It was a great first appearance on the national stage for Abigail Haas and Stefan Lotz.
The pair finished fifth in pre-novice pairs at the Skate Canada Trophy in Edmonton last month.
They have been training in Regina over the past several months, but Lotz got his start with the Prince Albert Skating Club.
In an interview with the Daily Herald, Lotz says he first picked up figure skating because of a friend and has not looked back since.
“I started out around seven. One of my close friends at the time, I was like she’s doing something that’s really cool and I just continued skating from there. I had a few role models like Patrick Chan that I really aspired to be. I just picked up figure skating from there and I was really interested in the jumps and spins and all that.”
Lotz, who recently turned 18, has been involved in the sport for more than a decade now. His time on the ice has taken him all across the country. He says the sport of figure skating has a very welcoming community.
“It’s been very positive. I’ve been going all over the place in Saskatchewan and Alberta and even places like Ontario and Prince Edward Island for Canada Games. It’s a very positive environment and you get to make a lot of friends along the way, learning how other people train and it’s really amazing to just learn so then you can put it into your own practice.”
Since July, Lotz has been training alongside Haas in Regina learning how to skate in pairs. Lotz says they get along very well and are able to work through challenges as a team.
“We were working really hard together and learning some new things. It was just kind of like a click for us. We really work well together like siblings and it’s a very positive environment for the two of us.”
Haas and Lotz were the top team from Saskatchewan at the Skate Canada Trophy finishing in fifth place out of 21 teams from across the country. The two were competing in pre-novice pairs. Pre-novice is not an age category, but indicates the skill level of the skaters involved.
David Schultz is the high performance director for Skate Saskatchewan and coached Haas and Lotz this season. He explained there was a lot of learning for the two of them throughout the season.
“It’s part of the competitive stream, but it’s very much in the collection of kids that are new to that level or for Abby and Stefan new to pairs. Stefan actually had a year and a half of pairs experience, but Abby’s brand new. She is learning how to speak with someone, how to learn elements side by side, how to learn elements where they have to lift, twist, and grow together. All of that was brand new.”
There is a significant age group between Haas and Lotz. Both have recently celebrated birthdays with Haas turning 13 and Lotz turning 18. Schultz says it is not out of the ordinary for there to be a large age gap in youth figure skating pairs.
“It’s quite common that you’d have a big age gap because you need a boy that’s physically mature that he can lift and be safe. You need a girl who is as small as possible just so that things are being done without having to worry about the height or the weight of the female or the lack of height or weight of the male. A big age gap promotes a good size gap and that’s what you want. It’s hard for Stefan because he stands pretty tall, I think he’s six feet and Abby is four foot, not very much. For him to just skate around the ice with her hand in hand, he’s got to get much lower the whole time. It’s pretty much a leg workout in every training section. That’s common in this discipline, especially at this level.”
Schultz added that Lotz did a tremendous job being a mentor for Haas when he needed to be.
“Stefan is such a great partner for her, but he was able to be a good base for her while she’s trying to learn those skills and he’s very positive. For her, she’s a really strong strength to mass athlete so she was able to list herself in those lifts and she was able to hold herself in those positions when they skated together. They each bring a good skill set as individuals and now they have to build a skill set as a team. Pre-novice is the real first time you get to compete in a national event with a collection of skills against the best kids in Canada. Stefan and Abby were both able to do most of the most difficult elements that are permitted at that level.”
While Haas and Lotz worked together as a pair, both are also training to become strong individual skaters. Lotz says skating in a pair also gives you another for support.
“You have someone always there for you, so if you’re feeling nervous or something, you have someone to talk to or you give each other reminders saying, hey, make sure you do your job on this element and I’ll make sure I do my job on this element. That’s kind of how we communicate.”
