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Coach Finds Ways To Keep Skaters in Step

STAMFORD, Conn. – Gina Valenzano-Gomez remembers the prehistoric days of synchronized skating. As the coach of Southern Connecticut Synchronized Skating team at Terry Conners Rink since 1997, the Stamford mother of two has seen the sport evolve as it has grown in popularity.

“It was fun being there from the beginning, but it was stressful,’’ says Valenzano-Gomez, who has been teaching skating since 1989. “You’re learning as you go and hope you’re doing the right thing. Compared to what synchronized skating is today, it’s so much different. What I did with the teams then is much different than what the girls do now.”

Valenzano-Gomez coaches three teams with her assistants, Val Legutko and Kari Pace, both of whom are former team members. The teams compete this weekend in the Terry Conners Open, which runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Valenzano-Gomez’s teams are the Sprites, for beginners; the Shimmers, who are pre-juvenile level; and the Shadows, who compete in the juvenile division. She took over the team when the previous coach left. “I skated on the first team when it started to come in vogue,’’ Valenzano-Gomez said. “I kind of inherited the team. I was always there and stuck with it.”

She had just a handful of skaters in her first year. She recruited Legutko and Pace, who were just beginning to teach, to help her build the team. “Kari said I will do anything to help you. And if I say yes, Val will be with me. It took us a few years to be good enough to attract skaters. It was a tough climb, but we did it.”

Success was slow in coming for the skaters. ”We used to jump up and down when we didn’t finish in last place,’’ Valenzano-Gomez said. Slowly, the program turned a corner. More girls came on, and they started to improve. “It was around 2004 that we had our first really good team,’’ Valenzano-Gomez said. “The Shadows won Eastern Regional, and it lit a fire under the Shimmers and they took off, too. The first time we won, the girls were so excited you’d thought we’d won an Olympic medal.”

More than 30 girls are in the program now, nearly all of them from lower Fairfield County.

This is not the career path Valenzano-Gomez envisioned when she graduated from Westhill High School and the University of Maryland. “Teaching group lessons was my first job, and then I had a few private students,’’ she said. ”I don’t know if it was my intention to be a full-time figure skating instructor. It only made sense to start working there. I liked what I was doing and loved skating. I said let’s see if I can make money doing this, and here I am.”

Valenzano-Gomez’s skating skills are sharp enough that she impersonated Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul for a television documentary. “All you saw was my feet,’’ she said. “It was a really cool experience, but nobody knew it was me. I got to experience a life of television star for a day.”

She now delegates more of the daily coaching to Legutko and Pace. Her son Matthew is 7 months old and Chris is 3. Her husband, Jason, chips in with child-care duties when she’s busy with skating. It has been long, uphill climb to build a solid program.

“I dreamed it would be successful and I believed in my heart that I could do it,’’ Valenzano-Gomez said. “With Kari and Val behind me, and a supportive parents organization, we’ve been able to do it.

“If you attract people with same energy that you have, and you surround yourself with it, it will be successful. As long as they have fun and enjoy what they’re doing, that’s the most important part. It’s not about winning a medal. It’s about putting your best effort. When you work hard, it works out well in terms of placement.”

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