Carolina Jane will represent Bellingham at the U.S. Figure Skating Excel National Final and Festival in Boston in July. The 13-year-old will be the first Bellingham Figure Skating Club member to skate on national ice in more than a decade.
Ice sports may not be the first thing that come to mind for Bellingham recreationists, but the Sportsplex Arena in the Civic Athletic Complex serves the hockey community, a small speed skating club, and the Bellingham Figure Skating Club, which is around 30 members strong.
Club president Randen Kovacevic said that with a high-calibre coaching roster and a lot of young skaters who are committed to progression, the program has been rebuilding since the pandemic.
“We’re really lucky to have year-round ice for our kids,” Kovacevic said.
Sportsplex skating director and coach Krista Cohen confirmed that figure skating interest has grown in the past three years. Programs offered at the rink include skate camps, frequent learn-to-skate classes, homeschool skate, and the Aspire program for skaters who are advancing their skills.
Carolina Jane, who is Kovacevic’s daughter, started skating before she was 4 years old and is now competing at a national level, with three local coaches, Cohen, Louise Kapeikis and Caleb Niva, and a spin specialist based in Everett. She skates between five and six days a week and is homeschooled so she can focus on competition and on her other passion, acting.
This season, Jane started performing her two-minute figure skating program in January, and continued to develop the same program through the year. She accumulated enough points at national qualifying events to claim fifth place in her category in the Pacific Coast Section (one of only three regions) and 12th in the U.S. out of 345 entrants.
That placement enables her to attend the Excel National Final and Festival, an invite-only skate event held July 10-14 at The Skating Club of Boston. In addition to the competition, there will be a training camp and exhibition rehearsals with professional coaches, as well as sessions with Olympians. Past Team USA attendees have included renowned figure skaters Karen Chen and Jason Brown, and Jane hopes this year’s lineup will include her personal favorite skater, the young phenomenon Isabeau Levito.
“We are so excited to have one of our skaters go to nationals,” Cohen said. “I have been coaching Carolina since she first started skating, and it has been so fun to watch her work hard and grow as a skater and accomplish all of her goals she set for herself. I am so very proud of her.”
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
