STAFF
Heather Austman
National Coach
RSA Program Manager
JD Program Manager
A passion for working with children and seeing them progress, keeps Heather, an organized, reliable and hardworking skating coach for more than 35 years, motivated. Her goal is to instill a love of figure skating in her skaters, just as her coaches did when she first put on figure skates at the age of five years.
Heather is a former Canadian Novice Ladies Champion, Canadian Junior Ladies Silver Medalist, and BC Section Senior Ladies Champion. She has completed her Gold Figure, Gold Freeskate and Gold Dance levels in Canada and the US.
Heather has coached International competitors, developed skaters from the beginning to the Senior levels, National medalists and champion, National level competitors, as well as Provincial and Regional champions.
Heather is NCCP Level III certified, working on level IV. In her spare time, Heather likes training for her next marathon.
Colin Chanski
National coach
Rotation Harness Coach
Originally from Saskatchewan, Colin started skating at 5 years old. During his skating career, he competed 9 times in the Novice and Senior level at the Canadian Championships.
Colin has been the Director of Prince of Wales SC in Newfoundland and Labrador for the past 3 years. Prior to this, he spent 15 years in Finland as the Head Coach at Kuopion Taitoluistelijat Ry. During that time, he has worked in figure skating camps in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, France, Germany and Andorra in the summers. In 2018, he won the Finnish Skating Federation’s 2018 Ragnar Wikstrom Trophy, which is awarded based on skaters’ competitive results for the season (Finnish equivalent to Competitive Coach of the Year in Canada).
He enjoys working with skaters at all levels from Pre-Canskate to the senior level whether skating for fun or competitively!
Coach Mike's early skating adventures began a long time ago in Northern BC when he was just 4 years old. At that time, skating for him consisted of chasing a puck around, jumping the lines, and generally being a bit of a nuisance on the ice. Fortunately the club's annual ice-show was in need of a comedy act, and with that Mike’s love of skating began...
Mike soon relocated to Vancouver to train with Skate Canada’s Hall of Fame Coach Dr Hellmut May. With Dr May’s renowned technical input Mike became a BC Provincial medallist in Juvenile (2nd), Pre-Novice (1st), Novice (3rd) Junior (1st), & Senior (2nd). He also achieved 3rd place at Canadian Nationals in Novice & travelled internationally as a member of the Canadian Junior National Team. He went on to train at Mariposa’s School of Skating with a few of Canada’s top coaches. Mike’s proudest skating moments include becoming the first skater to land a triple axel at BC Provincials, and breaking the world record for the farthest distance jumped in a single axel at over 20ft!
Mike’s coaching philosophy is to infuse the “fun” of this technically demanding sport with his late coach’s Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger”. He looks forward to supporting your child's skating goals...wherever the ice may take them.
Mike Craigmyle
provincial Coach
Coach Representative
Bruno Delmaestro
National Coach
PowerSkate Program Manager
A competitive, driven person as well as passionate about skating and seeing skaters reach their potential through hard work, Bruno takes a great deal of pride as a coach and mentor to children for more than 32 years.
Figure skating, and playing hockey since he was 9 years, Bruno is a former three-time Italian Senior Men's Champion, International medalist, European and World competitor. He has developed National champions for Canada, Finland, Singapore and Hong Kong, International medalists, Junior World competitors and has coached at the 12th Chinese National Winter Games. At the 2015 World Championships in Figure Skating, Bruno coached Ronald Lam to a top 14 Placement, and a top 9 technical score in the World. He has had skaters land all jumps up to a quad/triple in competition.
He has been named BC/YT Section Competitive Coach of the Year in 1999, 2001 and 2006 and is a contributor on the Long-Term Athlete Development Plan Committee for Skate Canada National Office. He is the Master CanPower Skate Course Conductor for BC and was a contributor to the new program. Bruno is NCCP Level IV certified. In his spare time, Bruno likes to study economics and business structures.
In Hockey, he has trained players who have played in the N.H.L., the W.H.L., B.C.H.L., as well as players who have been awarded University Scholarships. He has worked for many different Minor Hockey Associations who have used his skating programs for their players’ development.
Deneen Sokoloski
National Coach
STARSkate Program Manager
Deneen’s passion for figure skating and working with athletes of all skill levels has cultivated a purposeful strategy in the development of the whole child. Deneen believes the skating experiences an athlete gains not only ensures a life long passion for the sport but also transcends into valuable life skills.
Deneen is a double Gold medalist, NCCP level III certified with CEP Gold Status and has over 30 years of coaching experience. Deneen has developed skaters from beginner level to Regional and Provincial Champions to both National and International level competitors.
Deneen’s educational background in Recreation Leadership and Human Performance has been pivotal in fostering her passion for program development and a love for working with community based organizations. In her spare time Deneen is a self- taught artist who enjoys theatre, gardening, travel, and skiing.
Foundation Team Coaches
Keira Bailey
Sofia Balogh
Ann-Marie Heikkinen
Megan Kan
Andrea Quan
CanSkate Coaches
Destiny Cassels
Jake Willing-Sato
Justine Ladrido
Joanna Li
Liya Li
Yui Seto
Brieana Quan
Program Assistants
Alexander Lu, Annika Pobran, Braelyn Bach, Celeste Desaulniers, Charlene Fong, Charlotte Yoon, Doreann Griffiths, Ella Lachkvic, Gloria Si- Yao Wang, Iris Ye, Jaiden Keenan, Jake Willing-Sato, Janet Lu, Liana Dragun, Meadow Balser, Mila Zhou, Olena Verba, Renie Qiao, Sarah Rebecca Garshowitz, Valencia Budijanto, Yolanda Tong, Yasmina Niyazov
Office Administrators
Jolene Lambley
krista parr
President
Eva Huang – eva@skatecoquitlam.com
Secretary
Wendy Griffiths – wendy@skatecoquitlam.com
Treasurer
Gordon Quan - gordon@skatecoquitlam.com
Directors
Ady Liu - Event Coordinator
ady@skatecoquitlam.com
Dora Goldenberg - Registration Coordinator -
dora@skatecoquitlam.com
Branden Pan - Fundraising/Test Coordinator -
Branden@skatecoquitlam.com
Amy Yeung - Volunteer Coordinator -
amy@skatecoquitlam.com