Glengarry Skating Club STARskaters performed their routines as they got ready for one of the biggest competitions this season.
“It gives them a chance to just get a bit of the nerves that are associated with competition, to try to acclimatize themselves to it,” said club coach Trevor Buttenham of the simulation held Feb.11 at McLaren Arena ahead of the Okanagan Regional Championship, Feb. 17 to 19 at Memorial Arena.
The Okanagan Regional Championship will feature 13 clubs and 257 skaters. Buttenham said the numbers are up from three years ago, yet standard for a regional competition. Buttenham watched as the skaters performed well. He even witnesses some positive surprises from their five-year-old skaters.
“It’s their first competition. You never know how that is going to go,” he said. “They all pulled through pretty well.”
The club has six first-time competitors.
“It’s exciting for them, it’s exciting for us,” he said. “These kids at this point, we got them originally when they were still in Can Skate. We have had them, literally, take their very first steps on the ice. To see them having progressed over the last three years to the point now where we see them take the next first step, which is that first competition, is a lot of fun actually.”
The Okanagan Regional Championship is free to the public. It runs from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sunday.