Stefan Lotz and Julia Shindle. (submitted photo/Megan Shindle)

By Submitted Article, Megan Shindle

SKATING TO THEIR DREAMS

Local pair have sights set on major, national skating competitions

Jan 23, 2023 | 4:00 PM

A young skating pair is getting ready for two of the biggest events of their career so far.

Julia Shindle, 11, from the Shellbrook Skating Club and Stefan Lotz, 16, from the Prince Albert Skating Club, are a figure skating pair team who will represent Saskatchewan at the Skate Canada Challenge in Regina and Canada Winter Games, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Stefan was approached in June 2021 by the high-performance director, David Schultz, with the main goal to train as a pair skater and represent Saskatchewan at the Winter Games in 2023. After tryouts to find a suitable partner, the pair started their journey together on Aug. 3, 2021. At first, they both felt this goal was a little far-fetched but after just three months together they competed at the juvenile level and six months into training, they moved up to the pre-novice level.

Lotz and Shindle were not the only ones who needed to learn an array of new skills. Shindle’s coach, Tasje Sharron, and Lotz’s coach, Carla Matheson, also had to step up to the plate and learn how to coach a pairs team.

With the help of the coaching team of Skate Regina, David and Vicky Schultz and Garrett Gosselin, and several hours of extra coaching courses and training with other pair teams, they “put both feet in the fire” as Matheson recalled. Together they’ve guided and supported this team all the way to success.

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“We are extremely lucky and grateful to have such a dedicated coaching team behind us,” Lotz said.

The pair trains together four times a week between Shellbrook and Prince Albert and separately, on and off the ice, the rest of the week. From April to August, they travel to Regina and Saskatoon, when there is no ice in the area.

This past summer, when most kids their age were enjoying time at the lakes, they spent seven weeks across the province training.

“It was fun, it gave us the opportunity to learn new skills and train, as it is difficult to get to Regina during the school year,” Shindle said.

In August, they competed in Leduc, Alta., at the Wild Rose Competition where they achieved the qualifying score for Skate Canada Challenge.

“At first I was like, wow, that is a really big goal,” Lotz said. “But as we trained and improved, I realized that going to Canada Winter Games, may actually happen and that is what drives me to work hard.”

In October, they had the opportunity to travel to Barrie, Ont., to compete which was a new experience for both, travelling and staying with team Saskatchewan on their own. They placed third in Barrie.

They later competed at Sask. Skate and the Saskatchewan Sectional competition, as a pairs team and as solo skaters. Both placed second in their respective levels in the Saskatchewan series as solo skaters.

The Skate Canada Challenge will be their first national competition and takes place in Regina from Jan. 25 – 28

When asked what their goal was for the challenge, Lotz said he wants to have all their elements count and to obtain a personal best.

Shindle, meanwhile said the goal was to place in the top 10.

On Feb. 26, the pair will head out to Charlottetown, PEI, with Team Saskatchewan and will compete on March 1 and 3 at the Canada Games.

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