A fall here or a slip there hardly throws Taylan Dennis off her skating game.
She used a carefree attitude to skate “close to my best” and claim gold in Silver Ladies at the Okanagan Regional Skating Championships last Saturday in West Kelowna.
The 15-year-old advances to the provincial Pacific Skate, March 4, in Cranbrook.
“I love competing and I just go out and have fun,” said Dennis. “If I fall, I just laugh.”
She gets coaching from Heather Stranks and Kelly Kirby with the Vernon Skating Club four days a week and works with Brittany Novakowski Sundays in Armstrong. She takes Fridays and Saturdays off to “hang out with my friends.”
Dennis performed a three-and-a-half-minute free skate to music by Irish singer Enya, nailing doubles, spins and spirals to impress the judges.
The 5-foot-2, Grade 10 VSS student is not a big hockey fan so trades friendly jabs with her younger brother Kyle, a Bantam goalie. Kyle has faster straight-a-way speed, but Taylan rules in backwards races.
Dennis will be joined at the B.C. finals by clubmates Gabrielle Balcaen and Hannah Love.
Balcaen, 12, struck silver in the Preliminary Ladies class, where she also won the artistic award. Love, 13, was fourth in the same category.
Vernon coach Heather Stranks, who coaches the trio along with Kelly Kirby, is impressed with the improvement shown by the girls.
“They are all hard-working skaters and they have all improved in their jumping, and are doing more doubles than last year,” said Stranks.
“They are all more artistic this year. It comes from practising and interpreting the music, being in tune.”
Balcaen, a Grade 7 Coldstream Elementary student, loved skating right away and has been with the local club since age six. She was fully prepared for regionals.
“It’s my passion, it’s what I love to do,” said the well-spoken pre-teen. “I landed all my jumps and did my spins and all my artistic moves. It was my best skate ever.”
Balcaen says her family and others describe “me as a graceful skater.”
As for her future in the sport, she said: “I guess coaching would be an option, but I wouldn’t mind judging.”
Love, who turned 14 on Jan. 2, tried CanSkate when she was four. She didn’t care for the early-morning practices, but she always made the best of them.
“I just try to smile and just try to do what I love,” said Love, a Grade 8 Kalamalka student. “It takes the nerves away.”
Finishing fourth was a solid placing since the field began with three groups of 12.
While Love admits “it would be cool to coach one day”, her talents in other sports will likely determine where she spends her time.
She also excels in soccer, where she was a striker with a provincial Under 13 team last season in Richmond. She attends the Whitecaps Soccer Academy and plays high school hoops as a guard.
