad to leave because this has truly felt like my home.”
Stepping Onto the Ice
At just 4 years old, Billings watched the Olympics flash across her television screen, mesmerized by the figure skaters jumping and twirling through the air. She remembered springing out of bed and begging her mom to take her to the rink the next day.
The following day, Billings laced up her skates and stepped onto the ice for the first time. It didn’t take long for her to stand out. After watching her skate, the rink owner approached her mom and encouraged her to enroll Billings in lessons, impressed by her natural ability on the ice.
“I was immediately put into private lessons after that,” Billings said. “And then it kind of took off from there.”
When Billings was 15, she met private trainer Deborah Pitsos, who continues to coach her today. Pitsos worked at the Detroit Skating Club in Michigan, Billings’ home state, but when the two began training together in July 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to take an unconventional approach.
With limited access to the rink, Pitsos said Billings and her family purchased the equipment she needed to continue training competitively and transformed their garage into a makeshift training space. Billings would set up the equipment for the training session and Pitsos coached her through FaceTime.
At a time when the pandemic caused many athletes to give up and step away from their sport, Billings leaned further into figure skating. Rather than allowing the circumstances to hinder her progress, she revealed a level of commitment Pitsos said is a defining quality of the best athletes.
“There are always three D’s when looking for a good athlete,” Pitsos said. “Discipline, determination and dedication. JoJo had all three, and given her age, that was very unique to find.”
Billings, age 8, stands between two fellow figure skaters at her home rink, Lansing Skating Club, in East Lansing, Mich. Billings has performed since the age of 4.
Under Pistsos’ guidance, Billings has since become a two-time U.S. Figure Skating gold medalist and six-time U.S. Figure Skating National Championship Series competitor. She has also earned recognition as a state champion and sectional competitor, according to her LinkedIn and Instagram profiles.
“I always knew ever since I got put in those private lessons that I wanted to go to the Olympics,” Billings said. “That was my overall goal, and that’s what it was until my freshman year of college, when it finally changed.”
Billings said she no longer performs competitively, but she still returns home during the holidays to take part in small shows and sometimes to simply skate for fun.
Early Mornings and Long Nights
Billings said figure skating deeply shaped her childhood. Throughout middle school and high school, she flew from Michigan to Carlsbad and Lakewood, Calif. once a month to train alongside some of the sport’s top skaters.
The demanding schedule required sacrifices at a young age, but it was all in pursuit of the sport she loved.
“I had to grow up at a very young age because I started to do the training that I did,” Billings said. “It was unbelievable hours.”
Billings said her days were constantly in motion, balancing school and skating from morning until night. In middle school, her high-level training schedule allowed her to leave class early, around 12:30 p.m., so she could devote the rest of her day to the rink.
At such a young age, Billings never thought much of the demanding routine. She said it was normal to her — a mindset she carried throughout high school.
“Once high school started, I didn’t really get any FOMO from missing out on different things because I always grew up in that environment and loved it so much,” Billings said. “It was my full-on passion and I wanted to make it my entire life, so I would train before school and then only go to school for two hours just to go right back to the rink until really late hours at night.”
Billings said she spent the majority of her days training, but the demanding schedule rarely felt like a burden because skating was something she deeply loved.
When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted her routine, Billings said she reached a turning point. She sat down with her parents and coaches to determine what came next, especially since the years of frequent travel had required a significant amount of time and energy.
Billings said she was given two options.
“I was told I could either do ice skating full time and not go to college,” Billings said. “Or I could go to college out in California and do training on top of it.”
Billings said she had a hard time choosing because the Olympics had always been her goal.
“That was the entire plan,” Billings said. “It was my entire life and all that I was working towards.”
Billings said she was considering taking online community college courses to focus on her dream, but her mom insisted that she attend a four-year university and earn a degree as a fallback plan.
“That’s how I ended up coming to Pepperdine,” Billings said. “I only applied to schools in California because I needed to be near my rink, but it was a really hard decision for me to be able to come out here because it’s hard balancing school and sports while competing at the level I did.”
From Michigan Snow to Malibu Sand
Although Billings had a hard time deciding to move from Michigan to California, she said she quickly realized that the change was for the best.
“I never thought figure skating affected my childhood until I came here,” Billings said. “Being at Pepperdine, I realized that there was so much more to life than figure skating and this realization was a huge, amazing change for me.”
Billings smiles as she performs a solo at her home rink, Lansing Skating Club, in East Lansing, Mich on July 23, 2023. Billings performed in large-scale shows through her first year of college before retiring from competitive skating around the age of 20.
Entering her first year at Pepperdine, Billings said she was still balancing the heavy schedule she had known for much of her life, consisting of training, competing at national events, keeping up with schoolwork and finding time for a social life. But it did not take long for her to realize that skating did not have to define everything she pursued.
At Pepperdine, Billings said she was able to explore new interests without giving up the part of herself that had spent years on the ice.
One of her first major steps outside of that familiar world came through Pepperdine’s International Programs. Billings traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina alongside Pepperdine faculty and fellow students — an experience that broadened her perspective on life and the way she viewed the sport she had loved since childhood.
“During my time abroad, I decided that I wanted to focus more on life outside of figure skating,” Billings said. “So when I came back to campus, I signed up for everything, and now I’m involved in all these fun, different things that make me so happy.”
Billings said that before Pepperdine, much of her world revolved around the same familiar circle of fellow skaters and coaches. For years, they were the only people she would spend most of her time around. But as she grew older, she wanted to experience more beyond what she had always known.
“Coming here, I feel like I’m very outgoing,” Billings said. “I try my best to talk to everyone. It [campus] feels like a playground to me.”
Since arriving at Pepperdine, Billings has immersed herself in nearly every corner of campus life. Her roles have ranged from serving as a social media coordinator and resident advisor while abroad in Argentina to working with Pepperdine Business Services, Athletic Facilities and Events and Student Affairs Marketing and Engagement.
On any given day, Billings can also be found somewhere across campus. From welcoming new students as part of the New Student Orientation (NSO) crew, playing intramural basketball or representing the University through the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council (PAC), Billings does it all with a smile on her face.
It is no surprise that Billings has also carried that same willingness to get involved beyond Pepperdine.
Most recently, she has expanded her experience into the professional sports world, working as a news intern with Angel City Football Club through a newsletter organization called Goalside Gossip and in VIP Event Hospitality at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
A New Stage on the Ice
Billings continues to shine across a variety of opportunities in the sports world, but no matter how far she ventured beyond the rink, she said a part of her always missed the ice.
“I retired from figure skating competitively at the national level,” Billings said. “But I have always missed it.”
When Billings returned from studying abroad, she began performing in small shows for organizations that reached out to her. While those opportunities brought her back to the ice, she said she still missed the feeling of performing at a higher level.
“Performing was my absolute favorite part of skating,” Billings said. “The jumps and spins were cool but I just love bringing smiles to people’s faces.”
Billings said that when the LA Kings Ice Crew tryouts just happened to pop up on her Instagram feed, she knew she had to go for it.
“God gave me that sign that I should just take it,” Billings said.
Over the course of the three-day tryout, Billings found herself stepping into unfamiliar territory. She had never experienced a tryout quite like it, and with hundreds of contestants competing for just 22 spots, she said the nerves quickly set in.
Billings said many of the other contestants arrived with cheerleading backgrounds, while she came in relying on her experience in dance and figure skating. The difference only added to her nerves, but it also meant she brought something uniquely her own to showcase.
“I was super nervous,” Billings said. “But then I just told myself to go out there and dance and pretend like I’m on the ice, and I’ll be just fine.”
That’s exactly what Billings did.
Billings said much of the tryout required her to perform in front of a panel of judges— a setting that felt all too familiar. After years of performing, she was accustomed to the pressure of an audience and judges and found herself surprisingly at ease.
After three days of tryouts, all that was left to do was wait for the call, and when it finally came, Billings learned she had earned a spot on the LA Kings Ice Crew for the 2026 season.
Billings said there was one person she wanted to tell first: her mom.
“I was so excited and really grateful,” Billings said. “I called my mom right away and told her I wasn’t sure how I was going to balance this with school, but I’m going to go through my schedule and make it work.”
Billings poses outside the LA Kings arena in downtown Los Angeles, holding her Ice Crew certification. After completing a weekend of competitive tryouts, Billings earned a spot on the team.
With the season not beginning until the end of September, Billings said the Ice Crew is using the weeks leading up to it to build chemistry through team-bonding activities before they take the ice together.
“I’ve been getting to know the girls and having fun with the team,” Billings said. “I think that’s super cool because I haven’t had a team before because I competed solos all my life for figure skating.”
After years of taking the ice as an individual skater performing solos, Billings now finds herself in a new environment surrounded by a team. She said she is excited to see what the season has in store and is grateful for the opportunity to spend this time building relationships with her new teammates.
“I realized that performing is something that I don’t think I’m ready to give up,” Billings said. “I don’t think I’m ready to stop doing something that I love, and this [the LA Kings Ice Crew] is the perfect balance to perform and make people happy.”
Off the Ice
Billings said she knows that, from the outside, balancing everything she takes on may seem impossible. But for her, there is a motto that has guided the way she approaches every challenge.
When Billings was 8 years old, one of her coaches gave her a keychain with a message she believed reflected who Billings was: “Only those who attempt the absurd achieve the impossible.”
“It’s stuck with me my entire life,” Billings said. “That’s the motto that pushes me every single day. So, people may think my schedule is insane and have no idea how I balance all of these jobs, which is fair. But I’m always reminding myself that if I’m attempting the absurd, then I can achieve whatever I strive to have.”
But for all the gold medals, towering trophies and impressive titles Billings has worked to earn, the accomplishment she values most cannot be displayed on a shelf.
Of everything she has achieved, Billings said she is most proud of the person she has grown into. She said she is happy to have become someone who can walk into a room, talk to new people and form meaningful connections with those around her.
For someone who was not always as outgoing as she is today, the seemingly small moments of connection with new people have become some of her greatest victories.
“When I was skating in high school, I was only focused on training,” Billings said. “I was the type of athlete where I put my headphones in and had my music blasting. No one could talk to me and I would only interact with my coaches and a few other competitors, but that was it.”
Billings said she is grateful to Pepperdine for pushing her beyond her limits and giving her the confidence to embrace experiences she may not have otherwise pursued.
“Being able to come to college and really step out of my comfort zone and to have the goal to talk to as many people as I can was the biggest accomplishment that I’ve ever felt,” Billings said. “I love talking to everybody and getting to know everyone.”
Around campus, Billings has become known as someone you can always approach for a smile and a warm conversation. Billings said she always wanted to become that kind of person.
“If people met me and had no idea what my accomplishments are, they would see me as a light in life,” Billings said. “Some people say a sparkling personality.”
And Billings’ personality never goes unnoticed, even on the rink.
“JoJo is highly motivated, exciting to be around and she excites others,” Pitsos said. “The joy, the energy and the wholesomeness of her personality are going to allow her to be an asset to anyone that hires her and wherever she goes.”
Pitsos said it is evident that Billings will continue to leave her mark on the world and everyone around her.
“To meet JoJo is to meet family,” Pitsos said.
This story was copy edited by Lila Rendel.
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Contact Genevieve Cantu via email: genevieve.cantu@pepperdine.edu