Coaldale Figure Skating Club celebrates 50 years

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Sunny South News

By Nerissa McNaughton
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Coaldale Figure Skating Club (CFSC) is celebrating an incredible milestone this year – 50 years of bringing the art and beauty of skating to life for hundreds of participants and show goers. As plans for the March 29 carnival marking this event are underway, the president and several past presidents look back on what has made the Club special to them and the community for half a century.

Nikki Arnott

Current President

Arnott is excited about how the anniversary celebration ties into past carnivals.

“This year is a very special year for our Club. It is our 50th anniversary and we will be celebrating by having our carnival on March 29th. We will be recreating carnival numbers from past shows and will be using costumes from those past performances as well. We are excited to have a parent number this year in the carnival. This number has some past skaters from the Club who are now parents of current skaters, highlighting the impact that our Club has on the community through generations.”

She adds, “I am very grateful to be on the board with amazing individuals who have volunteered countless hours to make sure the Club runs smoothly. They are a wonderful group of dedicated parents that I have developed strong friendships with.”

With her two daughters skating with the Club for six years, Arnott has seen the impact of the Club firsthand. She describes, “Through those years I have seen huge growth in not only their abilities and skills as skaters but their confidence and work ethic. This is directly due to the quality of our amazing coaching team who work together to mentor/guide and develop the whole skater.”

Arnott has been on the board for the last five years and has held roles as the assistant carnival coordinator, fundraising/social media coordinator, and vice president before becoming the current president. 

“I honestly love being a part of the board and this Club. There is something magical about a Club that supports skaters in developing skills all while having fun. We have 70+ skaters this year enrolled in PreCanSkate, CanSkate, and STARSkate programs.”

Carla Ens

Past President 

Ens was the Club secretary for two years before serving as president from 2022-2024. She is now the past president for a one-year term.

“A fond memory for me is when we were able to finally perform the carnival from 2020. (Enchanted Take 2) The skaters had worked so hard and we had to shut down the day after the dress rehearsal [due to COVID]. After the challenges and stresses of COVID, it felt extra meaningful to be able to put on that show,” says Ens.

She has enjoyed seeing the STAR skate program grow, especially over the past four years. 

“We are up to 21 skaters and as a result had to revamp how the program was structured for this season. It simply became unsafe to try and accommodate all the skaters on the ice at once. With the change, the coaches have been able to better instruct the skaters according to skill levels.” Ens explains.”

“I wish people could realize how fortunate we are to have the coaches that we do,” she adds. “In 2023 only our wonderful head coach (Jessica) had chosen to stay for the following season, so we were faced with the task of hiring. There were no applicants and figure skating coaches are not easy to find! There are specific rules about coach-to-skater ratios and with only one coach, our class sizes would have had to be much smaller. CFSC decided to assist two of our senior skaters to train to become certified to coach the CanSkate programs. This allowed us to operate with the same class sizes we were accustomed to offering. Fortunately, we also were able to hire a second STAR skate coach last season and this season.”

Carley Campbell

President for the 2020/2022 season

As with the other past presidents, Campbell cites 2020 as one of the Club’s biggest challenges – and praises how they overcame it as a team.

“It was very disappointing when the Carnival titled An Enchanted Journey was cancelled in 2020 the day before we were set to perform. Thankfully, we were able to showcase the skaters in 2022 with ‘An Enchanted Journey Take 2’. It was a fantastic show and proved just how resilient the Club is, in addition to continuing to increase membership after shutting down completely.”

She adds, “The Club has always strived to adapt to the needs of its membership. This has included bringing in new programming such as CanPowerSkate or dividing the STAR group this year due to the large number of skaters involved. We have been lucky to have a strong coaching staff throughout the years who provide our skaters with opportunities to work on their skills individually and as a group.”

Campbell wishes everyone knew, “How much work goes on behind the scenes that has kept the Club running for the last 50 years. CFSC is extremely proud of our dedicated parent volunteers who put in countless hours each year to guarantee this program continues to run. From the parents on the board to the program assistants who volunteer their time each week, they are what help to make the Club a success. We are so thankful for these volunteers.”

Sandra Smith 

President for the 2019-2020 & 2020-2021 seasons

In addition to being a past president, Smith has sat on the board for many years and has been part of the fundraising committee.

“One of the fun memories that I have with the Club is probably the year end carnival, and working with the parents, volunteers, board, coaches, and the theatres to pull it together. It is a joy to see the skaters are working on it and then highlighting the skills they learned through the year.”

Smith continues, “The Club is very well maintained and very active. A highlight is our learn-to-skate program and how it is such an effective way for kids to learn. I like to see how some have progressed their journey from there. Some have gone on to hockey, others to speed skating or competitive skating, for example.”

For Smith, the board is an integral part of the journey.

“The board has always been very supportive of the skaters, the coaches, and those that want to up-skill to coach.”

She cites the, “Friendships these skaters developed in the Club as well as with other clubs when we do workshops,” as a clear highlight. However, seeing all the hard work the board, volunteers coaches, and skaters put in only to have COVID shut the 2020 carnival down the day before as a true challenge they had to overcome.

Still, the good memories far outweigh the challenges, including the opportunities for the skaters such as the workshop from Olympian Eric Radford during the Thank You Canada Tour (2018).