Now that the fall is here, young children are lacing up their skates for a new season of hockey and figure skating.
“I am looking forward to seeing the skaters advance in their skills, have fun and grow in confidence throughout the year,” said Danyelle Howard, president of the 100 Mile House Figure Skating Club.
Vanessa Shearer has been skating for nine years but got into figure skating because she said it was cool to watch other people do it in the Olympics.
The young skater, who is in the StarSkate program, said her favourite part of the sport was the jumps.
“My favourite jump right now – I’m working on it – is called an ‘axel.’ You go into a really fast speed and you swing your leg through and you do one and a half rotations in the air and then land on one foot.”
Shearer is in the StarSkate program. For her free skate, she has a Star 3, Star 5 for dance and a Star 4 for skills.
Katharina Wetzig is another skater in the StarSkate program. She took up the sport three or four years ago, after she decided she no longer wanted to focus on gymnastics.
When asked what her favourite part of figure skating was, Wetzig responded with “just everything.”
Serenity Granger has been figure skating for two years and is in the CanSkate program, which is for kids aged five and older.
“I just love skating a lot and I love sports,” she said on why she decided to join the program.
Her favourite part is just being on the ice, and her goal for the year is to be able to put her back leg out and having her arms up while gliding along the ice.
“That’s one thing I’d like to do,” she said.
Shearer and Wetzig had advice for all the younger and newcomers to the sport this season.
“Keep trying. It takes a lot of work to be where you want to be,” said Shearer.
Wetzig said to keep going and if something doesn’t work out, keep trying.
The 100 Mile Figure Skating Club offers five programs; CanSkate, PreCanPowerSkate, CanPowerSkate, Junior Academy and StarSkate.
“Junior Academy is a new program, which started last season and it is for CanSkater’s who want to continue into StarSkate (figure skating),” said Howard.
It’s a program for Level 4-5 CanSkate skaters who are serious about figure skating and competitions.
For more information for the programs available, contact the 100 Mile House and District Figure Skating Club at 250-395-1842 or their Facebook page.
The club also has financial funding through KidSport and Jump Start to help families who need financial help in enrolling their kids at the club.
In March, the club will also host their annual year-end competition.
