NSC hires new international skating coaches; will be at Open House Friday
NEWS RELEASE
April 10, 2007
Contacts:
Barclay Kruse, National Sports Center Chief Communications Officer
763.785.5634 office
763.458.6615 cell
Jane Schaber, NSC Figure Skating Director
763.717.3891
National Sports Center Skating School announces hiring of three new international figure skating coaches
British bronze-medal ice dance team to perform Friday during Skating Center open house
BLAINE, Minn. (April 10, 2007) – The National Sports Center (NSC) announced that three top-level international skating coaches have joined the faculty of the NSC Skating School, which is based at the Schwan Super Rink on the NSC campus in Blaine.
Pamela O’Connor and Jonathon O’Dougherty, 2003 British Ice Dancing Champions and three-time British Championship silver medalists, have relocated from San Jose, where they have been coaching for the past year since retiring from international competition in 2005.
Also joining the coaching team will be former international Ukrainian pairs competitor Dmitri Boyenko. Boyenko finished 13th in the 1998 Junior World Championship and has traveled extensively since then as a professional skater.
“The Schwan Super Rink is the most impressive ice facility in the world,” said O’Dougherty. “The growing skating community in Blaine will undoubtedly give local children an opportunity to succeed in a sport in which the U.S.A. is rapidly gaining world success. We’re sure we can find talented skaters and help them become the champions of tomorrow.”
The appointment of O’Connor and O’Dougherty to the coaching staff also brings their top students, current British bronze-medal ice dancers Nicola Trippick and Jamie Burns, to train with them at the Schwan Super Rink. Trippick and Burns had been training in San Jose and are currently preparing for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
All five skaters will be attending the National Sports Center (NSC) Figure Skating Training Center open house at the newly expanded Schwan Super Rink, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 13. All will be available for media interviews.
Trippick and Burns will skate an ice dancing exhibition performance at 4:00 p.m. Friday on rink #1 (Coon Rapids Rink) at the Schwan Super Rink. Additionally students of the NSC Skating School will also perform.
All members of the public are invited to attend the Skating Center open house. Refreshments will be served.
The new skating center is a 6,200 square foot dry land training facility that includes a 4,000 square foot training room, staff offices, and a figure skating apparel store. The training room features a wood dance floor, mirrored wall, ballet bar, windows for spectator viewing, and a music and video system. The skating center has direct access to the facility’s ice sheets for on-ice training.
The new figure skating center is the final piece of a 128,000-square-foot four-hockey rink addition that expanded the Schwan Super Rink from four to eight sheets of ice, and brought the size of the facility to 300,000 square feet. The original Schwan Super Rink, which opened in 1998, featured four Olympic-size rinks. In addition to the skating surfaces, the arena offers the Herb Brooks Center hockey training facility, the Hat Trick Café, Super Shop pro shop and 32 locker rooms.
The figure skating center will be the home base for the Schwan Super Rink’s skating school and the Northern Blades National Sports Center Figure Skating Club, the resident club at the Schwan Super Rink. With 1,500 participants, the skating school is one of the largest in Minnesota.
“This new facility will help us provide better skating instruction at all levels,” said NSC Skating School Director Jane Schaber. “Dryland training is critical to development and learning new skills for all figure skaters, and this will help us advance toward of goal of becoming a pre-eminent skating facility for skaters of all levels.”
Previous to the opening of the skating center, figure skaters did their dryland training in conference rooms elsewhere at the NSC, and were forced to work around the schedules of conflicting events.
“Everyone is very excited to finally have a space of our own,” said Schaber.
The skating center was funded by a $600,000 loan from Anchor Bank. The loan was endorsed by the Anoka County Board to qualify for tax-exempt status. The loan will be repaid by revenues from rentals and events at the Schwan Super Rink. No public money was spent on the figure skating center.