A fantastic showing for the Whitecourt Skating Club two weekends in a row!

The Whitecourt Skating Club held its first area STARSkate Invitational Competition in five years on the first and second of February at the Scott Safety Centre. Skating clubs from within the Northeast/Northwest zone descended on the local rink to take part in the two-day affair. A total of 258 entries were received for the competition with several skaters taking part in multiple events.

Skaters were broken down into levels from STAR1 up to STAR9. Both the Athabasca and McLeod rinks were utilized as the entire facility was overrun with different setups including a raffle table fundraiser, a main sign up area, and outfits and embellishments for purchase. On top of that, every space that wasn’t being used by organizers was used by skaters as they prepared for their skates within the halls.

“Skaters come, they check in, and then they complete their programs. There are judges who judge their programs and, based on their performances are awarded scores for levels STAR4 and up. The top three performances end up on the podium and receive medals. STAR3 skaters and under are competing against themselves. They are judged on the level of their skills in spins, jumps, and techniques then are awarded bronze, silver, or gold ribbons,” explained Tasha Smith, Competition Chair.

Roughly 20 skaters took part from the Whitecourt area with the rest of the attendees coming in from out of town. The previous weekend in Grande Prairie at the Peace Region STARSkate Invitational & AB North Arctic Games Runoffs, the Whitecourt Skating Club did very well, and skaters were looking to have the same type of success at home. “It was a huge success for the club!” In fact, all podium skates resulted in a medal except for one.

The Whitecourt Skating Club has seen success in continuing to grow its numbers and introduce new skaters to the sport. “We are doing amazing. We brought up a bunch of our CanSkate children and we started a Junior Academy Club. So, we have our Junior Academy skaters, Juniors, Intermediates, and Seniors. We have 36 or 37 STARSkaters and we also run our CanSkate program which fills up within 24 to 48 hours. We are actually doing phenomenal,” explained Smith.

The CanSkate program starts children as young as four years old and is not only for future figure skaters but also hockey players. “We get hockey kids who come in just to learn how to skate then they head off to hockey and we don’t see them in the program again, but we are always moving skaters up from our CanSkate program into our STARSkate program.”

Smith credits dedicated parents and volunteers with making the weekend run smoothly and is grateful for their support. “Our team is amazing. Our president Karli Wilson is phenomenal, and we are trying to convince her that she is never allowed to leave,” laughed Smith. “I think without the group of moms that we have, this wouldn’t be possible. We would be in bad shape without them and their support of this program,” she smiled.

Action from Saturday included Amanda Wilson winning silver in STAR6 Women’s Freeskate Flight B, Victoria Ferguson winning silver in STAR4 U13 Flight C, Torianna Hendrickson winning bronze in STAR4 U13 Flight C, and a gold for McKenna Danyluk in STAR4 U13 Flight B.