Ice figure skating students conclude class with contest

Ice skating is not a popular sport in Malta - it is only a recent introduction here - but thanks to figure skating classes being held regularly at the Eden Ice Arena, the pastime is slowly gaining ground.

The arena started holding beginner's classes last October and the second in the series under the direction of Russian ice figure skater Olga Alexeeva was concluded yesterday with a figure skating competition at the arena in Paceville.

Ms Alexeeva was a member of the Russian National Figure Skating team for two years and was enticed to Malta to spear head the figure skating programmes.

Yesterday's competition winners were Penelope Lake in the Pre Alpha class with 217 points, closely followed by Paula Ciantar with 216 points and Kristina Kucheryavaya, who obtained 201 points.

Lara Spiteri Debono was the winner of the Alpha (Group 1) class for the under 10, with 191 points.

The Alpha class (Group 2) was won by Therese Cassar with 241 points, Angelina Bodishtianu placed second with 234 points, while Alexia Caruana and Evan Abela placed third with 227 points each.

Eden Ice Arena general manager Simon De Cesare said the competition was judged by independent foreign judges. He pointed out that the courses were run on proper international standards and the age of participants ranged from seven to 33.

He said the next course, which would introduce the Beta class for those successfully concluding the Alpha classes, would start in the second week of April.

Mr De Cesare said 85 per cent of course participants were Maltese.

Asked about the incidence of accidents on the rink, Mr De Cesare said everybody fell at one time or another and bumps and bruises were common. But that was mainly it. It was very rare for anyone to suffer fractures.

He said that although ice skating for recreational purposes still lacked popularity - the culture for it still had to be developed - the figure skating courses were well received. Ice skating was being organised for students of Skolasport in collaboration with the Education Ministry and Ice Hockey leagues were being held weekly for grown up men. Most of the participants in these leagues were expatriates.

Mr De Cesare said he would like to see more teachers take their students to ice skate at the arena.

Unfortunately, teachers were very reluctant to do so because of a misconception that the students would injure themselves. Yet this was unlikely if the students were taught the right way to do things, he stressed.