The Quesnel Figure Skating Club is hoping for another banner year, despite a slew of changes, including a visit from Kurt Browning.
The QFSC won the one-day seminar by Kurt Browning in Skate Canada’s “Show it off” video contest.
The contest, designed to promote Skate Canada’s new logo, asked figure skating clubs across Canada to produce a three-minute video showing how they incorporated the new Skate Canada pennants into their community.
Although Skate Canada made the selection last January, the grand dame of Quesnel figure skating, Sharon Chow, is still walking around with mile-wide smile.
“It’s going to be great,” Chow said of the one-day seminar with Kurt Browning that was the first-place prize in the Skate Canada contest.
An exact date for the seminar has yet to be determined.
Chow, entering her 50th year as a member of the QFSC, both as a skater and a coach, has a very simple motivation that keeps bringing her back to Twin Arenas.
“The kids,” she said with a big grin.
The kids are also an important part behind Dacia Kimmie’s decision to join the QFSC coaching staff.
“Getting to be on the ice with the kids,” Kimmie said was what got her into coaching.
Passing on the joy of skating.”
Kimmie, a native of Quesnel, has skated, a former skater with QFSC, coached for five years in Prince George while attending UNBC for her B. Ed.
Kimmie is teaching the CanSkate program for beginners and skaters not quite ready to slide into competitive or non-competitive figure skating streams.
JoAnn Nadalin, in her 21st year as a figure skating coach, sixth with the QFSC, admits there are challenges this year.
Described as an excellent coach and choreographer by Chow, Nadalin points to the competition schedule and ranking and scoring systems.
Although QFSC skaters have been training for about a month now, in anticipation of competitions in Kamloops and Prince George over the next several weeks, they are still behind the eight ball, because clubs in larger cities have ice available year-round, giving them an advantage in terms of fitness and the amount of time they can dedicate to their routines.
Compounding the issue, skaters are now ranked province-wide based on a rolling average of their three best scores.
For skaters with access to ice year-round, the new ranking scheme isn’t a problem as they can work on their routines and enter competitions during the summer and improve their ranking as the season progresses.
“Some clubs have already attended three competitions,” Nadalin said.
By contrast, QFSC skaters have only three competitions, the minimum, to establish a ranking.
Despite the changes imposed by Skate Canada, Nadalin is optimistic.
“I expect our skaters will fall in the top ten across the province,” Nadalin said with confidence.
“But there is little room for error because we have little time to prepare and few opportunities to improve.”
Nadalin’s optimism, comes in part from changes in the scoring system which puts more emphasis on required elements as opposed to creativity of a program, a change Nadalin feels will not hamper QFSC skaters.