Local skater one of the highest ranked in the district, First a student, now a teacher

Ken Johnston
Editor

Skating before she could walk... well not quite but close!
Athena Pirkl, 17, of Rainy River, has been on figure skates since she was about four or five years of age and now is one of he highest ranked skaters in the Rainy River District.
She has earned her Gold Dances, Gold Skills and Gold Elements badges and is just about done her Gold Free Skate. In addition to that she also passed her CanSkate coaching certification last year and put that to use helping coach in Emo this year.
With all that on her plate, one would think it is full. However she is presently preparing to put some icing on the cake this June when she will take her testing to become a Level 1 figure skating coach. “They sent me a huge home study package. After the course (in June) I will have a student pass their first three dances, skills and free skate tests.”
With so many achievements on her resumé it is hard to believe she almost walked away from the sport about five years ago. “I was going to play girls hockey,” said Athena. Then she went to Fort Frances for a summer skating program and Coach Nicole (nee Katona) Campbell convinced her to stick with it and she did.
She moved from Rainy River’s more recreationally oriented figure skating program to Fort Frances where she discovered a whole new world of skating. “In Rainy River it was pretty much always the same. In Fort Frances everything was new.”
She skates there three days a week for a total of six hours. She also coaches in Emo for four hours per week and skates there for another two hours. She takes private lessons from Coach Campbell and really credits her for getting her where she is today.
Athena is not looking forward to this season ending as it will be her last in the area. However, she is excited about what the future holds. She plans to attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth to study either engineering or business next fall. She also plans to try out for a Synchronized Skating team they have there and also hopes to use her teaching qualifications to teach kids to figure skate.
She notes that the skills she has learned will always be with her and she hopes to keep teaching them to others for many years to come. As for competing, she says she is too old to do that, but is happy teaching.
Her coaching career really began as a volunteer in Rainy River as a Junior Coach about six or seven years ago. “I really like helping little kids,” and junior coaching pointed her in that direction.