a gift, and I think all of the coaches here have that gift. Last season was a big suc- cess, we had five teams at Worlds, which made us very happy.” Diane Moore, mother of novice
champion Holly, has seen it all from al- most the beginning. In 2008, she began making weekend treks from Cleveland to bring her daughter and her partner to DSC. Tis June, they relocated to the Detroit area to train there full-time. “Te coaches check their pride at the door and work together, and the skaters follow that example,” Moore said. “We say, there are two Russians, who are demanding about technique; two Ital- ians, to supply the passion and artistry; and Liz, who really knows the rulebook and can stand there with a stopwatch [to time lifts] and make sure it’s all correct. “One day, Holly and Daniel were
working on a piece that Kaitlyn and Andrew had done. Anjelika put a spread eagle into the choreography, and she just grabbed Kaitlyn and said, ‘Show them how you did it.’ All of the kids are so supportive of each other; they hang out together on weekends and play volley- ball.”
Te 18-year-old Klaber thinks train- ing with the world’s best makes gaining that elite status yourself seem attainable.
“You’ll take a break in the lobby and
start playing cards with someone who has competed at Worlds,” he said. “You realize they’re just normal people, and it makes you feel getting to that level is within your reach.”
Tis season may be the group’s best
yet. Olson and Hubbell, along with a new junior team, Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, will make their inter- national debuts. Aldridge and Eaton, who won bronze at the Junior Grand Prix Final and World Junior Figure Skating Championships last season, are expected to challenge for gold. Hubbell and Donohue will again compete for one of the three U.S. ice dance spots at the 2013 World Championships, and Pechalat and Bourzat — as well as Weav- er and Poje — should contend for the World podium. “So far, everything has gone so well,” Camerlengo said. “Of course I knock on wood. What I did, I chose the right peo- ple to work together, people I knew would create good chemistry. “And that also goes for the skaters
we have here, they are fabulous people. Tey really stick together and support each other, and that is why we love the atmosphere here in the ice dance group at Detroit Skating Club.”
The first-year ice dancing team of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue celebrate in the kiss and cry in San Jose with coaches Massimo Scali and Pasquale Camerlengo.
Detroit Skating Club coaches (l-r) Massimo Scali, Anjelika Krylova, Pasquale Camerlengo, Liz Punsalan, Natalia Annenko-Deller function as one unit. Fans often see Scali, Krylova and Camerlengo in the kiss and cry, but Krylova said Punsalan and Annenko-Deller’s focus on technique, including stroking and edge classes, makes the difference. “Everybody is trying to get dramatic elements, but they work on line, unison, how skaters glide. Too many coaches don’t do that enough,” Krylova said.