Although they only came home with one bronze medal between them, the 10 members of the Barrhead Figure Skating Club had a successful weekend Nov. 25-26 in Drayton Valley.
Competing at the Northwest Region Open, the members of the club who made the trip performed “very well,” said club spokesperson Diane Magill.
It was the first event of the year for the skaters, she said, and the competition was quite tough.
“They were up against a lot of other clubs that have been practising for a lot longer,” she said, which made it more challenging for the Barrhead skaters to break through.
Amanda Horner was the only skater to come away with a medal, winning a bronze in the womens junior bronze free skate on the Friday.
Also part of the competition was a qualifying skate for the 2012 Alberta Winter Games coming to the Stony Plain and Spruce Grove area in February. Horner and Alyssa Albertson competed in the run-off skate, but failed to qualify for the games, finishing fourth and seventh in the event, respectively.
There are four more competitions spread out through the winter, Magill said. It’s up to the individual skaters to decide if they want to compete in all of them, but the majority choose to take part.
At the moment, there are approximately 100 skaters in the club, the most of which are girls, Magill said. At the younger age levels there are more boys, but as they age they tend to leave the club, whereas the girls tend to stick with it.
Progression through the levels of lessons the club offers is based on skill and not age. When a skater has successfully mastered the skills at one level, he or she can advance to the next.
At the higher levels, several of the skaters also serve as assistant coaches for the younger and newer skaters, Magill said.
The coaching staff the club has on hand is well qualified, she said, adding they all have between eight and 26 years of coaching experience.
