Skaters maintain their edge

Members of Dal's Figure Skating Club keep up their skills. (Danny Abriel Photo)

“It’s the only thing I’ve stuck with my whole entire life. I’ve been skating since I could walk and it’s just the one thing I’ve fallen in love with and just cannot seem to give up.

Danielle Barkhouse, secretary of Dalhousie’s Figure Skating Club, has been skating since she was five years old. Now, the kinesiology student glides gracefully over ice and lands double axles as if it were a walk in the park.

Fresh off the ice and rosy-cheeked, she says is looking forward to nailing some new jumps, competing in April and passing her Junior Free skate test.

Like Ms. Barkhouse, many members of the club have been skating for years and are gearing up for their next competitions. Other members skate with the club for the fun of it.
Club members meet several times per week to twirl, glide and jump across the freshly smoothed ice of the Dalhousie Memorial Arena.

With a maximum of 11 skaters permitted on the ice at a time, the skaters gradually work their way up to the harder moves throughout practice. At first they wheel around the rink in graceful ovals, with their arms arced out. By the end of practice some skaters are spinning on the spot at incredible speeds and flying through the air.

One thing to note about figure skating is that it is not exactly easy. During practice, the arena is filled with the sharp sound of metal scraping ice, and occasionally, the thud of a body hitting the ice.

“Once you get to trying harder things, you do a lot of falling,” says Devon Dander, an 18-year-old member of the club. “And you have to do a lot of falling in order to get better. But the falling often slows you down (because of injuries).”

Even so, nothing can beat it for keeping in shape and having a good time, she says.
Although Ms. Dander grew up skating, she took a break from it and started skating again through the club this season.

Dalhousie alumnus Don Murray, 52, has been in the club for six years and clearly has a passion for the sport. During practice, he was the first one on the ice and one of the last to leave.

“It really is a lot of work because your balance is constantly shifting and changing. You’ve got to be able to stay upright and look graceful at the same time,” he says.

“When you’re flying through the air on a jump, you’ve got to be able to keep everything solid, together, or else you’re going to fall and hurt yourself very badly, which I have done. Several times,” says Mr. Murray, who broke his ankle last March.

The risks associated with the sport explain why members of the club must join Skate Canada and be insured.

The benefit of figure skating with Dalhousie is that there are less people on the ice, the ice time is relatively cheap, and the rink is conveniently located on campus. Plus there are several practices a week to choose from.

“If I wasn’t able to skate through Dalhousie, I wouldn’t be able to skate right now. Through Dal, it’s affordable, it’s at convenient times for classes and it’s close,” says Amanda Jamieson, who has been skating for 10 years and is currently the president of the club.

The club is not just for students. Although students are priority, if there is extra space in the rink then it is opened to the public, as long as they are a member of the Dalplex and Skate Canada.