Local skater represents at Skate Canada event
Posted on November 7, 2017 by Maple CreekFacundo Rodriguez
frodriguez@maplecreeknews.com
Maple Creek’s Sierra Frey was one of 12 young figure skaters chosen to be a flower retriever at the 2017 Skate Canada International, which took place from Oct. 26-29 in Regina.
For the youngsters, it’s a chance to see some of Canada’s biggest skating stars up close — such as Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue.
It’s a very important job, the role of the flower retriever. When the star skaters hit the ice, often the fans show their appreciation by littering the ice with flowers and stuffed animals. That’s when young Frey gets her time to shine, though it can be a nerve-racking experience, it’s a very desirable position for young skaters.
“It was scary,” Frey said.”There are so many people watching you, and you have to do it right, you don’t want to mess up or anything. But it was cool to watch all the other skaters and to watch Kaetlyn Osmond.”
Frey was able to keep her cool however, and perform her flower retrieval duties to perfection in front of the biggest crowd she had ever skated in. It’s not a walk in the park to be selected by Skate Canada for the position as a number of skating levels have to be completed before doing an audition.
The 10-year old Maple Creek Figure Skating Club member had the opportunity to meet some of her favourite skaters and grab some autographs.
She looks to up many talented Canadian and international skaters including Patrick Chan, Jason Brown, and Cha Jun-hwan from South Korea. Though still young, Frey looks to achieve great things on the ice, and she likes to model herself after talent skates such as three-time Canadian national champion Katelyn Osmond, who if you ask Frey about she will light up and tell you, “she’s amazing.”
Sierra’s mother Moneec was short of words to explain how proud she was of her daughter and to put it simply she was “overwhelmed” to see her daughter at the Brandt Centre.
The 2017 Skate Canada International is the second event of the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final in Japan and will eventually move on to final in Vancouver. All these competitions are the lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
NEWS PHOTO FACUNDO RODRIGUEZ
Sierra Frey holds up her dress she received with while participating as a flower retriever at Skate Canada International that took place October 26-29.
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