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The little club that grew When Canadian Olympic bronze medalâ€" ists Rob McCall and Wilson retired onl P h uk a F g&n&.‘mm ‘or Bri t years in groomâ€" ters, it was a closi hat was difficult to deal with, but for a coach with the experience such as Briscoe, this wasn‘t the final chapter of his career, much to the delight of the Kitchenerâ€"Waâ€" terloo Skating Club. mlhr performances of dance figure such as Olympic medalists McCall and Wilson, the brother and sister team of Karyn and Rod Garossino, former Canaâ€" dian champions, but very few realize that behind every good singles‘, pairs‘ or dance skaters, t!:q:::ieu_u;h_wbomndtinthe shadow of their limelight, lot of experiences through teams that I‘ve had. You sort of live through each era," Briscoe said. "You keep thinking that there‘s not goin(tobomymuphoethem,md then the team of lle) McDonald and Another chapter in the life of John Briscoe (Martin) Smith come along and are in line this year to possibly win championships at this month‘s Nationals." McDonald and Smith, of the Kitchenerâ€" Waterloo Skating Club, teamed up earlier resulted was pure chemistry in the sence L of dance figure skating, opening another skating was getting astronomical in Toâ€" chapter in the life of Briscoe. ronto, and his skaters, who come from Briscoe compared the breaking up of across Canada and the world to train, had McDonald and Mitchell and the joining of difficulty in affording to live in Toronto. McDonald â€" from Abbottsford, B.C. â€" The Kâ€"W area was a great alternative and Smith â€" from Woodstock â€" like both both Briscoe and his skaters. mnmlgnmd divorces. Some work out, _ When he transferred to the Kâ€"W club, he other ‘t. Last year Smith, with also brought along McDonald and Mitchâ€" another partner, was a Canadian champâ€" ell, who were then two time world team ion. members, the Garossino‘s (Karyn is now Briscoe, 37, who was one of the original an instructor at the Kâ€"W club), as well as coaches at the National Ice Dance Centre threeâ€"time Japan champions and twoâ€"time in Toronto for 16 years, was invited by Kâ€" world team members Kenji and Kaoru in Toronto for 16 years, was invited by Kâ€" WcothtnlSJeatoeomawthilml three years ago and he hasn‘t looked back. Helping him to make his decision to stay here was the fact that the cost of Many Canadians have been awed by the "I‘ve been fortunate enough to have a Takino, who live in Kitchener for 11 months of the year. "They‘re very dedicated athletes to travel the way they do and to live here. Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Skating Club coach John Briscoe with dance pairs Kenji and Kaoru Takino, threeâ€"time Japan champions and twoâ€"time world team members. They‘re very much Japanese and when I first started teaching them about seven years ago they didn‘t speak a word of English. They finished their school before they started really getting involved in ‘‘Their program this has a bit of an Oriental flavor, vhicr:lroaln't go over very well in the Orient. They like it when people are like North American skaters. lkifin"'nnd both now have their law E.dd.dthltwwkmg with the Japaâ€" nese skaters is working with a different culture, adding that sometimes the pair find it difficult to understand the way the rest of the world sees them. (Continued on page A23) Local club thrives on its youth Macintosh‘s claim to fame is to be the only figure skater from Turow, N.S. ever to compete in a national competition, something which he chuckles about with his Maritime sense of humor The 27â€"yearâ€"old coach has nothing but respect for Sales, the founder of the club which was in its infancy stage. He remembers that the club and its members were young and even though he was in charge of two dance pair, the competitors "chewed up" every moment of his time. The Kâ€"W club has come a long way since Sales first began it. Its membership is close to 3,400 with 50 coaches, of which close to 20 are fulltime. It‘s become one of the breeding grounds for provincial, naâ€" tional and international skaters. If sucâ€" cess breeds success, then this club should turn a lot of heads. Sometimes when clubs grow its execuâ€" tive and members tend to forget about those who took the risk in the early stages, but that‘s not that case here When not praising Sales, who‘s now the elitgoo-a'dimwr for Rhythmic Gymnasâ€" tic‘s Canada at Sport Canada in Ottawa, "The first year I got here Paul Sales, who was the originator of this program, back in 1984, gave me the responsibility of teaching two of the four dance pairs at the club, unfortunately, I haven‘t taken one course at the university," Macintosh When Paul Macintosh first came to Waterloo six years ago he planned on attending one of the two local universities and had hopes of becoming a parttime ‘s now six years later and he still hasn‘t seen the inside of a university class -mgzo fulltime coaches at the Kitchâ€" enerâ€"Waterloo Skating Club, the largest "I came here with the intentions that I would just teach in the evenings and go to university, because this was such a simple parttime job if you were use to teaching (Continued on page A23)