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Times Advocate, 1995-02-01, Page 14Page 14 Times -Advocate, February 1, 1995 This. Week in Sports... • Junior 'D' hockey - page 15 • Minor hockey roundup - page 16 A chance to show their stuff Eeter hosts a first-class event EXETER - She may have been the chairperson but Jane MacLean quickly admits that she couldn't have pulled off a successful H.O.M.E. figure skating competition without the help of dozens of volunteers, in particular the 12 committee heads. The annual event came to Exeter this past weekend and over 580 skaters from the counties of Huron, Oxford, Middlesex and Elgin were at the South Huron Recreation Centre beginning at 10 a.m. Friday morning and going until late Sunday. "It rejuvenates your club. It brings out a lot of interest in skating. It's not whether you win or lose, it's just competing," said MacLean during a break from the hectic schedule. And why did the Exeter and Area Figure Skating Club decide to take on such a big competition? "The H.O.M.E. competition generates a lot of interest in your club and a lot of revenue for you club. You bid on a competition, usually there are four clubs bidding," said MacLean. "Since we hadn't had a H.O.M.E. competition in 12 years, they de- cided we were the best one." A year ago it was held in nearby Ilderton and members of the Exeter club travelled there to get a first hand look at how to run such a big event. From registration to flowers to photographers and award pre- senters, there was a lot of important details which had to be taken care of. "That's (Ilderton) is where it all started. We had to book our chief re- ferees and accountants. That's when I started thinking of people in the club I could count on," said MacLean. She quickly got a group of ladies together and they in turn tackled a responsibility whether it be music and announcing or food services. They met once a month and plotted out what would, to their delight, be a very successful H.O.M.E. competition. When asked which one of the jobs was the toughest, MacLean said it had to be registration which was continual. "It was a real time consuming thing. We had 587 registrations and of that five came back - four sprained ankles and one broked•foot," said MacLean. She noted that there were many compliments on the competition and particularly how the South Huron Recreation Centre was such an ideal facility. But there were a few minor gliches along the way. Like Friday when there seemed to be just a few too many people back in the marshalling area. ,. "Once we had the signs up it was fine. You get so many flights, sometimes we had six flights coming and going and there might be eight skaters in each flight." From the professional way in which the judges carried themselves to the way in which the awards were presented, it was a first class show. rix"1. Lucan's Terri VanDeVooren and Jeremy Johnson in the provin- cial preliminary pairs. The duo finished third. • Stories and photos by Fred Groves T A staff Results - see page 17 Both judges and accountants were busy at H.O.M.E. EXETER - The South Huron Recreation Centre was a very busy place this past weekend but the room with the most activity was the coat room converted into the accountants room. Here, results from the H.O.M.E. figure skating competition were tab- ulated both manually and electronically and then quickly posted for all to see. Transferring the judges impressions, adding them up and letting eve- ryone know who did what- was an important task that left no margin for error. "We don't make mistakes. There might be little things like you might forget to give someone a paper," said Tammy Jennison of the Exeter Figure Skating Club. She was one of the assistants who worked in the accounting room which was headed ,up by Vermela and Jim Stevens. To work in this room during a competition, you must be qualified. "You write exams and you work in accounting rooms to get into the different levels. The exam is on how to run an accounting room. There's a lot of things you have to know." One thing to know is that when the five judges give their scores they rank the skaters in order. For example, if there were ten skaters, the one a judge felt to be the 'best would receive one point and second place Would get two points and so on. However, it is interesting to note that not all the judges had the same views on the skaters. For example, in the Canfigureskate A 11 -and -over in which there were,ine skaters in group one, Tanya Shipp of Zorra re- ceived a two from judge Mary Burdon and a nine from Sylvia Cappler. The judges came from all over Southwestern Ontario and Vicky McLeod of the Exeter Figure Skating Club had the tough task of book- ing them for this year's H.O.M.E. competition and taking care of their needs. "The chief referee (Brenda Bowerman) sends out a list of potential judges and then I call them to see if they are interested," explaindd •McLeod. After that, Bowerman makes the final selection. Once McLeod had the judges lined up, in Exeter she helped take care of their accomodations and even for a while on Friday did a little baby sitting. She said that the judges were very co-operative throughout the three- day event. "They sit on panels for three hours at a time. All the judges take time to explain," said McLeod if skaters or coaches wanted to know why they received such a marking. Judges either sat at a table for the free skate or were the ice early in the morning for the figures. Several local skaters advance to next level EXETER - It's been a dozen years since the figure skating eyes of Southwestern Ontario have been focused on Exeter. This past weekend, 580 skaters representing 19 different clubs from four counties converged on Exeter for the annual H.O.M.E. competition. They came from Huron, Oxford, Middlesex and Elgin counties in hopes of winning a medal and per- haps advancing to the Western On- tario Sectionals Interclub competi- tion in Pt. Edward and maybe even as far as the Ontario Interclub in Belleville in March. The H.O.M.E. competition is the result of months of hard work for both recreational and competitive skaters. "Competitive, the skaters can move on. It's great there is a divider now because it gives those who only skate once a week a better chance," said Exeter Figure Skatigg Club coach Kathy Merner. The hosting club did very well placing six skaters in the top three positions in their various groups. Kim MacLean was third in pro- vincial senior bronze, Michelle Roy was second in Canskate 6 -and - under, Kristylee Varley was first in Canfigure Skate A 8 -and -under, Ashley Ralph was second in the same category, Megan Nedza was second in Canfigure Skate A 9-10 and Jenalyn Baker was second in Canfigure Skate B 10-11. "They've worked hard all year, the kids deserved what they got," said Merner. The two other local clubs, Lucan and Zurich also did very well and several skaters will be advancing to the next level of competition. (See this week's sports section for com- plete results). Locals advancing were pairs Ro- byn Gatt of Ilderton and her partner David Willms of Lucan, Julia Van- Geel of Lucan in the provincial gold, Charlie Moir from Lucan in the provincial preliminary men, Laura Strapp of Lucan in the pro- vincial junior bronze, Zurich's Sara -Rae Lovie in the provincial junior bronze, MacLean in the sen- ior bronze, Ilderton's Sheri Moir "They worked hard all year." and Danny Moir from Lucan in the provincial pre -novice dance, Beginning Friday morning at 10 a.m. and wrapping up at 5 p.m. on Sunday, the South Huron Rec- reation Centre was a very busy place as skate s coaches, vol- unteers and parents were on hand fortpe exciting event. Zurich's Melissa Timmer mans during the juvenile la- dles freeskate. km captain Louie Hrudka and coach Kathy Meurer behind the scenes. Iketer's Anadyr SM.r during Sunday's Canfigure Skate 'B' free skate.