Most athletes growing up in this country strive to represent Canada on the world stage.
For a group of female synchronized skaters from Durham and GTA, that goal is coming true next week, when they will represent Canada at the Winter World Masters Games in Innsbruck, Austria on Jan. 13.
Kristin Dawkins is taking strides towards her childhood fantasy, and the 34-year-old isn’t doing it alone.
“To go and compete internationally and say you’re from Canada and, like, make Canada proud, it definitely feels like that,” said Dawkins, a Bowmanville mother of two and synchronized skater.
This is a journey she will be making with her sister, Melissa, along with their teammates.
But it’s a journey that almost didn’t happen for both of them, as the cost became too much for their single mom when they were teenagers.
“So we had to stop. It was kind of one or the other and my mom didn’t want to do that, so we both stopped and the next year, the team that we were on ended up going to compete internationally,” said Dawkins.
“So this is kind of like redemption maybe for that.”
Picking the sport back up as adults, this opportunity came just four months ago when Team Storm was formed in September.
“This team is really a culmination of tons of years of experience, so all of these skaters have really worked extremely hard to get to where they are,” said Maggie Head, Team Storm’s coach.
“We all came from different skating backgrounds, we were taught by different coaches, so we all have a different style,” Dawkins added.
“So trying to molud those different styles together has been a challenge, but we’re getting there.”
While the games are held every five years, this will be the first time synchronized skating is included among the events.
“It’s really, really exceptional that we’re finally getting a chance to showcase the sport in this way, so we’re really hoping that it makes some noise for syncro and one day we can pave the way for future skaters to go to the Olympics,” said synchronized skater Darcie Dixon.
For the athletes, all of the work put in on and off the ice comes down to a three-minute-10-second program.
“I’d say the goal is gold but they’d tell me I’m pushing too hard,” said Head.
“We’re here to win. We’re really competitive, but I think that ultimately if we have a great time with each other, that’s really what we’re going to take home,” said Dixon.
Team Storm flies to Austria on Wednesday. The event runs from Friday, Jan. 10 to Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020.
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