Terrace Skating Club takes first spot in regional championships

The Terrace Skating Club (TSC) has claimed the top spot for the fourth year in a row in the Cariboo North Central Region Championships from Jan. 18 – 20.

Seventeen skaters from TSC competed in Quesnel and all brought home an award, bringing up the medal count for the club as the highest in the North with 26 medals out of 41.

“All the kids that could win a medal, won a medal,” says Jennifer Kuehne, TSC director and coach. “The skaters brought their A-game and they surprised me, along with themselves.”

She says that prior to the competition, many skaters were sick and had to take time off from the ice to recover. There were also a few injuries, along with one skater who just had surgery a month ago and was only able to practice for two weeks.

“I was quite worried that we were going to have a very unsuccessful weekend. I’m just so glad that everyone got over their colds and their flus.”

For many of the skaters from TSC, this is the biggest competition they will attend in the year and Kuehne says she’s glad that they were all able to make it count.

Some top medal highlights include Makayla Forrest winning three gold and one bronze, Aaliyah Beeton with two gold and one silver, and Kayeanna Machenzie with one gold and two silver.

When it comes to revealing their skating club’s secret for bringing home so many medals, Kuehne says that a big thing they do, that some of the other northern clubs might not, is team coaching.

“(In the last five years), we’ve been completely team coaching so the kids all get lessons from different coaches and all the coaches work together to make sure the kid is ready and successful.”

With approximately four to five coaches that rotate through, she says that each one has their strengths when it comes to teaching different things. Some might excel at jumps, others at spins or choreography.

And it also helps with the overall group dynamic.

“Some kids have personalities that might make it harder for some coaches to get through to them and motivate them, while for other coaches it might be easier.”

Another one of the club’s secrets is planning ahead, says Kuehne. The coaches come together and plan out the skating season almost a year in advance.

She adds that during the spring break, they often start preparing their choreography routines for the upcoming autumn competitions.

“Once the fall comes, we can start practicing right away instead of taking a bunch of time to do our prepping,” says Kuehne.

Sixteen clubs in total attended the championships, with Fort St. John in second place for the standings. William’s Lake and the Northern BC Centre of Skating from Prince George were tied at third.

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