Skating coach welcomes new start

Deborah Lloyd-Jones never met a sheet of ice she didn’t like.
“I lived a mile away from the rink growing up in P.E.I.—my second home was the rink,” said the energetic new coach of the Border Skating Club, who takes over this season from Tanis Williamson.
“I’m always happy as long as I’m on the ice.”
Lloyd-Jones is not your typical figure skating guru as her arena education isn’t exclusive to the finesse-filled sport.
Her high school girls’ hockey team won the P.E.I. provincial championship two-straight years, and she looked quite comfortable outfitted with her helmet and hockey stick while teaching powerskating lessons at the Ice for Kids Arena here late last month.
“There’s not that much difference [between hockey and figure skating],” theorized Lloyd-Jones, who spent the last two years coaching skating in Truro, N.S.
“If you look at a hockey skate and an ice dance skate, they have pretty much the same length of blade.”
Lloyd-Jones has had more than one brush with celebrity in her travels, as she trained alongside such notable skaters as world professional pairs champion Lesley Pearce and eight-time national champion Steven Cousins of Great Britain.
But while those on-ice mates feel at ease in front of big crowds, Lloyd-Jones has adopted a philosophy during her 18 years of coaching figure skating that bigger is not always better—thus her decision to move to Fort Frances.
“I was offered to coach at a place with 2,000 kids,” recalled Lloyd-Jones. “I have three kids of my own already. This size of a place provides a nice balance between work and family life.
“I would like to raise my children here. I’ll stay as long as the club finds me useful in enhancing the children’s progress,” she added.
Also possessing a background in martial arts and kinesiology, Lloyd-Jones was drawn to the Border Skating Club by the administrative part of the job, as well.
“I wanted to be with a club that would encourage me to use all my talents,” she said. “I like the chance to be able to show what I know.”
Lloyd-Jones’ passion for figure skating stems from its capacity to combine sport and artistry.
“I love studying the technique of skating and why something works so well,” she stressed. “I think sport, in general, is a wonderful avenue for children to develop both physically and emotionally.
“And it’s great for parents, because they know their children are being looked after in a safe environment.”
The prospect of hosting this season’s regional figure skating championships at the Memorial Sports Centre in January already has the new coach tingling with excitement, and also very aware of the group effort needed to successfully pull off such an event.
“There’s a lot of preparation and you need a lot of volunteers,” she stressed. “This is a wonderful system here, and I’m just part of it.
“I may be the name and face you see in the paper, but there are a lot of people behind the scenes making it work,” she added.
“It really is a community project.”
As for the youth she’s had the chance to work with so far as part of the Can-Powerskating program, Lloyd-Jones had no end of praise.
“The skaters have worked diligently on their elements,” she said. “When I did my assessment of them, I found many of them have excellent elements. They’re wonderful, a great group of kids.
“They’re quick learners, they’ve been given a wonderful opportunity in this area, and it’s nice to see them taking advantage of the opportunity,” Lloyd-Jones added.
A total of 134 awards were handed out to the 50 participants in the Can-Powerskating program.
“The number was so remarkably high because more than half of the children had never been tested before, and because of their willingness to learn new techniques,” explained Lloyd-Jones.
“The purpose of the program is to teach new skills and techniques to develop a player’s speed and agility to be used in their hockey or ringette situations,” she added.