The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-02-16, Page 9GODS RICH SI NAL TAR,.' 1, EDN D4vR FFBRiI RV Th, i9$—PAGE 9
Y'J‘4,*16,111VOIMON
Cana 11., Figure Skating: Champion:
Debbie Horton 16, of 06dertchi got.the red
ea t. treatment when she r°eturnied home •
Fri ay evening fresh from her gold medal
performancein Montreal the, week before,
Debbie and her novice dance partner,
Curtis Moore, also 16., of Wingham, were
escorted into town by police and taken by
fire truck, complete with banners and
sirens, to the Legion. There, they were.
piped into the hall and presentations of
money to aid' Debbie in future com-
petitions • were made by the town, the
Goderich • Figure Skating Club and
Goderich Minor Hockey. Friends and well-
wishers were then treated to pieces of a
cake made and decorated especially for
the occasion:
"I couldn'tbelieve the number of people
who turned up on The Square and at the
Legion to see us. I didn't know what to say.
I guess I was in shock. I would really like
to thank everybody for all they've done
though," said a tired but happy Debbie in a
Signal -Star interview the next day. "The
town gave me such nice flowers and I'm
going to hang the banner in my room. So
many people have given me donations of
money and some people I don't even know
have been coming up and congratulating
me. Everybody's been so nice.'
When Debbie began skating with the
Goderich Figure Skating Club at the age of
eight, she never thought about competing.
"Skating -was recreation, just soniething
MAO atterschool, she explains.;. •
Then, while •skating at an off-season
figure school iii Vanastra just over.
four years ago, Goderie i. Club Pros Rick
Pettit and Fran ,Brady asked Debbie to
skate with Curtis; •;
"They thought. we. looked pretty good
together and they started to work with us.
.as a dance team. I had never seen a dance
team before," recalls Debbie. • • • •
Debbie and Curtis were then entered in
the 1979. Western Ontario Sectionals
competition in the • pre -novice dance
category and even though they :had been
skating together for only a very shorttime,
they placed fifth. overall. •
Some time later, they attended a figure
skating seminar in Woodstock taught by
Toronto•Pro Roy Bradshaw. '
"Mr. Pettit and Mrs. Brady felt Mr:
Bradshaw could help us go further. So, for
two years, they took turns driving us to
Toronto each Friday for lessons. We
stayednin Toronto during the summers
too," says Debbie. She adds, "We really
owe a lot to Mr. Pettit and Mrs. Brady."
Roy Bradshaw only takes skaters whom
he feels have potential and he obviously
felt that Debbie and Curtis did and still do
have that potential. The two young skaters
moved • to Toronto in September so they
could practise full-time with Mr.. Brad-
shaw.
Debbie is boarding with a family and
attending Grade 11 classes at Earl Haig
Happiness is...winning the Canadian Figure Skating Novice Dance Championship. Debbie
Horton, 16, of Goderich shows her medals, left to right: the Western Ontario Sectionals first
place medal which advanced her to the Central Canadian Division where shrw:on another
first place medal and then on to the Canadian Championship where she won a. first place
medal again. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan)
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i2 '12:36.6 •
.q SATURDAYS 1
@eeYEFidDAA0` E4BERi1NdrS 6:30 ..1, S ®•b,;
Seeel dart' Schoolr She say$, T the school
System in the city is; quite ai; bit different
from Goderich but she is adjusting. She
skates every morning before school from
7-9 a.m. and every afternoon' after school
from 2:30-3:45 p.m. On Tuesdays and
Fridays, she skates for an lour at noon as
well.
Gil weekends. Debbie comes home to
Gcdericb (She and Curtis are able to get a
ride.. to 'Wingham with a man from
Wingham who works in Toronto) where
she coaches younger skaters for an hour on
'Saturday mornings and works on her own
skating during the Goderich Figure
Skating Club's senior sessions in the af-
ternoons. She and some other skaters rent.
the ice for more practice on Saturday,
evenings.
Debbie says she must skate every day to
keep in shape. "Even if I take a weekend
off, h stiffen up by Monday," she explains.
Does she ever get tired of all that
skating? "Sometimes when Curtis and I
argue over different routines, I, think,
'Why am I doing all this?' but mostly we
get along really well and I really enjoy
skating. I look forward to it all the time,
especially when I'm learning new things,"
she says.
At the Canadian Championships in.
Montreal two weeks ago, Debbie's en-
thusiastic attitudepaid off handsomel.
After the compulsory dance numbers
earlier in the competition, Debbie and
Curtis held second place behind the
brother and sister team of Jennifer and
David Chow of Toronto. However, their
variation dance number the next day
brought their marks up high enough to put
them in first place. For a variation, the
skaters take a compulsory dance,
eliminate half of it and make up their own
routine for the half that is eliminated.
"After the compulsory dances, we felt
we could have done better but our
variation was the best we'd ever done. We
knew we'd won the variation but we didn't
think it was enough to pull ;is up to first.
We had prepared ourselves for second and
said that's not bad," explains Debbie.
When Debbie and Curtis and their
parents found out they'd won, she says,
"Everyone was screaming and crying and
so happy."
Although Debbie has never had any
major injuries while skating, she per-
formed her winning variation number at '
the Canadian Championships with a badly
bruised toe which she had caught in a
folding chair the day before. In fact, her
toe was so swollen, that it had cut her
practice time short the night before the
final number.
"It still hurt during the performance but
I did okay," she says.
Debbie and Curtis must now pass
several tests and, move up to the junior
level of skating. Their goal for next year is,
to make it to the Junior World's Cham-
pionship in Tokyo. By virtue of their recent
gold medal win, they will be able to try out
for this competition.
In the meantime, they will stay prac-
tising with Mr. Bradshaw and will do lots
of off -ice training as well. This includes
jogging, exercises and dance lessons.
Debbie says the transition to junior from
novice will be difficult.
"There is.a lot more independent skating
in junior dance. You can't always rely on
your partner to hold you up," she explains.
Debbie is grateful for all the donations of
money she has received so that she can
continue skating and competing. These
donations take some of the financial
burden off her parents, June and Everett.
Debbie explains that she pays $50 per
week for board in Toronto and $4 per
Debbie Horton of Goderich and her partner Curtis Moore of
Wingham were paraded up to the Legion hall in the town fire truck
Friday night after winning the novice dance competition at the
skating session plus pro costs. Each of her
outfits for competitions are over $200 and
she must have new ones each year as the
music themes change in competitions. Her
skates and blades which she bought three
years ago (they must be purchased
separately) were over $300. The bill from
her pro alone at the Canadian Cham -
Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Montreal the week
before. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan)
pionships was $200 and that was small in
comparison to some amounts she says.
In the future, when Debbie finishes
competing, she says she hopes to turn pro
so she can teach skating to help pay her
way through university. Eventually she
wants to be.a lawyer. Curtis, whom Debbie
says really likes kids, wants to teach and
coach skating as a career.
One thing is certain. Whatever these two
young people eventually end up doing, they
are sure to be successful because they
have "learned what hard work and
dedication are all about.
Core French lessons to be increased
By Stephanie Levesque
Approval in principle has
been given by the Huron
County Board of Education
to increase Core French
lessons from 20 to. 90 minutes
in grades seven and eight.
The approval was given at
the board's Feb. 7 meeting.
The board also approved a
study on the staffing im-
plications of this proposal to
be completed by the person-
nel committee.
Trustee Art Clark asked
what effect the changes
would have on the grades
seven and eight program as
20 minutes a day would be
lost from other programs.
Superintendent of program
Robert McCall stressed the
proposed change in Core
French would not extend the
school day.
He added the time would
come from language arts
time and would not affect
such programs as history,
science and math. The
superintendent also noted
the increase in Core French
is being' recommended
because, as of September
1984, the subject becomes
compulsary for a high school
diploma. The Ministry of
Education announced last
fall that one credit of. Core
French is necessary for a
high school diploma.
"The trend in Ontario is to'
increase French to 40
minutes. At this time ap-
proximately 80 percent of
the school systems in the
province have 40: minute
French periods for students
in Grades seven and eight,"
commented Mr. McCall.
Trustee Tony McQuail
said approving in principle
the increase in French
lessons allows the board
time to develop the cur-
riculum it wants, before, one.
is imposed by the Ministry.
He added that it provides an
opportunity for Huron Coun-
ty students to become com-
petent in French as Canada
is a bilingual country.
The Ministry grants for
the increase .in the Core
French program will also be
considered.
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