The future holds exciting times for the Salmon Arm Skating Club.
Come Feb. 25, members of the club will be participating in a seminar led by four-time World Champion, Canadian Champion, three-time Olympian and all-round figure-skating great, Kurt Browning. He was also the first skater to land a ratified quadruple jump in competition, placing him in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“I just love him. It is incredible, we’re very, very lucky,” said Angela Inglis, vice-president of the club.
She explained she sent Browning an email last summer, “kind of a shot in the dark,” because she and president Crystal DeBoer weren’t sure if he works with smaller clubs.
He does. The club was able to book the Spectator Arena in the Shaw Centre from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 25, with a short break from 11 to 11:30 a.m.
Browning will be teaching the club’s competitive skaters from 7 to 9:30 a.m. and again from 12:45 to 2:30 p.m.
Although registration is full, Inglis said people are more than welcome to stop by the arena between 7 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. if they’d like to watch Browning work with the kids.
“He is not performing – we don’t want people to feel like they’re coming to see him perform, they’re coming to see him teach.”
Fortunately the seminars the professional skaters put on are quite reasonable in price, she said.
Last year the club was able to book Kaetlyn Osmond, whose seminar was held in Sicamous due to availability of ice time. Just 27 years old, Osmond is described as a three-time Canadian national champion, who also won three Olympic medals and two World Championship medals.
The club’s coaches are always excited to try new things and like to offer bigger city experiences for a small community, Inglis said.
“We shot for the stars with Kurt Browning and he said yes. Now we’re unstoppable,” she smiled.
“We’re all very excited,” added DeBoer. “It’s really exciting.”
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Read more: Salmon Arm athletes head to Maritimes for PEI 2023 Canada Winter Games
martha.wickett@saobserver.net
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