Mat-Su Figure Skating Club team heads to World Championships

The Mat-Su Figure Skating Club has been hard at work, sharpening skates, making finishing touches to costumes, and polishing up spins as they get ready for the Ice Sports Industry (ISI) World Championships in Chicago next month.

Coach Natasha Bowers explains that the team this year is among the biggest teams they’ve have, and the all-girl squad will be competing in a total of 48 events at the Worlds. The team consists of girls ages 6 to 18, who have been hard at work all season. The team has won every in-state competition this year, which hasn’t been done for at least 20 years.

“We’ve been on a good streak,” says Bowers. The team went to the ICI Nationals last year with a small team of 11 girls and placed 7th out of 26 teams.

“We did way better than expected last year, so it’s been great to build on that this year,” added Coach Jessica McDonnell.

During the full season, the team has 25 skaters, made up primarily of girls and 1or 2 boys.

“We’ve got a varied group of skaters. Our youngest is 5 right now and 18 that are actively skating.”

Among the skating programs people can expect to see at the Worlds, there will be individual skates, group skate, collegiate programs, adult skate programs, and couples and pairs skates.

“There are bigger productions with props and multiple costume changes. There’s everything. There are skaters as young as 2 doing skate solos all the way up to people in their 80s competing,” explained Bowers.

One of the many highlights for the team will be presenting the “First Responder” group skate, honoring various first responders including branches of the military, police, fire, doctors and nurses.

The 4 ½ minute number includes 6 skaters with a cut of music, and each piece of music represents the different first responders, allowing each skater to perform their element before joining the group.

“Each skater dresses up to represent the different professions and music accompanies while they take turns performing. It’s very respectful, an impactful routine and we’ve gotten a lot of positive response from it,” said Bowers

The impact from the ‘First Responders’ skate is leading to another highlight for the team as they have been invited to skate at the benefit show on the last night of the Worlds.

“It’s a big deal. Olympians will skate with the skaters, and they will invite 1 or 2 skaters to perform, and then during the course of the competition, they will highlight some other skaters who performed really well,” explains Bowers.

“We were invited pre-emptively because of the ‘First Responders’ skate, and it’s really cool honor because we’ve never had an Alaskan skate in the benefit show, and there will be 6 of them for the routine.”

The ice skating program has been rebuilding since COVID shut the facilities down, sidelining skaters and teams briefly. Bowers and McDonnell, who work primarily at the Menard but use the Brett Memorial Skating Arena in the summer, are looking forward to the return of skating to the Valley and preparing for the season.

During the season, the club will do 2 big skating productions that involve the entire team, props, choreography, and costumes, with one of the productions for next season set to be “Aladdin.”

Typically, skaters start off with “Learn to Skate” Skills program offered at the Menard during the fall, and as skaters express interest and get more comfortable they move into the competitions.

There are 2 tracks skaters can take leading to competitive skating-the ISI, which offers more recreation-competition programs and the US Figure Skating track for skaters interested in the Olympics and other competitive teams. Both tracks can feed into the US Figure Skating,

“It’s a different competitive track, but they have the same training and the same goals.”

For the 2022 team heading to Chicago, there is also a fundraising effort underway to help alleviate the costs involved with attending. The Mat-Su Figure Skating Club President Renee Ligman has been hard at work getting the word out about the team.

“We have not only the skaters going, but each skater has a parent that’s going too, so we’re trying to do what we can to help the kids and their families,” Ligman said.

Once the team returns from the Worlds, there won’t be much time to rest, as the next season will start shortly after and preparations for the Christmas show will begin.

For people interested in donating to the Mat-Su Team, visit matsufigureskatingclub.weebly.com.

To view the ‘First Responders’ group skate, click here: Mat Su Skating 1st Responders Group skate

To learn more about the “Learn to Skate” program at the Menard, visit the cityofwasilla.gov page and look for ice skating under the Menard Sports Center.