RIDEAU SKATING CLUB - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Coaching
- STAFF COACH - NATIONAL COACH
Brandi has been coaching for 20 years and is a fully certified National Coach. She has also provided Mentoring for Level I Coaches.
As a skater, Brandi completed her Gold Freeskate, Gold Interpretive and Diamond Dances. She has taught skaters from CanSkate to Gold Level in Freestyle, Preliminary to Diamond level in Dance and Preliminary to Gold level in Skills. She has attended seminars by Brian Orser, Jan Ullmark, Frank Carroll , and Manon Perron and looks forward to attending many more seminars in the future.
Outside skating, Brandi works as a licensed sales associate at a financial planning firm.
Job Titles:
- Technical Specialist
- STAFF COACH - NATIONAL COACH
Jan completed her BA studies in Psychology at Carleton University and is a National Level (3) certified coach. She passed her Senior Competitive Singles; Gold level in Freeskate, Figures, and Dance; as well as accredited Gold Skills. She has over 30 years of coaching experience in recreational and competitive skating, has coached from Preliminary to Gold level skaters in all disciplines, and has coached competitive skaters in singles up to the Junior Competitive and Gold level and in pairs up to Novice Competitive to Provincial and National events. Jan has always maintained a gold status in the Skate Canada Continuing Education Program, and attends many seminars to keep current.
Jan is a singles Technical Specialist, sitting on panel with judges at competitions to call and identify skaters' elements. She is also a Star 1-4 competition judge.
After years of coaching, Jan returned to skating as an adult competitor - winning the Masters events at consecutive Skate Canada Adult Championships as well as at the ISU Adult International Competitions, the top adult international skating event. Along with her partners, she won the Masters Pair events at Skate Canada Adult Championships, the ISU Adult International Competitions, as well as the Eastern US Sectional Masters Pair title and silver at the US Adult National Competition. In 2011, Jan attended the ISU Adult International Competition to win the Masters Elite women's event over former world champion and Olympic silver medalist Midori Ito.
In 2015 she once again returned to the competitive arena and participated in the inaugural World Figures Championships placing 4th and earning an induction into the World Figure Hall of Fame.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Certified Regional Level Coach
- STAFF COACH - REGIONAL COACH
Melissa Sargent is a Certified Regional Level coach who is in the process of completing her Provincial Certification. She has been coaching since 2004 and joined Rideau Skating Club in 2015. Melissa is Special Olympics trained and has had the privilege of working with skaters of all ages and levels from first steps to National level competitors and age 2 to in their 70s.
She participated in coaching the Star 1-5 pilot program and has enjoyed mentoring new CanSkate and Regional coaches within the club as they start their coaching journey. Melissa attends seminars, information sessions and completes Skate Canada's e-learning courses to stay up to date on the newest techniques and requirements. Some of her favourite seminars include Kurt Browning, Elizabeth Manley and Don Jackson. Melissa works closely with Jan Calnan and some of our associate coaches to provide as many opportunities to her skaters as possible.
As a skater Melissa completed her Gold Artistic, Skating Skills Class 1 (Gold), Gold Dance and Star 10 FreeSkate. She returned to competing in Adult Gold Artistic and Elite Solo Dance this past season. She earned 1 gold and 2 silver medals across 4 events. Melissa is looking forward to competing in FreeSkate in the 2023/2024 season.
Outside of skating Melissa is a graduate of Lakehead University's Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education and Honours Bachelor of Commerce programs. She is an Ontario Chartered Professional Accountant working as a Senior Accountant at a private international company. Melissa is also a member of our Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- STAFF COACH - REGIONAL COACH ( Trained )
Rachel grew up skating at the Rideau Skating Club and discovered her passion for coaching while assisting in CanSkate sessions as a Program Assistant. She achieved the 2019 Skate Ontario Program Assistant award for her work with the club's youngest skaters.
In 2019, Rachel began coaching CanSkate and has since completed her Regional Coaching Course. She currently holds CanSkate Certification and is Regional Coach Trained. Rachel is currently pursuing her Regional Certification, with a goal to achieve it by the end of the season.
Rachel has successfully completed various Skate Canada and NCCP e-learning courses. She has also attended seminars with numerous Canadian and World champions, including Ashley Wagner, Brian Orser, Meghan Duhamel, and Eric Radford. She looks forward to continuing to pursue similar opportunities in the future.
Outside of the rink, Rachel's goal is to become an X-Ray Technician. She plans to study Medical Radiation Technology