Foremost Skating Club brings Nutcracker to ice

Commentator/Courier Photo submitted

By Anna Smith
Commentator/Courier

The Foremost Skating Club was excited to show off their new skills at their annual holiday show on December 12, this year themed around the Nutcracker.
This was the first show with their new Skate Canada coach, Ashley Janzen, who was thrilled to be putting together the showcase, said Ellen Geldreich, president of the skating club.

“She did a really good job, and the skaters did so well,” said Geldreich. “It was so fun to see their progress from October. We had some really nice decorations. It was lovely.”

The event itself was fairly “low-key,” according to Geldreich, but they were able to put together decorations and a brief program to allow each skater to hit the ice and show off their skills once, as well as share cookies and oranges in a social mixer after the fact.

“We have eight star skaters this year. And all of them did a solo. So some of them it was their second solo, but there were a few that it was their very first solo. So that was really exciting to see,” said Geldreich.

The arena saw a great deal of nerves from some of these skaters, but their spirits were bright, and they all did wonderfully; while there were a few falls, the energy remained high and encouraging, and the skaters were able to make their moment in the spotlight count.

“My daughter tried to cheer them on, she’s like, ‘hey, even Olympic skaters fall.’ And they overcame their nerves,” said Geldreich. “And some of them just performed amazingly with big smiles on their faces. Other ones you could tell they were really, really concentrating, but they still did very well.”

Finding a coach to be present for the skaters in a small town had been difficult, said Geldreich, but the club is fortunate to have their constant coach, as well as Rileigh Powell who’s willing to come out from Lethbridge roughly once a week to work with the skaters on some of the more difficult techniques.

The pair make a good team, said Geldreich, as the coach from Lethbridge finds putting on shows to be “not her thing,” but the more local coach loves the event, making them a perfect compliment to each other.

“We’re really happy to finally have a strong club again,” said Geldreich.