There are direct flights from Vancouver to Taiwan every week.
For Burnaby skaters Sarah Arnold and Thomas Williams, the route to the Four Continents skating championships, which runs this week, was anything but direct.
The senior ice dancing pair have faced multiple hurdles and tests, separately and together, to get where they are today.
Even after saying goodbye and leaving the sport for five years to study and launch a career, as Arnold did, the pull of the game kept the dream alive and the door open.
Now, after a strong performance at last week’s Canadian Tire national championships in their adopted home of Vancouver, the duo got another chance to represent Canada for the Jan. 22 to 28 competition in Taipei.
In Taiwan, they were joined by fellow Champs International Skating Centre of B.C. ice dancers Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker and senior men’s skater Kevin Reynolds.
Finding a balance between the excitement of competition and the costs to get there has been a constant challenge since the two came together in March 2016. If it’s a dream they are chasing, why keep pouring their sweat and tears into it?
“Perseverance – even this fall we kind of had a meeting,” noted Arnold, who will turn 28 in two weeks. “It was like, ‘OK, let’s just keep going, keep going.’ It’s kind of hard when you don’t get a break for a while.”
Williams, 27, concurred, adding that the carrot of competing for Canada is a strong force.
“You take one competition at a time, and then re-evaluate after each one and see where we’re at. A lot of it has to do with the (fact that) we are both stressed and exhausted because we’re working so much on top of training, to pay for it,” he said.
“We have to consider, like, is it worth it to continue if we’re not getting what we want out of it, like competition-wise, assignments, doing well at nationals and getting Four Continents. We are always re-evaluating.”
When the judges provide positive evaluations, as they did at the nationals, it has a real impact.
In an Olympic year, Canada’s top three have the opportunity to represent the nation on the largest stage, the Winter Games. It also opens up spots for three other teams to skate at the Four Continents in Taiwan – and finishing fifth in Vancouver secured Arnold and Williams, as well as sixth-place Sales and Wamsteeker, those assignments.
Although their short program at the nationals fell short of their expectations, both Arnold and Williams left the UBC ice at the end satisfied.
“We didn’t skate perfect. We definitely have lots to improve on,” remarked Arnold. A miscue in the short program cost them some points, but they rebounded with a very strong free skate run. “I feel like we’re starting to mesh as a team during competition, because we haven’t been skating together that long. We both took some time off from the sport, so it’s nice to finally do two decent run-throughs in the competition.”
“It was more in line with what we do on a regular basis, especially lately in training,” noted Williams of the free skate result. “It’s always nice when you’re able to put what you’ve been doing in training out there in competition, with all the pressure and the adrenalin, the excitement of the home town crowd and all that.”
Arnold, originally from Mississauga, Ont., and Williams, a native of Okotoks, Alta., said their on-ice chemistry continues to evolve. They have longer histories with previous partners but have known each other for nearly 11 years.
Williams experienced international highs and lows with former partner Nicole Orford, including as junior national champions in 2011, senior bronze in 2013 and fifth place at the 2014 Four Continents. Arnold, meanwhile, skated with Justin Trojek to sixth place at the 2011 senior nationals before hanging up her skates.
Having trained at the same club together in Ontario, the two had developed a good rapport and friendship that Williams thought might translate to something wonderful as a team.
That’s what inspired him to reach out to Arnold, even though she’d virtually parked her ice dancing ambitions and was starting her career as a massage therapist.
“It’s different than in any other partnership I’ve been in, personally, and from outside perspectives, in what I’ve heard from fans, family members and people in general, they love our connection with each other, our spark,” said Williams.
“It looks like we’re having fun. That’s something I’ve always struggled with. With my previous partner it was great, we skated well together all the time but we were told we had to work on our connection, and that’s something that’s hard to work on. With Sarah that just comes natural.”
It was that kind of possibility that drew Arnold to consider his proposal, even though it meant wrestling with her own insecurities and problems with the sport.
“When I retired from skating, I was done. I moved out west, and part of the reason I moved out west was because I didn’t know anything outside the sport,” she said. “Once I was done school, literally as soon as I wrote my exam, Thomas asked me if I’d be interested in coming back. I was very out of shape, I was in school full-time taking nine courses.”
She asked for some time to think it over. Weighing all she knew, including the heavy financial burden of training and competing with few guarantees, Arnold decided to give it a shot.
But there was the mental strain and personal challenges she needed to face, too.
“I just had to think about it because I was out of it for so long. To be honest, half of it was body image, because I struggled a lot with the sport in being comfortable in my own skin,” she noted. “When I came back I still had to get back into shape. That was a lot of pressure as a female. ... (Our first competition) I just remember being in the change room and putting a dress on, how that was a big deal for me. Like putting on tights and a dress, I felt like I was a sausage casing, to be honest. It was like, ‘Oh I did not miss wearing these.’”
And even though the result was less than they hoped for, the two kept on training, under the tutelage and encouragement of Vancouver Ice Dance Academy instructors Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe at Burnaby’s 8-Rinks. With 30-hour weeks on ice, coupled with careers and jobs to cover those costs, the hope is to feel some of those rewards in Taipei. Because when they dance well together and the results are musically aligned, there is a very satisfying feeling.
“For us it’s exciting. We’re happy and can’t wait,” said Williams. “It’s going to be fun. I went to Taipei four years ago when I didn’t make the Olympic team. That one was a little more disappointing but, hey, I had a blast and I can’t wait to get back.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The pair finished eighth overall out of 14 teams at the Four Continents championship, which for ice dancing wrapped up Thursday in Taipei. They placed ninth (52.50 points) in the short dance, and eighth (87.60) in the full dance with a total of 140.10 points. In ninth spot overall was the Burnaby team of Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker.
Canada’s pairing of Carolane Soucisse and Shane Firus placed second overall.
