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The annual exhibition marks the end of the Penobscot Figure Skaters’ season.
Last year, the event was also Max Louscher’s coming-out party.
Max again will take part in this year’s exhibition, set for 7 p.m. Sunday at Sawyer Ice Arena in Bangor. He closes out the evening by skating to the standard “Beyond the Sea,” most recently revived by Robbie Williams for the animated smash “Finding Nemo.”
Also participating in the show are more than 20 skaters from the club, ranging in age from 5 to the mid-50s. Guest skaters are Tessa McCue, a Hampden native, and Nick Santillo, both of whom train at the prestigious New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Mass. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.
Penobscot Figure Skaters meets on Sunday evenings at Sawyer Arena on Thirteenth Street. The nonprofit organization, supported by membership dues, ice fees, donations and fund-raisers, serves as an opportunity to get ice time for figure skaters in a hockey-mad region. It also offers training by coaches Melissa Emerson, Katharine Perry, Haley McCrum, Kissy Crowell-Smith and the latest addition to the staff, Nancy Ludington Graham, a world and Olympic bronze medalist and four-time U.S. pairs champion.
The exhibition appearance will signal the end of a whirlwind year for Max. In the span of 18 months, the Bangor 10-year-old has gone from being a fledgling figure skater to training under renowned coach Barbara Kossowska at NESC.
Max switched to figure skating after deciding that hockey wasn’t for him. He pestered his parents, Kent and Erika, for figure skates for a couple of years until they gave in. He began lessons in the fall of 2002.
Under coach Perry, he progressed quickly, to the point of catching Kossowska’s eye when she came up with her protege McCue to give a clinic at last year’s exhibition. She invited his parents to bring him to Marlborough when the ice disappeared from Sawyer last March.
“We figured that she was making the offer to everyone,” Max said. “Then she came up to my mom the next night, and asked, ‘How’s my boy?'”
The Louschers began going south once a week in April, then for four days a week, starting last summer.
“You have to go away, because there isn’t enough ice time here,” Erika explained. “It’s all about hockey here. There’s no ice time unless you homeschool, except for the club on Sunday night.”
Max spends five to six hours a day on skating-related activities, including on-ice training and off-ice strength, ballet or jumping classes. He sandwiches his schoolwork (he’s home-schooled) into breaks in his day, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Figure skating has been beneficial for Max, his mother said.
“It’s important for kids to have a focus, something they feel passionate about,” Erika said. “He’s gained so much from it – confidence, the ability to be out in front of people, discipline, commitment. As long as he’s working hard, and loving it, we’ll do what we can to make sure he can do it.”
The worst part of his training, Max said, is being separated from the rest of his family. His mom and younger brother, Julian, travel with him to Massachusetts while his dad and older brother, Hunter, stay home.
“That’s hard on everybody,” Erika said.
Then there’s the financial strain on the family, as his skating costs around $2,000 a month for ice time, coaching, off-ice training, skates, costumes, competitions, tests and travel expenses.
His father, a psychologist in private practice, and his mother, who is completing a degree in natural health, cover as much as those expenses as they can. Supporters have donated items such as jewelry and antiques for the family to sell on eBay. Max creates beaded necklaces which he sells to help pay for his skating.
In addition, a fund has been set up for Max at the New England Amateur Skating Foundation. The tax-deductible donations are used for training expenses.
“I try not to think about finances,” Erika said. “Whatever they want to do costs money, so letting your kid follow his dream is worth it. We’d never want him to think he couldn’t do it because of money.”
Max now skates at the Preliminary B level, which means that he can do an axel (a jump of 11/2 rotations, taking off from the left outside edge) and two different double jumps. He is two levels below the Juvenile level, which would allow him to compete in regional and national competitions. He has passed his preliminary and prejuvenile moves and preliminary free style tests already.
He is heading into competition season, with 10 over the next few months. At the first, on Feb. 29, he placed first at the Preliminary B Level in the Patriot Ice Club NEICC Interclub Competitions. In the past, he collected firsts at the Boston Open, the Providence Open and the Little New England Championship.
On weekends when Max has competitions, his father and Hunter will come down to join the rest of the family.
On the weekends he’s at home, Max lives the life of most children – swimming, having friends over, watching cartoons in his pajamas.
“We make it as normal on weekends as we can,” Erika said.
Erika is thankful that the members of Penobscot Figure Skaters have been there for Max.
“They’re very supportive of Max,” she said. “It’s like having your own cheering section.”
The public is invited to view a skating clinic with coach Barbara Kossowska at 1:15-3:15 p.m. Saturday at Alfond Arena in Orono. For more information on Penobscot Figure Skaters, contact Andrea Blunt at 862-6940 or Ablunt@cs.com or Marge Adams at 843-7432 or mfadams@infi.net.
Donations for Max Louscher can be sent to New England Amateur Skating Foundation; P.O. Box 6881; Providence, RI 02940. For more information, contact Herb Kaplan at (401) 861-9266. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 or dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.
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