“Standing Ovations”
by Lesley Hawker
It’s 2002 and I am a 20-year-old skating in my first national championships ever. My debut is as a senior and I have been shadowing Jennifer Robinson, in hopes that whatever she does will rub off on me! I never made nationals at the novice or junior level and as I stepped onto the ice for my short program I breathed in all that amazing energy that comes only at the Canadian championships. The music, the cameras, the judges and the crowd. I don’t remember being scared (that feeling only creeps in with years of experience). I hit my opening pose and the music started, I seemed to float through the two opening jump passes. I came back to earth when I almost fell on the flying camel but continued to push through and finish with a clean short. My hands flew to my face as soon as the music ended. I watched my coach jump up and down and I bent forward crying, laughing and amazed that I had done it. And then the real surprise, as I went to take my curtesy everyone was on their feet. A standing ovation. Standing ovations were always my favourite reward. Continue reading “Alumni Spotlight: Hawker: Standing Ovations | Around the Rink: A. Paul & M. Islam”
Over a span of 26 years, Donald Gilchrist served on the International Skating Union, first as a member of the Figure and Pair Technical Committee and then as a Council Member. On the Council, he successfully lobbied the ISU to adopt synchronized skating as an ISU Sanctioned Event, a move that put synchro on the world figure skating map. 
