Dancing teens draw admirers - Preston Figure Skating Club
Dancing teens draw admirers - Preston Figure Skating Club
Dancing teens draw admirers - Preston Figure Skating Club
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<strong>Dancing</strong> <strong>teens</strong> <strong>draw</strong> <strong>admirers</strong><br />
<strong>Figure</strong> skating fans converge on Victoria to see rising stars<br />
BY MICHAEL D. REID, TIMES COLONIST JANUARY 23, 2011<br />
Couples in the Novice Pairs wait to warm up during Skate Canada's BMO Junior <strong>Figure</strong> <strong>Skating</strong> championships at the Saveon-Foods<br />
Memorial Centre.<br />
Photograph by: Adrian Lam, Times Colonist, Times Colonist<br />
Cherie Griffith doesn't hold back as she explains why she and her husband Jim are so passionate<br />
about figure skating.<br />
"We're nuts!" said the septuagenarian, who travelled here from White Rock for the BMO Skate<br />
Canada Junior National <strong>Figure</strong> <strong>Skating</strong> Championships, prelude to the senior-level Nationals that end<br />
today at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.<br />
"It's great to see them work through the system and know eventually they'll come to the other end. It's<br />
nice to watch them grow," Cherie said after watching Cambridge, Ont.'s Leah Hyslop and Bob<br />
Goodwin perform in the novice pairs category.<br />
The pair, who came in third with 36.55 points, were cheered on by coach Carol Wheeler and<br />
choreographer Michelle Wheeler.<br />
"These are young kids just getting started," Carol said. "They have a great future if they want to keep<br />
working for it."<br />
Alberta farmers Bill and Orial Miller flew in from Blackie, Alta., to watch grandson Drew Wolf, a shortprogram<br />
competitor.<br />
"It gets me out of feeding the cows," chuckled Bill with a tip of his Stetson. "The snowbank in our<br />
driveway was eight feet deep when we left. We had to take the tractor and dig a tunnel out."
Other out-of-towners included Ontario's Andrea Childs, balancing 21-month-old granddaughter Sofia<br />
Bertuccio on her knees.<br />
"She likes the 'ice ballerinas,' as we call them," Childs said.<br />
Her daughter-in-law Sonja Childs didn't need to be persuaded to check out the future stars on ice.<br />
"I'm a big sport fan, and I like to support our local athletes," she said. "I live around the corner, so it's<br />
kind of a no-brainer."<br />
And if an award were being handed out for fan fervour, it would have to go to Toronto's Bobbi Cocher,<br />
who sported a Canadiana outfit and jester-type hat and tossed gestures of appreciation onto the ice,<br />
including tiny handmade skates. "I've been doing this for years," said Cocher, 47. "I'm an adult ice<br />
dance skater myself."<br />
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist<br />
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Carol and Michelle Wheeler nibble on popcorn while waiting for the next act to begin.<br />
Photograph by: Adrian Lam, Times Colonist, Times Colonist
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