The Fuller Lake Skaters joined more than 100 athletes at the Nanaimo Ice Centre last weekend for the 2012 Vancouver Island Interclub Competition.
Four Fuller Lake Skaters competed at an advanced level.
Riley Buckner outperformed Alyssa Busch of Port McNeill to place first in the Senior Silver Women’s freeskate. Buckner scored 23.6 points compared to Busch’s score of 20.41.
In the Juvenile Women Under-14 category, Sarah Kedves scored 25.30 points to earn herself a silver medal. Cassidy Steen of the Juan de Fuca Skating Club earned gold with a score of 28.60, while Tessa Jones of Racquet Club of Victoria Figure Skating earned bronze with a score of 24.39.
Jazmin and Joshua Wheeler placed sixth in Preliminary Dance.
In the Star 3A Girls category, Grance Couves, Danika Hakala, Brielle Varasteh and Jazmin Wheeler scored bronze, while Adrianna Openshaw earned herself a merit.
Two Fuller Lake Skaters skated in the Star 3B Girls category. Paris Hanke and Caiden Varasteh both earned bronze for their performances.
Joshua Wheeler, Fuller Lake’s lone male competitor, scored a bronze on his Star 2 Boys performance.
Blaine Moore, Fuller Lake Skating’s coaching co-ordinator, said he was very pleased with his skaters’ performances.
“It’s my first year at the club,” Moore said. “With the new changes and everything, they all rose to the occasion and skated well.”
Moore said Skate Canada is overhauling the way it categorizes skaters, adding that the new system can be somewhat confusing. B.C. is conducting a trial of Skate Canada’s new model, Moore said, and it will be implemented across the country once it’s been reviewed and revised.
Under the new program, skaters in the Star 1, 2 and 3 categories face “performance-based evaluation,” Moore said.
That means they’re assigned a bronze, silver or gold level based on how well they execute the skills expected of them at their level.
“They’re taking the same approach to figure skating as baseball teams that don’t keep track of scores or games,” Moore said.
At the Star 4 level, Moore added, skaters’ performances are scored numerically and they’re ranked against one another based on those scores.
As skaters advance beyond Star 4, they’re able to choose one of two categories they want to skate in, Moore said.
Skaters in the Junior and Senior Bronze, Silver and Gold categories are ranked based on test scores for skills executed at their respective levels. Test skaters can compete at the provincial level, Moore added, but not at a national level.
Skaters in the competitive category compete against each other based on the elements included in their programs and how well they execute their programs while on the ice. Moore said that only the competitive skaters advance beyond the provincial level.
Moore said it’s too early to tell how the new system will be received.
The Fuller Lake Skaters’ next competition is scheduled for February in Victoria at the Vancouver Island Regional Competition
