By Lexi Rohner ANT(s)
They call themselves the (Adult
National Team)
and their coach, Tracey Damigel- la-Lohse, is the one who pushes them to be the best they can be. Lynn Kendrick, Kathy Morris, Shanik Hughes, Todd Maine and George Prieto train under Damigel- la-Lohse at the Pines Figure Skating Club in Pembroke Pines, Fla. “My adults are very serious
about skating, testing and com- peting, and four medaled at the 2012 U.S. Adult Championships,” said Damigella-Lohse, who com- peted nationally and internation- ally for the United States and was a World Team alternate in 1986. She’s been coaching for 17 years. Below are capsules of each member of Damigella-Lohse’s army of ANT(s).
LYNN KENDRICK, 39 MIAMI LAKES, FLA.
ADULT GOLD FREE SKATE Kendrick has worked with Da-
migella-Lohse for the past year, restoring her jumps, spins and love of performing. “I really enjoy working with
Tracey and I realized age is not lim- iting,” Kendrick said. Kendrick skated as a child
and went on to perform with the Southfi eld Ice Company for 13 years and in several other ice shows as a featured skater in De- troit. She stopped in 1999 but always felt there was something missing.
“I still woke up at 4 a.m. though
I was done skating,” said Kendrick, who is an academic aff airs asso- ciate dean at Keiser University. She earned her doctoral degree in 2010, near the time her father passed away. “My mother shared that my
father was disappointed I wasn’t skating, and I realized how import- ant it was to me and my whole family,” she said. Now skating fi ve days a week,
Kendrick has competed several times, placing fourth out of 25 her fi rst time out at the U.S. Adult
TEAM TRACEY WELCOMES ALL CHALLENGES
Hughes recalls a both funny
and embarrassing moment as she performed a Biellmann spin at a mall rink. “I was showing off and fell on
my face,” Hughes said.
TODD MAINE, 48 FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. ADULT SILVER FREE SKATE
Maine started training under
Damigella-Lohse in 2003 and he’s missed only one lesson with her in that time. He skates eight to 10 hours weekly. “I rise at the crack of dawn,
(Back row, l-r) Shanik Hughes, George Prieto, Kathy Morris, Todd Maine and Lynn Kendrick; (front row) Tracey Damigella-Lohse
Championships. Discovering 450 competitors supporting each oth- er was an enriching and powerful moment. “I know I can pick up after 12
years,” Kendrick said. “All I need is courage, and what the morn- ing kid skaters say, ‘Just jump and hope for the best.’”
KATHY MORRIS, 43 PEMBROKE PINES, FLA.
ADULT BRONZE FREE SKATE
Morris skated on frozen Mich- igan lakes between the ages of 3 and 11. She resumed the sport at age 39 with a full addiction. She wakes up at 4:45 a.m. and skates three days a week before going into work as a pediatric hospital blood bank supervisor. The mother of two adult daugh-
ters is big on goal-setting, and Damigella-Lohse is right there to make sure she reaches those goals. “She has more faith in my abil- ities than I do,” Morris said. “That’s exactly what I need to keep going.” It took Morris three years to
land fl ips and three tries to pass the adult bronze free skate. “I never thought of myself as a strong person and don’t enjoy the
spotlight,” said Morris, who solicit- ed the help of a sports psycholo- gist to pass her bronze free skate. “But the perseverance I demon- strate in skating shows me I’m a fi ghter.”
SHANIK HUGHES, 25 MIAMI, FLA.
ADULT SILVER FREE SKATE Hughes knows she is extreme-
ly hard on herself and wants to accomplish everything instanta- neously. She’s currently striving to master all the double jumps. “Skating means so much more than just a sport,” said Hughes, who trains four hours weekly and spends six hours training off ice, in- cluding ballet. “It’s my psychologi- cal therapy where I can strive to be better. Skating has taught me about patience and perseverance in every way.” An actress, singer and dancer,
Hughes’ music manager bought her a set of four-hour skating les- sons three years ago. In the face of her ambitious
nature, Hughes is able to laugh at herself, while Damigella-Lohse helps her work through her big- gest competition challenge: build- ing program stamina.
which requires early nights, be- cause it’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever done,” said Maine, who has been a hair salon owner for 12 years. Skating, he said, has taken
him to many corners of the globe and allowed him to make use of his profi cient Spanish, moderate French and very limited Russian. He still skates with members of
his beginner’s class from a decade ago.
“They’ve grown before my
eyes into beautiful people and mind-blowing skaters,” he said.
GEORGE PRIETO, 53 FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.
ADULT BRONZE FREE SKATE Damigella-Lohse has guided
Prieto’s skating career since 2010. “She’s taken me through my
silver moves, two State Games and the U.S. Adult Championships,” said Prieto, who works in health- care sales and marketing. Prieto, who was turned on to
skating after watching a competi- tion on television, enjoys tackling new elements. His favorite is an outside spread eagle. “Nerves are diffi cult, but hav- ing enough wind to fi nish strong is my biggest concern,” he said. Prieto skates three to fi ve times
a week. He has been his club’s vice president for fi ve years. “I passed my tests on the fi rst
try and I’ve medaled at every com- petition,” he said.
SKATING 41
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