Local figure skater Kobi Chant,16, will be competing in the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer next month.
The Games take place Feb. 15-March 3.
Chant will compete on Feb. 25 and 27.
“My friend had actually texted me while I was in class, so I sort of had to hide my reaction at first,” said Chant.
Chant and partner Savanna Martel, 13, of Airdrie earned a bronze medal during the 2019 Skate Canada Challenge in the pre novice ice dance category last month.
“Instead of just working on more basic stuff as we would this time of year, we're continuing on our more professional training that we do leading up to our competitions in our competition season,” said Chant.
Chant says he isn’t nervous, as he’s already competed against many of the other people who qualified and has performed on the ice in Red Deer before.
He and Martel will perform the same routine as they did when they won their bronze medal last year.
New territory for Chant will be the fact that he will be separated from his family during the course of the Games.
“I have to be more focused on myself because we are staying in the dorms with other athletes, as opposed to a hotel room with our parents,” said Chant. “So you have to make sure that you have everything ready yourself.”
This past weekend Chant attended an orientation to learn about how things will go during the week that he is competing.
"It was definitely different, there were a lot of athletes there from not just skating, but from all the winter sports. So there were 300 of us; it was really fun," said Chant.
During the orientation Chant got his first taste of being away from home.
"It wasn't bad, we were with kids from our own discipline, so we kind of got the sense of family there," said Chant.
Chant was impressed by the scope and scale of the Games.
As many as 3,600 athletes will be competing in 19 sports. The Games will also feature a major arts and cultural festival.
