rinkside
SALT LAKE FIGURE SKATING HOSTS INTERNATIONAL GATHERING
Salt Lake Figure Skating (SLFS) and Salt
Lake City Sports Complex partnered for the second annual International Summer of Skat- ing. More than 50 skaters from Austria, Cana- da, Estonia, Kazakhstan and Russia participat- ed with SLFS club members. Coaches Igor Pashkevich, Tiiu Valgemae
and Lisa Kriley organized and coordinated the summer-long training retreat. Karen McCauley, SLFS vice president,
sorted out visa issues and skater housing ar- rangements, which included the internation- al skaters being housed with local SLFS fami-
Snowplow Sam welcomes two new
skaters to the Louisville Skating Academy.
Skaters work on their elements and overall skills at the International Summer of Skating.
lies. Training disciplines featured power skat-
ing, on-ice edge instruction, spin and jump classes, ballet sessions and off -ice strength and conditioning. Also converging on the SLC Sports Com-
plex were the Ice Crystals, a Moscow-based ice theatre group with its coaches Victoria Prusova and Vladimir Grunchev. Coach Jana
SNOWPLOW SAM VISITS LOUISVILLE
U.S. Figure Skating Basic Skills Program
mascot Snowplow Sam helped area children kick off the new school year with a visit to the Louisville Skating Academy in Louisville, Ky. Organizers brought in the friendly bear to launch the academy’s start-of-the-school-year Basic Skills program and its Fire and Ice Show and Carnival. “We saw an opportunity to use the mas-
cot to create some special excitement during the fi rst day of classes and to add to the fun at- mosphere of the carnival that same weekend,” said Rebecca Hatch-Purnell, skating director of the Louisville Skating Academy. “In addition, we wanted to get some great photos to use in marketing materials and on our website. We thought the bear would help communicate our message.”
Hubler and members of CEV Club Vienna, featuring senior skaters Kira Geil and Tobias Eisenbauer, added an ice-dancing element to the overall instruction. The Salt Lake City Sports Complex is a
legacy venue of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and features two Olympic-size ice sheets. Planning is under way to replicate and expand the training opportunities for 2013.
The success of its Basic Skills program
creates the foundation of the Louisville Skat- ing Academy, as it brings new skaters to the club, but also subsidizes training programs, Hatch-Purnell said. Fire and Ice involves both a show, with
performances by Louisville Skating Academy skaters, and a carnival, with games and con- cessions. This event serves as the club’s region- al send-off party and a major fundraiser. Three Louisville Skating Academy mem-
bers played the role of Snowplow Sam. Car- men Riggs, one of the club’s instructors, said, “It was hot as the dickens in that outfi t but I loved it, especially seeing the reactions of the little skaters.” Claire Purnell and Meredith Nee, both
skaters, also played Snowplow Sam and are thinking of auditioning as mascots in college someday.
MUSIC CIT Y FSC HONORS LATE COACH WITH ‘TICKLED PINK’ BENEFIT Members of Karen Gibbons’ family, her
When the Music City Figure Skating Club
in Nashville, Tenn., decided to honor one of its own earlier this year, it found out just what it means to belong to the fi gure skating family. The Music City FSC hosted a Tickled Pink
benefi t interpretative skate event in honor of coach Karen Gibbons, who passed away in 2011 from breast cancer. The event took place at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville. More than 70 children and adults from
participating rinks dressed in their fi nest, funkiest pink attire to skate to pink-themed music, with props such as plastic fl amingoes, pink feather boas and pink hula hoops. Ice Girls from the Nashville Predators and
representatives of Vanderbilt University Med- ical Center served as guest judges.
44 NOVEMBER 2012
students and fellow coaches participated or attended. Several of Gibbons’ students hon- ored her memory by skating with pink rib- bons attached to their costumes.
Club members presented a check this summer for $1,200 to the Breast Center at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. The money will be used to buy gas cards for patients with limited resources, who must travel long distances to receive chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Gibbons taught skating and man-
aged skating programs in California and Tennessee for 30 years. She was a member and supporter of both United States Figure Skating (USFS) and the
Ice Skating Institute (ISI). The Music City Fig- ure Skating Club is a USFS member club.
Friends of the late Karen Gibbons came together to take part in a skating benefi t show titled Tickled Pink to help people and their families who are facing breast cancer.
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