Megan Drouin has been skating for 10 years in Kingston. The teen has been in love with skating ever since she can remember.
“it’s pure happiness, like being able to be free,” says Drouin.
Like most of her peers, she loves the liberating feeling while being on the ice, but she also wants to share that with other athletes.
Drouin says “helping other athletes like myself with their injuries and the road to professional” is her future goal.
Drouin has been coaching young skaters since last September at the Fort Henry Heights Skating Club. She finds it very rewarding. “When they get like the smallest little skills standing up or skating by themselves, it’s really rewarding to see that happen, especially when they are so young.”
Drouin and many of the young skaters around her at the Cataraqui Arena are especially inspired after Canada won gold for figure skating at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket earned a bronze in the women’s free skate and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won gold in the ice dance segment.
“I feel so proud to see all these Canadians, and they’re so good and inspiring and they’re really motivating,” says 13-year-old Alexandra Lee, a peer skater of Drouin’s.
These young skaters go through many challenges to build their basic skills on ice.
Willpower to fall and get back up and the strict time commitment are just some of the challenges they have to conquer. Their coaches work with them to push limits and help them be their best.
“It’s very challenging, its an early specialization sport, it requires a lot of time you got to be on the ice all the time you lose your skills if you don’t practice so there is a big time commitment,” says Drouin’s coach Stephanie Sharp.
Drouin is currently in Grade 12 and is heading off to university next year to study sport therapy and work with other athletes. She plans to continue skating in her free time and continue coaching and helping other skaters.