Sadie Henderson worked hard to earn a spot at the 2025 Canadian National Skating Championships, and wasn't going to let anything — even a bout of the flu — stop her from competing.
"I was competing no matter what," Henderson said. "I know I've worked so hard that I earned my spot to be there, and I knew that either way, no matter the result, I wanted to be on that ice."
The St. Albert figure skater travelled to Laval, Que., for her first Nationals appearance, which ran Jan. 14-19. She was excited to be there, and proud to wear the Team Alberta jacket. She said the black jacket symbolized the effort and commitment it took to make the team.
"My goal since the year before was to make it and finding out was absolutely amazing," she said. "Getting the jacket itself, like, I really wanted the jacket. As little as it seems, it was such a big moment, just to be able to wear it and represent Alberta."
Henderson's first event was the short program on Wednesday, Jan. 15, running over two minutes and consisting of three jumps, three spins, and a footwork piece. It's also her favourite to perform.
"It's really where you get to introduce yourself and shine," she said. "My footwork is my absolute favourite thing. It's really where I get to show my creativity and my artistic side to my skating," she said. She said she skated the short program clean, got around 45 points and was in seventh place after Wednesday.
The event didn't go off without some snags though. Sadie and her teammates came down with a bad stomach flu on Thursday and had to miss practice.
"I couldn't eat anything," she said. "So I was very, very low energy." However, she remained determined to continue.
She competed in the long program on Friday. That program runs over three minutes, and Henderson says it's an opportunity for skaters to showcase their strength and endurance. Henderson used what energy she could muster, and finished 13th. Despite not finishing as high as she had hoped, she found the experience rewarding.
"It definitely was not the result that I was looking for, but overall, I was just very happy that I was able to go out there, and very grateful that I was healthy enough to do that, experience that, even with being sick," she said.
Henderson started skating when she was five, and comes by her love of the ice naturally.
"It's been a huge part of our family," she said. "My dad played hockey, my mom figure skated. When I knew that at the age of eight, I wanted to be like my mom, so I went into figure skating, and I ended up falling in love with it, and I've been committed to it and so dedicated to it ever since."
Henderson started at the St. Albert Skating Centre. She said skated there for the first 10 years of her career, then moved to the Sherwood Park Skating Club at age 15, which she says is the most competitive club in the Edmonton area. She skates three to four hours a day, six days a week to be the best she can be.
One of Henderson's former coaches, Alexa Arrotta, said her work ethic, drive and determination make her stand out. Arrotta worked with Henderson when she was younger, teaching her fundamentals of skating.
"One of my favourite memorable stories about Sadie is her trying extremely hard during one of my stroking exercises," Arrotta said. "You could just see that she was really, really focusing and she hit a toe pick an face planted across the ice. She popped right back up and just continued like absolutely nothing happened."
That focus and work ethic extends beyond the ice.
"I do a lot of body and personal training, sports psychology, because I like to keep myself very organized from day to day," Henderson said. "Exactly where I need to be, what I need to do for training that day, whether I want to do more jumping, more choreography, more spinning."
Henderson is moving into what she calls her off season, where she'll be working on jumps and the technical side of things until the beginning of March where she will get back into training her programs as she gets ready for her next competition in April.
Her mom, Lyndsay, watches her daughter's hard work and passion for the sport with admiration.
"She inspires me," Lyndsay said. "She puts in so much on the ice and off the ice to get to where she's at."
"Skating really has been a life lesson for me," Henderson said. "When I'm on the ice, I just feel special. I just feel beautiful, and artistic, and confident."
She recalled the inspiration she felt watching other skaters at the National Championships.
"I really just felt so grateful to be in the presence of so many hard workers and so many amazing athletes that know what I put in, and they put in the same thing."
