Skating where the sagebrush grows
Sparkling costumes, glittering ice and shimmering blades will fill the George S. Eccles Ice Center for the first collegiate figure skating competition in Utah. USU’s Figure Skating Club will host the competition from Feb. 7-9. There will be teams from several states, and 225 skaters are signed up to compete.
According to Kyra Hoctor, club president and head coach, people across the western United States will be in attendance.
“In all honesty, I’m just excited for so many athletes to come and see Utah as a whole,” Hoctor said. “A lot of people that we’ve talked to have never been to Utah before, so teams from California and Arizona are really excited to come and experience it.”
Hoctor said there will be several events.
“We have our team event, and then we’ve got singles, so we have men’s and women’s events, and then we have free skates,” Hoctor said. “There are short programs, and we have some ice dance events as well.”
Hoctor also shared what event she’s most looking forward to.
“Event-wise, I’m really looking forward to team maneuvers,” Hoctor said. “It’s where each school has a team on the ice, performing different elements and competing against each other. And that’s the only time it’s team competing against team. Everything else is individual because skating is a really individual sport.”
Brook Loveless, the social media manager for the club, said she’s looking forward to watching senior men’s and women’s free skate. She’s also competing and excited to perform. She said the music with lyrics she’s selected is a new experience for her.
“I just really enjoyed the way that the music flows,” Loveless said. “So in the past, I’ve actually had performances with no words, just instrumental. I felt like I couldn’t really feel the music as much. But this kind of helps me feel it more.”
Adelynn Shirts, the club’s volunteer, fundraising and outreach co-chair, also shared what events she’s looking forward to watching.
“I’m most looking forward to watching the senior ladies long and short programs,” Shirts said. “They’re like our highest level skaters. They’ve been doing this their entire lives, and they come basically every single morning and work their butts off, and you can really tell in their programs.”
Shirts is also competing in two events, a program and a pattern dance. She explained that a pattern dance is a dance where every competitor performs the same movements, and scores are given based on the quality of their work.
“I’m doing a pattern dance that I’m really excited for,” Shirts said. “It’s been something that I’ve practiced on my own and haven’t really had much direction from my coaches on, and so I’m excited to see how that ends up coming out.”
When it comes to the club itself, Hoctor said it’s grown quite a bit since she joined, allowing them to host competitions like the one coming up.
“It’s really been awesome to see the club grow and see how many people have joined,” Hoctor said. “When I started, we had maybe 10 members, and now we have 35.”
Hoctor said the growth is not just in numbers but in skill.
“We’ve seen people that had never even learned how to skate before now competing for the first time,” Hoctor said. “The first time they put skates on was maybe two years ago, and now they’re competing, and they never would have had that opportunity if we hadn’t posted.”
Loveless also shared what she loves about being part of the club.
“I really love all of the coaches, and it’s a lot cheaper than what you could get elsewhere, like for teaching how to skate, which is not something that you can come across pretty easily,” Loveless said.
The club is $25 to join, with two practices a week. Shirts added to Loveless’ statements.
“I have really loved getting to know people,” Shirts said. “Figure skating is a very solitary sport, so it’s not very often you get the opportunity to participate in a team or group setting. And so being part of our practices like this and getting to know people and being able to support everyone and also get that support at competitions has been my favorite part. It’s been the thing that’s kept me coming back.”
Club members also requested their fellow Aggies show up to the competition.
“We’re really hoping we can see some of our fellow students and even staff and faculty and professors at the university and other members of the community come and support us,” Shirts said. “We’ve been working really hard to make this a great experience for everyone involved.”
For more information about the competition and the club in general, visit their Instagram account @usufigureskating