COACHING

Marina Richards

Marina is an experienced synchronized skater and has competed numerous National Synchronized Skating Championships in the Junior and Open categories earning both gold and bronze placements. Marina began her NCCP coaching training in 2021 and looks forward to continuing her advancement through the Skate Canada pathway.

Now a clinical nurse specialist with a master’s in leadership, Marina is focused on team development and continued skill improvement for our Adult skaters. Marina strives to provide adult skaters from across greater vancouver the opportunity to achieve and maintain an active healthy lifestyle, mentor their families to do the same, and provide the challenge of competition in a fun and social environment.

Alyson Quan

Alyson has been skating since the age of 5, and spent most of her youth as a competitive singles skater. After she finished competing, she discovered synchronized skating and instantly developed a passion for the sport. Embracing the opportunity to develop teamwork skills and pursue sport for life, she now has over 20 years of synchronized skating experience. She has competed at the national level on both Open and Adult synchronized skating teams. She has also completed all of her Gold Ice Dances. She is very excited to be a part of the GVSSC coaching team as an NCCP certified coach. Her coaching philosophy includes instilling a strong work ethic in her skaters to help them achieve their goals and reach their full potential. She enjoys working with skaters of all ages to share and instill within them a lifelong passion for synchronized skating.

Alyson holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Kinesiology, has completed a partial degree in Music (Piano Performance) and obtained a medical degree at UBC. She is now a practicing family physician with subspecialties in Palliative Care and GP Oncology. She enjoys applying her combined knowledge of sports physiology, anatomy, psychology and musicality to her coaching. She has also enjoyed a career as full time dance Mom to both her son and daughter.

PROGRAM ASSISTANTS

Julianna Fischer

Julianna is a passionate skater who has won the Junior synchronized skating national championship and competed at international competitions and Junior World’s. During her time at McGill University, she was the captain of the figure skating team and began assisting the synchronized skating team in her final year. Julianna is excited to begin her coaching career and work with GVSSC’s talented and committed coaches. In her career Julianna is a Geotechnical Engineer in Vancouver.

Karen Rose

As the youngest of 5 siblings, who all loved skating and competing, Karen began her own journey at the age of 7 and quickly found her passion for the sport. After many years of competing in both singles and dance and completing her gold dances, she found precision skating. She immediately loved the team aspect and the growing friendships as they worked hard and competed both locally and nationally. After an injury and while raising her son, she began coaching skaters of all ages including adults, where she developed a figure skating program for skaters outside of the competitive stream and watched while they blossomed and went on to join the Skate Canada family. As Karen have found her way back to Synchro and still enjoy competing as an adult, she is thrilled to be a part of this talented and dynamic GVSSC coaching group. She looks forward to continuing with her NCCP Certification and helping to nurture the development of young skaters in the sport.