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More than metal on ice

Skating and the BC Winter Games offer young people a chance to explore more than just sport.

Skating began for Sarah Leach when she was just a three-year-old wanting to skate like her bigger sisters. Now twelve years in and she's found herself having as much fun rink side as on the oval.

"I like the stuff outside of just skating," said Leach

Like her mother, Allison Leach the head coach of Zone 7's speed skating contingent,  Sarah has moved onto coaching and working as a clerk in the sport. Though she may be a little inexperienced to coach most of the skaters she has found her niche coaching the 3 to 5 year-olds.

"I like coaching them cause it's getting the other kids to like the sport, because I've done it so long, and try to get them to want to keep skating till they get older," said Leach.

It's not all just big-eyed kids skittering around on the ice for Leach. Volunteering at track meets can mean busy evenings, and some long drives, for her mother.

"We were visiting her sister in Prince George and there was a meet in Vanderhoof and she wasn't racing. So I drove from Prince George to Vanderhoof and then back to Prince George so she could help at the race," said her mother Allison Leach, adding, "That wasn't one of those 'let's get in the car and drive'. It was 'Sarah really wants to do this so we want to really do it'."

Then come the extra-curricular courses to help her coach and teach her how to be a clerk. When you add in school Basketball it all comes together to make her very busy. But a bit of smarts and a well thought out schedule keep her from overdoing it and suffering at school.

"I always make sure I have my hard courses when I don't have as many sports," said Leach.

The road trips too hold a special place in Leach's heart.

"That's probably my favourite part about it, getting to go on the bus and going off to the meets," said Leach.

She was a young skater, much like the kids she coaches now on her favourite road trip.

"(It was) in Red Deer when I was really little and it was so windy that my mom had to skate behind us so we wouldn't get pushed back," said Leach. "As soon as we got around the corner it would be like hitting a brick wall. You couldn't move forward anymore. We got really smart so when we got to the other side we just stood and let the wind push us. It went a lot faster."

The circle comes back round again, and next time those little kids can't skate upwind it may be Sarah Leach behind them making sure they don't get blown backwards.