Sports Page

   If one were to say that the Crowsnest Pass Figure Skating Club has been up and down, one would only be referring to jumps and landings –– as far as the club goes, it’s been smooth skating through fun and hard work as they head into the new year.

   The Figure Skating Club is one of the longest-running recreational groups in the Pass, stretching back through more than half a century of operation. With roughly 50 current young skaters in the club, they continue to offer numerous programs on the ice.

   Coaches Irene Fraser and Corrina Labey steer the youth through preschool skating (ages 3-5), the CanSkate program (for anyone learning how to skate), the Group Skate program (getting into higher levels and competitions) and the StarSkate program (for more advanced skaters). They also offer prepower skating and power skating to improve hockey skating skills.

   Three of the advanced skaters –– Jillian Montalbetti, Brooke Dorge, and Heather Anctil –– help out with coaching the other members, and Elena Breier helps coach the pre-school students. “I love it,” says Fraser, who has been coaching the club fulltime for two years now. “It’s neat to see all the kids progress through their skills. That’s why I do it.”

   Linda Dorge, President of the Figure Skating Club, says that the club has seen great progress and that they are making excellent use of available ice time. The figure skaters are on the ice a total of 14 hours over four nights every week. Dorge adds that with the demands of other user groups and the needs of volunteers and school-aged children, the figure skaters wouldn’t be able to offer as many programs if they had to work in only one arena. She is glad that two are available in the Pass.

   “The club is doing very well,” she says. “The kids are progressing really well. We have a good group of kids and a great group of parents.” The club is currently fundraising to buy a curtain for the Coleman Sports Complex, to use in their annual skating carnival. The curtain would give the skaters a good private “backstage” area on one section of the ice, where they can prepare for their performances at centre ice.

   Dorge says that they currently have around $5000 raised through their own efforts and donations. The curtain project will cost $10,000 in total. The club plans to get the money entirely on their own to take pride and ownership of the curtain, which would be available for other groups to rent out. Beyond their regular sessions, the figure skaters travel to competitions such as a recent one in Sparwood and another coming up in February. They were able to watch Jamie Salé and David Pelletier skate in Cranbrook recently as well. “Before we had Irene as a coach, we never got into competitions or testing or anything,” says StarSkater Jillian Montalbetti. Fellow StarSkater Brooke Dorge agrees that they have great coaching and a lot of fun in the club.

   This year’s skating carnival will be sometime in March, a big event that all the skaters look forward to.