The new head coach Carla Dominguez came over from the United Kingdom with her family earlier this year after responding to an advertisement online.
After getting the job and organising her visa, she has set up shop in Gore with the goal of coaching skaters of all levels to get better on the ice.
Dominguez said she lived and breathed skating.
"I love skating. It’s everything for me — it has been my whole life,
"I started skating when I was 6 — it’s been 31 years. The only time I stopped really was Covid, and when I went into labour with my child," she said.
Dominguez said she has coached skaters for the past decade, with great success at her previous rink in Bristol.
"I worked all the hours. I took on brand new skaters, tried to make everyone their best.
"I had a strong competitive team under me. We started going to nationals and competitions.
"I upset a few of them by coming here," she laughed.
Dominguez said she did not know much about Gore, beyond it having the necessities for her family to settle down.
"I did the minimal research. I knew we’d have somewhere to live, my kids could go to a good school, and my husband could go fishing," she said.
Having settled in, Dominguez said it had been a great chance to come to Gore.
"I really like Gore. The people here are really kind, so helpful. I don’t think you could ever feel lost. There would always be someone you could turn to," she said.
"You’re also a few hours away from some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. It’s provided my family an opportunity we’ll never forget," she said.
Dominguez said even though the ice rink did not have a fulltime coach, the level of the skaters was high.
"They haven’t had any consistency in coaching which is a shame, as in there hasn’t been the ability for a fulltime coach to support all the skaters here, which is hard.
"We had tests a few weeks ago and every skater passed, so I think that in itself shows the coaches have been working hard as they can while also having fulltime jobs," she said.
Dominguez said her immediate and long-term goal was to bring skaters in and develop them, and skating was the best way she could do good for the community.
"It completely takes on your whole body. There’s no outside world,
"So many people I’ve worked with, with major things going on in the background, and the most I can do is teach them how to skate, where they can release, let go, and be safe," she said.
Dominguez urged those in the community to get out on to the ice.
"Come give it a go. If you’ve never skated before, come try it. You’ll fall, but at the end of the session you’re racing your friends and having a lot of fun.
"It doesn’t mean you have to commit to the sport.
"Just to be able to laugh, to glide, to feel that sense of freedom, come skating," she said.
