Research Courtesy of Janys Hendrickson

Thirteen Tri-City residents, with a vision of what the future might hold for the developing suburbs, pursued a "figure skating club sanction" from the Canadian Figure Skating Association in Ottawa. The group of enthusiastic parents felt that if they could establish a community figure skating club in Coquitlam, the youth of the community would be better served through the opportunity to receive quality training in a local setting.

The founding Board of Directors consisted of four Executives: Mr. W. M. Gardner (President), Mrs. A. Bjornson (Vice-President), Mrs. J. McIntyre (Secretary-Treasurer), Mrs. B. Senay (Correspondence Secretary) and nine Directors At Large: Mrs. P. Sherban, Mrs. E. Dodds, Mr. H. Wilson, Mrs. A Whelan, Mrs. K. Adams, Mrs. R. Friesen, Mr. N. McTaggert, Mrs. L. Smith, and Mrs. A. Buckley. After much effort, and persistence, the Coquitlam Figure Skating Club finally received its sanction in the spring of 1963, and became a member club of the Canadian Figure Skating Association. The C. F .S. A. sanction permitted the local club to offer (to the public) patented C. F. S. A. skating programs, and enter its skating members in inter-club competition. Operating out of the main arena at the Coquitlam Sports Centre, 633 Poirier Street, Coquitlam, B.C., the club officially began its first season of figure skating in the summer of 1963, and welcomed over 250 youngsters into its inaugural season.

The original mission statement of the Coquitlam Figure Skating Club read as follows:

"The Coquitlam Figure Skating Club is devoted to the promotion of the sport of figure skating through the delivery of high quality instruction in an atmosphere of enthusiasm, dedication and co-operation."

From the beginning, Coquitlam SC has been extremely fortunate in many ways. Firstly, the Club has had wonderful ongoing success in recruiting the volunteer services of member parents. Secondly, Coquitlam SC has been able to contract from the City extremely large blocks of year-round ice time. Originally exclusively booked in the main arena, and then following the construction of the annex arena in 1975, moving the entire year-round contract(s) into the annex. And finally, the combination of the previous two factors allowed the Club to attract the highest caliber of full time professional coaches.

Jean (Mathews) Ulmer, runner up to Barbara Ann Scott in Senior Ladies at the Canadian National Championships, was Coquitlam Figure Skating Club's first coach of record. Through Ms. Ulmer's skills, and her contacts within the skating community, the club began a long tradition of superior instruction. Joining Ms. Ulmer in 1964, was June Catherall, and following the departure of Ms. Ulmer in 1965, Barbara Ann Scott joined the young club's coaching staff. Over the past 38 years, the club has employed a successive line of outstanding, qualified high profile, fulltime coaching professionals, including the services of: Mr. Guy Revell, Canadian (Pairs) Champion, World & Olympic silver medallist, and Mr. Per Larsen, multi-time Norwegian Senior Men's Champion, World & Olympic competitor. Most recently, the club's coaching staff includes: Mrs. Heather (Anderson) Austman, Canadian Novice Ladies Champion and B.C. Senior Ladies Champion, Ms. Karena (Richardson) Pazdirek, four time British Senior Ladies Champion, World & Olympic competitor, Mr. Zdenek Pazdirek, two time Czechoslovakian Senior Men's Champion, World & Olympic competitor, Mr. Bruno Delmaestro, three time Italian Senior Men's Champion, World competitor and two time recipient of the BC/YT Section Top Competitive Coach of the year, and Kristen MacKay, Senior Ladies competitor and principal skater with Ice Capades.

With a long-term plan to become the most successful community based club in the Lower Mainland, Coquitlam FSC and the coaching staff worked together to build both the ranks and the reputation of the club.

Realizing from the onset that a community based (rather than private) club, cannot operate effectively without reaching out to the community that it serves, the Coquitlam Figure Skating Club delivered its first ice show, titled "Amateurs on Blades" on Saturday, April 4th, 1964. Admission was $ 0.50. This was the beginning of an annual ice show tradition. Proud of the excellent work being done in the young club, but knowing at the same time that they were lacking competitive depth and nationally recognized amateur names, the shows presented a blend of home-grown developing talent and featured "invited guest skaters". For example the 1966 "Amateurs on Blades" show, produced by Mrs. June Catherall and Mrs. Barbara Ann Scott, had a cast of over 150 Coquitlam Figure Skating Club members, and showcased Bonita Cave & Betsy Whitman (Ladies Pairs Champions), introduced a young David Coffin (Men's Singles) and thrilled the local audience with the extraordinary talents of Mr. Jay Humphrey (Senior Men's Champion and Canadian World Team member).

For many years Coquitlam FSC brought Canada's up and coming skating talent, and national champions, to entertain the Tri-Cities public. As costs escalated, the tradition of the annual ice show was replaced with a bi-annual ice show. Today with so much skating talent in the club, it is no longer necessary to import national level competitors to supplement the local talent, the club has its own contingent of national level competitors, as well as national medallists and champions.

The second aspect of the Club's plan focused on building the ranks of the club. Because of the ability of the Coquitlam FSC to attract high caliber coaching staff, dedicated to developing the skating skills of not only the competitive skater, but the recreational skater and hockey (power) skater as well, the Club has realized a high degree of success. The number of skaters is largest at the recreational level, with many, many thousands of youngsters having graduated from the Club's various learn-to-skate programs. However, Coquitlam FSC has had continuous success at retaining the recreational skater and further developing their skills until they reach the competitive level. Beyond the badges of the learn-to-skate programs and the several thousand different figure skating tests taken by club members, the Club is especially proud to state that there has been 104 Coquitlam Figure Skating Club skaters receive their "Gold Feet" from the Canadian Figure Skating Association. Many hundreds of thousands of Canadian children begin figure skating lessons somewhere in Canada, but very, very few see the program through to the end, passing each test from entry level to the senior level, resulting in their Gold Feet.

In terms of competitive success, it took the first Coquitlam Figure Skating Club 12 years to produce its first national level competitor. In 1975 Henri April, now a coach with the Inlet Figure Skating Club in Port Moody, B.C., qualified through the multiple levels of competition and made it all the way to the Canadian National Championships, placing an exciting 4th in the Novice Men's category, just one spot out of the medals. Since 1975 the Club has had over 30 different individuals compete at the Canadian Championships, with 12 skaters competing multiple times at the national level, collecting a total of 12 national medals, three of which were gold: Darren Leaker (1986 - Novice Men's Champion), Matt McEwan (2000 - Juvenile Men's Champion), and Kevin Woytas (2001 - Novice Men's Champion). In the years since Henri April's first trip to the Canadian Championships, the club has enjoyed extraordinary success in advancing skaters to the national level, only 1990 to 1993 saw Coquitlam FSC shut out of the Championships.

Having fielded the Club's first national level competitor, Coquitlam FSC then developed a strategy to enhance the growing reputation of the young club. The club decided to submit a bid(s) to host a championship. Coquitlam FSC was awarded the first Fraser Valley Zone Championships (November 1976). Having gained experience as a host-club, Coquitlam FSC received both the 1980 and the 1994 Western Canadian Divisional Championships, the 1989 B.C. Coast Region Championships, and the 2001 B.C. and Y.T. Sectional (Provincial) Championships. Hosting championship events has provided the Coquitlam Figure Skating Club with an opportunity to display the skater's skills, the volunteer member skills, and the community support that the club has garnered throughout the years.

After all these years, the Coquitlam SC can look back and proudly proclaim the club to have been nothing short of an outstanding success. Through community interest and support, the skating club has enjoyed a healthy and active membership. Originally registering more than 250 skaters in 1963, peaking in the 1990's with a membership of more than 450 skaters, and currently registering approximately 400 skaters, there are few, if any, community based clubs in Western Canada that can lay claim to such a high degree of continuous service and participation. The Club's ever-changing roster of skaters has collected many awards and titles, both locally and beyond, not the least of which are: nine (9) time team champions of the Victoria Day Inter-Club Competition, five (5) time team champions of the Fraser Valley Zone Championships, ten (10) time team champions of the B.C. Coast Region Championship, and four (4) time team champions of the B.C. & Y.T. Sectional (Provincial) Championships. These many accolades have given the Coquitlam Skating Club the right to lay claim to the titles of the "top competitive club in the B.C. & Y.T. Section" for several years running.

The success of the club is due to many factors, not the least of which is the continued volunteer support of the member parents. The Coquitlam Figure Skating Club was in 1963, and is today, completely run by volunteers. All of the daily administrative duties, marketing, promotions, fund-raising and non-profit requirements are fulfilled by club volunteers. The professional coaches are the only paid employees of the club.

The current mission statement of the Coquitlam Skating Club is not significantly different than stated in 1963, today it reads:

"The object of the Club shall be to promote the growth, interest, development, instruction, practice, enjoyment and advancement of its members in all aspects of figure skating in accordance with the Rules, Regulations and Policies of Skate Canada."