HEATHER BOA Bullet News Huron CLINTON – The ice pad is empty except for two young skaters gliding across its surface. The pair chat as they gracefully skate in unison, then suddenly he tucks her close to him and tosses her outward. She spins once and pulls out of it, giving him a perplexed look.
They laugh at the miscommunication. He was supposed to give it enough force that she could spin twice, not just once.
They joke and laugh, but this is serious stuff.
Medal-winning pair skaters Justin Profit, 13, and Laura McGregor, 12, recently won top honours in juvenile level pair skating at the sectional Skate Canada – Western Ontario Championships, held in St. Thomas.
While it’s true there were only two pairs in competition, Laura is quick to point out: “We still came in first.”
They are now training for the Ontario Winter Games, which will be held in Barrie, Ont. in March 2012. They will skate in pair and single competition. Each has sights set on Olympic competition.
“Do it again,” calls out coach Kathy McLlwain, of the Exeter Skating Club, as the two continue to goof around on the ice at the Central Huron Community Complex. She and trainer Wesley Kittle, who is visiting from the Champions Training Centre, are watching from the sideline.
She said the young pair is still recovering from the recent competition.
“I don’t even think it’s hit them yet. Give them a couple weeks,” said McLwain.
“They were fun and goofy last week, which was fine. Normally, I wouldn’t allow how they behaved last week in a club environment,” she said.
Justin and Laura juggle their schoolwork with two-hour training sessions up to four times weekly. Each also spends hours training for singles competition and mentoring younger skaters in the club. As a result, they visit an ice rink most days of the week.
Justin’s parents, Elizabeth Van den Broeck and Scott Profit, and Laura’s parents, Jacquie and Randy McGregor, shuttle the youngsters to training in Clinton, Cambridge, Toronto and points in between.
Elizabeth said over the past three years of training together, the two have development a close friendship.
“It’s surreal the way they get along. They talk all the time, on ice and off. They complete each other’s sentences. They’ll exchange gifts at Christmas and find out they’re the same gifts,” she said.
Justin and Laura say their friendship makes them better pair skaters.
Soon they will settle into the task of training in earnest for the Ontario Winter Games. Juvenile pair competition will consist of a 2:30 free program. The short free programs have a prescribed number of elements including jumps, spins and footwork. Each program is given a technical score reflecting the elements and how they are executed; and a program component score, which includes skills, performance, choreography, transitions and music interpretation.
