Hi guys, I was in today's Windsor Star and on www.canada.com site in the news today. They left out some important details though.

Newcomer to skating pursues Canadian title
By Mary Caton, Star Sports Writer

Brigitte Laskowski spent a lot more time hovering near the safety of the boards when she first took up figure skating four years ago. Like many of the sport's enthusiasts, she decided to try it for herself after watching skaters like Elvis Stojko on TV. The only thing unusual about this Stojko skating fan is her age. Laskowski is a 41-year-old mother of two teenaged daughters and she's out there spinning and twirling around the rink.

She's broken an elbow, sprained a knee and tweaked an Achilles tendon but still she persists and, next March, she hopes to compete at the first-ever Skate Canada Adult National Championships in Burnaby, B.C. "I just love it," Laskowski said of her unusual middle-aged hobby. "It's basically for fun. There's not all the pressure that the elite skaters have on them at a national." In Canada, adult skating is generally limited to gliding around the ice without having to dodge other skaters but competitive adult skating has been offered in the U.S. and Britain for years.

More ice time

Now, with prompting from devotees like Laskowski, Canada will offer a national championship on an invitational basis in 2004. That means she'll be on the ice three times a week at Club Tecumseh, preparing a three-minute interpretive program and a two-minute free skate.

At a Thornhill competition earlier this year, Laskowski was third in interpretive and second in free skate and at the North American Adult Invitational held annually in Wyandotte, Mich., she was fourth in free skate and eighth in interpretive. Her most difficult element is a flip-toe combo.

Laskowski is hoping to pick up a sponsor or two to help defray the costs of travelling to British Columbia. If she's can't afford it, she'll continue to train locally.

"I'll keep skating until I can't stand anymore," she said. "I love to skate and I love to perform."

© Copyright 2003 Windsor Star

I must say, they forgot to tell the name of the Thornhill competition; Skate Canada COS Adult Spring Skate. Left out the reason why I came in 4th in FS and 8th in interpretive at the NAAI; surgery to remove ovarian cyst 4 and half months prior leaving no ab strength.

What they didn't know at interview time was that I was a week later going to enter/register to compete in Canadian Adult Nationals, Sun Parlour and North American. I won't just stay home and train.

If sponsors wish to sponsor me, Brigitte Laskowski, please email my trustee at Marj Rusling.

The above article is from Dec. 31, 2003.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Congratulations on the article!! Great for adult skating, and hopefully great for you personally if you manage to get some sponsors!

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

That's wonderful! Good luck on finding some sponsers!

__________________
beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

That's great! I hope you can get the money to go to BC. Hopefully, adult skating will continue to grow in Canada. You have had a few challenges along the way and continue to go for it .... good for you!! Good luck for the future.

Very COOL!!!!

__________________
Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Is your own skating club sponsoring you? Our club gives all skaters who compete at high level (sectionals, starskate triathalon) a bursary, and we have a competitive skater fundraising committee. It was a lot easier as a group than having individual skaters approach local business for sponsorship and it continues year after year. It is more difficult to raise money for an older skater individually, the response is to little cutie pie girls so this evens it out.

Can I have your autograph???

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Congratulations! You're an inspiration as I struggle to pass free skate 1. (Don't know what the Canadian equivalent is). But I too broke my wrist early on in my skating revival career, and have now turned into a rink rat and don't ever want to stop.

congratulations
Its people like you that will make adult skating grow.


" The greatest risk in life is not taking one",