Six Kissimmee figure skaters seek championships

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

A group of youth figure skaters from Kissimmee, some of the best in the country in their age groups in roller skating, are heading to Fort Wayne, Ind., with the hopes of bringing home national competition hardware.

Some in the group already know what it looks like and hope to add to their collection.

The 2011 National Figure Skating Championships feature the top four in each skating event from nine regional competitions around the country. Six Kissimmee girls earned national berths at the Southeast regional event in New Port Richey in June.

The youth competition begins on Monday at Nationals, which will run through Aug. 7.

Hanna Joint, 9, Dalia Diaz, 8, and Jazmin Kelly, 12, who practice with the Orlando Artistic Skating Club, are making their first trip to Nationals. Gabriella Curran, 9, Chanel Crouch, 9, and Amy Young, 14, of the Skating School of Kissimmee at Skate Reflections, have skated at Nationals in the past.

Young, the defending national champion in figures, has the most riding on the trip. A high finish will earn her a trip to the World Figure Skating Championships in Brazil in November.

She will have a good resource for big competitions in her coaching corner. Jessica Feuerstein, a three-time participant at the World Artistic Roller Skating Championships, is part of her coaching staff.

A series of monthly competitions preceded the regional championship. Joint, Diaz and Kelly work with Coach Vickie Bateman at the Universal Skating Center in Orlando. She said the girls are well-prepared, and hopes they have a good day on the rink when they compete.

“I’m nervous for them. The first time is an experience, especially for the young ones,” Bateman said. “But they’re prepared. The goal for the first time is to finish in the top half.”

The six will compete in a combination of four roller skating events — figures, dance, loops and a freestyle category that looks much like what folks are used to seeing in ice figure skating.

Curran, Crouch and Young are coached by Nancy Jellse, Tony Berger and Paul Hinton. Kelly Curran, Gabriella’s mother, also works with the team, and has a wealth of knowledge. She and her parents also skated, making Gabriella a third-generation roller figure skater.

“We brought her to the rink one time and she fell in love with it,” Kelly Curran said. “It’s indoors, it’s not freezing, and it’s a family activity.”

She said that there’s no way to predict how the girls will do in Fort Wayne, as there’s no way to size up the competition until they compete in the same building.

“I think our girls are pretty good,” she said. “I’ve been pleased with their progress.”