The following is being distributed at the request of Sport Newfoundland and Labrador:

Christine Moores of Conception Bay North has been returned for her third term as chairperson of the provincial figure skating organization together with secretary, Norma Moores, also of CBN and treasurer, Wayne Sutherland, of St. John's FSC. Elected as first vice-chairperson was John Dollimount of Stephenville and second vice chairperson, Rosalind Pound of Mount Pearl.

Elected as Directors at Large were the following:

     Marketing      Paulett Bugden      Corner Brook
     Publicity      Tammy Hawkins       Gander
     Publicity      Judy Mugford        Conception Bay South
     Lottery        Jean Trend          Grand Falls-Windsor
     Membership     Wayne Vallis        St. John's

Regional Directors are:

     Avalon         Barbara Barclay
     Eastern        Roland Dawe
     Central        Joyce Martin Stuckless
     Western        Odelle Pike
     Labrador       Bev Power

Appointed as Chairpersons of the following committees were:

     Evaluators/Judges   Madeline Hillier    Labrador City
     Accountants         John Dollimount     Stephenville
     Recreation          Elizabeth Zedel     Prince of Wales
     Precision           Odelle Pike         Stephenville
     Championships       Patricia Clarke     CBN
     Skater Development  Betty Brett         Mount Pearl
     

Coaches Representative is Kevin Walsh, Mount Pearl.

Program Director is Marion Jeans.

The Volunteer Awards Banquet was held on Saturday night where Joy Sudden was named the recipient of the Volunteer Award of Excellence. Joy has been involved in skating for nine years and is presently serving her second term as president of the Mount Pearl FSC. She is a member of the board of directors of Mount Pearl Arenas and the figure skating representative on the Mount Pearl Sports Alliance. She has held many positions with the club including CanSkate coordinator, Ice-Show coordinator, group leader for Ice Show and chairperson of the 1996 provincials host committee. She will travel to the CFSA AGM in Toronto May 29, 1997 where she, and other volunteers across Canada, will be honoured by the Canadian Figure Skating Association.

Skater of the Year award was presented to Allison Noseworthy of the Mount Pearl FSC. She skated to a silver in Preliminary "A" at Avalon Regionals this year, got a gold in Autumn Skate 96, gold in Interclub 96 and silver in the CBN Invitational Freeskate Event in 1995. Allison skates with the Mount Pearl Juvenile Precision Team, is a member of the Girl Guides Association, takes voice lessons, plays piano, is in the church band, sings in youth choir, plays under nine soccer and maintains an A+ average in school. She is nine years old and has passed all preliminary level tests in figures, dance and freeskate. She has attended all seminars conducted by Jesse Picard in Mount Pearl and attended the Mariposa Club summer school in Moncton last summer.

Coach of the Year Award went to Kristiana Strawbridge of St. John's. She has been coaching for six and 1/2 years with the Mount Pearl and Prince of Wales clubs. She is fully certified Level III, having apprenticed with Kerry Leitch in Cambridge in 1996 and the 1997 Bank of Montreal Canadians in Vancouver. Her skaters have competed at Atlantic Divisional Championships, the qualifying competition for Canadians. She choreographed the opening ceremonies for the 1993 Atlantic Divisional Championships in St. John's. She received a Bachelors degree in Physical Education from Memorial University last year. During her own skating career she skated to a silver medal in Pre-Novice Provincials and Novice Sectionals, gold medal in Junior Sectionals, gold in Junior at Newfoundland Winter Games and represented the province at Atlantic Divisional Championships. In 1988 she was selected by Newfoundland to represent the sport of figure skating in the Calgary Olympic Torch Relay. She attained gold in figures, freeskate and dance, senior competitive singles test and gold artistic tests.

Sections Award was presented to Betty Brett of Mount Pearl FSC who has been involved in the sport for the past 20 years. She has held the challenging post of skater development chairperson for the past two years, (previously serving on the committee from 1989 to 1995), was president of the Mount Pearl FSC from 1986-1995 and held various posts in that club including CanSkate coordinator, test chairperson, and region representative. She was previously honoured by the provincial organization as volunteer of the year for Newfoundland and has been instrumental in formulating plans for the first Provincial Training Centre.

CanSkate/CanFigureSkate Award was presented to Cheryl Baggs of Island Blades FSC in Hillgrade. She has been involved with the club for 12 years, starting skating at four. She is a certified CanSkate instructor who has coached for the past four years. She has competed in many competitions, winning medals in singles and dance. She believes, as a senior skater in her club, she should help younger skaters feel good about their accomplishments and realize their fullest potential. She balances her commitment to the sport with a heavy schedule of school work, other sports and community activities. Her club nominated her because, "she gives everything she has to the skaters" and is always willing to help.

The Section Evaluator/Judge Award went to Lindsey Redmond of Mount Pearl who has been involved with the sport from the age of eight. She began her judging career in 1969 at the age of 14 years and now judges at the gold levels in figures, freeskate and dance. She has held many positions with the Newfoundland section including judges chairperson 1976, director 1994, technical advisory chairperson 1994 and vice- chairperson of Tech Ad 1995. She has been involved in the redrafting of the constitution, served as monitor for the Provincial Figure Skating Team, judge and chief referee at numerous figure skating competitions including chief referee at regionals 1997, provincials 1996 and sectionals 1996 as well as evaluator for the numerous high level test days which are scheduled throughout the province. A former competitive figure skater, she now devotes her time to family, work (two jobs) and figure skating and received her pin for 25 years of involvement with the organization.

The Section Accountant Award was presented to Rosalind Pound of Mount Pearl who has been involved in skating from the age of eight and involved in accounting since 1977. She is presently a Senior Canadian Computer Accountant, having preformed accounting functions at Canadians in 1981 and 1990, at 1993 Skate Canada, 1994 Precision Canada International, at nine Atlantic Divisional Championships in capacities of accountant, chief accountant and senior computer accountant as well as numerous provincial and sectional competitions. She has conducted seminars to instruct other accountants, she has judged at several Canadian Precision Championships, and has held several positions on the provincial organization including accountants chairperson, director Tech Ad Committee and vice-chairperson and was also presented with a 25 year pin. She is also vice-chairperson of the Avalon Region.

The Elizabeth Swan Memorial Award went to Cindy Ivany of Mount Pearl who had been involved with the club for the past nine years. She had served in several posts including director 1989, director 1990, 1992 precision coordinator for Mount Pearl Club and manager of the teams being instrumental in getting their Novice Precision Team to Canadian Championships in Kitchener-Waterloo, 1997 Precision coordinator, team manager and instrumental in getting teams to Canadian Championships in Halifax. She is also involved in the CanSkate Program, Pre-school Skate and Ice Show. She spends many hours each week playing music and attending meetings. She is a full time nurse at the Health Science Centre and the mother of two full-time skaters.

Guest speaker for the meeting was Valerie Bartlett, technical resource coordinator for the Western Ontario Section. She was the 1967 Canadian Ladies Junior Champion and was fourth in the world in 1966. She spent 18 years at the Seneca College Coaching Program and was chairperson for the CFSA committee which developed the new skating skills program. She spoke to the membership on ways to develop a skater and provided valuable suggestions for the Newfoundland volunteers to assist them in improving the skating programs to their membership.

For the first time Newfoundland will have a Provincial Training Centre which will be held at Smallwood Drive Arena from June 23 to July 18, 1997. This will include an on-ice and off-ice program for skaters who will train in group and private lessons with high calibre coaches in an effort to develop a strong provincial identity and build a united team. The Training Centre is the project of the Skating Development Committee under chairperson, Betty Brett. Wendy Mercer will be the administrator of the Training Centre which will provide instruction for skaters from the CanSkate Program up to Junior Silver Freeskate levels as well as all competitive dance and pairs.

The provincial seminar will again be held in Mount Pearl during the last week of August which will provide the skaters with almost 10 weeks of on ice training this summer. Josee Pichard and Eric Gillies will again be conducting the provincial seminar and will bring support staff as well.

Jean Trend, chairperson for the Lottery Committee, advised the membership that the lottery had a successful first year achieving a profit of over $13,000. Plans are in place for the lottery for the next year with hopes of improving on the first year's figures. The top clubs were Polaris, Trinity-Placentia and Frosty Figures (Centreville) while top sellers were Stephanie Smith, Trinity-Placentia, Meghan Flemming, Prince of Wales and Jessica Remedios, Trinity-Placentia/Ben Benson Island Blades. Prize winners were: Matthew Oak, Gander; D. Hiller, London, Ontario; Edith Dicks, Marystown; Louise Yetman, Bell Island; Doris Pelly, Twillingate; Muriel R. Edway, Clarenville; Lisa Kean, Badger's Quay; Elaine Devereaux, Port aux Basques; Norma Moores, Harbour Grace; Margaret Parsons, Black Duck Siding; Stephenville FSC; Wes Whalen, Labrador City.

A new Fitness on Ice Program was introduced to the membership to provide an opportunity for former skaters, hockey players, power skaters, etc. with a new and challenging way to keep fit and improve physical fitness. Skating skills combine with aerobic moves to provide innovative opportunity for a challenging fitness program. Lisa Young, Corner Brook, heads this up.

The new skating Unlimited Programs are under the guidance of Elizabeth Zedel of the Prince of Wales Figure Skating Club. This is Elizabeth's first involvement with the provincial organization. She is available to visit all clubs and executives.

Competitions for the upcoming winter season will be held as follows:

     Sectionals     -         November 7-9, 1997     Stephenville
     Precision      -         February 6-8, 1998     St. John's FSC
     Provincials    -         February 28, 1998      Clarenville
     Winter Games   -         March 14-21, 1998      Labrador West
     National Precision  -    March 5-9, 1998        Ottawa, Ont.
     Bank of Montreal    -    January 5-11, 1998     Hamilton, Ont.
     Canadians 

Regional competitions to determine representatives of provincials are as follows:

     Avalon    -    February 1998            Prince of Wales
     Central   -    January 17, 1998         Wesleyville
     Eastern   -    January 24-25, 1998      Bonavista
     Western   -    January 10-11, 1998      Port aux Basques
     Labrador  -    March 1998          

The Canadian Figure Skating annual general meeting will be held at the Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto on May 29, 30 and 31.

Contact: Judy Mugford, (709) 781-2036.