The journey to the Skate Canada Challenge Championships was a long and bumpy road travelled for Elisabeth Taylor.
The St. Albert Skating Centre performer reached the elimination round for the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships with a sixth-place finish in the senior women’s event at the recent Alberta/Northwest Territories/Nunavut Sectionals in Calgary.
“This is my highlight. It’s been my dream for a while so I’m pretty excited,” Taylor told the Gazette before Wednesday’s training session at Troy Murray Arena. “It’s probably been six years of a lot of training and a lot of fitness. There are so many elements to get there but you keep on going. You never give up. There are times when you get down but I love what I’m doing and I wanted to get better each year so I’m pretty happy that I made it this year.”
Taylor, 22, was on pins and needles when the final results were announced.
“At first I was not sure if I was going to make it and then when I heard, I was like over-excited. I was jumping up and down and then I calmed down but it was like, Wow! I made it!”
Taylor’s choreographer, Jadene Ferreira, was thrilled to see the 22-year-old from the Stony Plain area achieve her goal.
“She has worked so hard for so long and has just been so dedicated through so many different challenges and personal things. It didn’t matter whether it was an injury or whether it was a setback she just had such a great attitude,” Ferreira said.
A strong long program put Taylor over the top.
“She had a very challenging short program but it was probably one of her poorest performances. Most skaters would be devastated to have that happen but by the time we got back to the dressing room she was already laughing about it and going I will be better tomorrow and that’s this kid. That’s who she is and that’s why we’re so proud of her,” Ferreira said.
Taylor’s short program is 2:50 minutes of Cirque du Soleil music and her 4:08 long program is a classical for-all-seasons soundtrack.
“My short program is a little bit newer because I’ve got new music and my long program I’ve had it for two years.”
Taylor perfects her craft five days a week on the ice for at least two hours per session. This is her second year with the St. Albert Skating Centre, formerly the St. Albert Figure Skating Club, and for six years has been coached by Ben Ferreira. The 2004 Canadian senior men’s silver medallist is a seven-time national team member (1999 to 2006) and three-time world team member.
Ben and Jadene Ferreira also operate Skate Ferreira, a high performance figure skating, choreography and styling company.
“We do Dartfish (a video analysis and software system), which really helps, and my other coach (Jadene) really helps me with my choreography, my programs and my skating skills,” said Taylor, who landed her first jump at age 11.
On tap next for Taylor is the Skate Canada Challenge, starting Dec. 3 in Pierrefonds, Que. A top 18 placing would guarantee a spot at nationals, Jan. 19 to 25 in Kingston, Ont.
“I don’t really get too nervous for competitions but I’m pretty excited and looking forward to it,” said the Gold Top Organics employee. “I pretty much want to beat my element scores and technical scores and do the best I can and have another good skate.”
