Article appeared in the Dec. 8, 2011 issue of the Interlake Spectator…
Twelve-year-old Sarah Jensen is well beyond her years in terms of, both, commitment and focus. She has recently taken home a Bronze medal in the Juvenile Ladies Competitive Skating category at the 2012 Skate Canada Manitoba Sectional Championships, held on Nov. 4 and 5 at the Dakota Community Centre in Winnipeg.
“This recent accomplishment has been a big goal for her as she has worked very hard to get this far,” said mother, Debbie Jensen.
The Jensen family has continuously supported their children, twin girls, in both ballet and figure skating classes from an early age.
Jensen, a member of the Arborg Skating Club, skates up to 13 hours a week and demonstrates real commitment to her sport. She has been skating for eight years, having started with the “Can Skate” program in Arborg at age four, then moving on to “Bridge” at age eight.
Now a Juvenile skater, she can look forward to Pre-novice, Novice, Junior and Senior.
So far, Jensen has won a total of 23 medals in a variety of competitions, nine of which were Gold. She has skated with the best, even attending the world-renowned Mariposa Figure Skating School in Barrie, Ont.
Jensen has an upcoming competition at the end of Feb. 2012, in Stonewall, and will skate in the March Provincials in Winkler soon after.
“I didn’t really expect (to win Bronze) but I was really, really happy. I really wanted to do my personal best score,” she said at a recent interview at her home in Vidir.
Jensen is a self-avowed perfectionist, and that accounts for her incredible work ethic.
“I make lots of goals and try to meet them. I’m serious about the sport. I know what I want to accomplish. I don’t really fool around on the ice. I still have fun, but there’s a point where you have to work and practise,” she said.
Jensen’s focus now is on learning more complex jumps, and while she probably could, she has no plan to go on to compete in the Olympics. Her ambition is to keep up her good school grades and eventually become a veterinarian. She loves horses.
“It would be awesome to go to the Olympics, but what would I do with my vet career? It would be awesome to do both,” she said.
Regardless of what path she eventually chooses, she plans to keep a foot in the skating world, by helping with “Can Skate” after her competitive career, and possibly will go on to teach figure skating.
