coaching Staff
who we are:
The Great Falls Figure Skating Club facilitates the Learn to Skate Program (LTS). All of the LTS instructors are required to have a background check, be Skate Safe compliant and have completed the LTS instructor course. Some of our LTS instructors are also USFS certified coaches, professional skating association rated coaches and ISI coaches and judges.
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Below we have provided our coaches and instructor bios. If you are interested in taking private lessons, please contact the coaches individually, as they are private contractors.
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If you are a guest coach, please contact our skating director Stephanie Kazior at gffigureskatingclub@gmail.com
Stephanie Kazior
GFFSC President
Skating Director
Private Coach
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Stephanie comes to the Great Falls FSC after serving in the United States Marine Corps. Stephanie has a Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Physical Education from Northeastern Illinois University. Stephanie was a long time member of the Windy City FSC in Chicago Illinois. Stephanie's skating career started with synchronized skating with the Chicago Skates. Stephanie later went on to coaching the pre-juvenile synchro team and assisting in getting them to place in the top 3 at Midwestern Sectionals in 2014 and 2015. She later skated for the Open Collegiate team for Northwestern Illinois University. Stephanie continues to compete at the adult level.
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Tests Passed:
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Adult Senior Moves in the Field
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Adult Gold Free Skate
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Pre-Gold Solo Free Dance
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Pre-Silver Partner Pattern Dance
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Preliminary Figure Test
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ISI Freestyle 6
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Notable Competitions:
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2022 State Games of America: Adult Silver Gold Medalist
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2023 USFS Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals: Championship Adult Silver: Silver Medalist
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2023 USFS Adult Championships: Championship Adult Silver Bronze Medalist
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2024 State Games of America
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2023 USFS Get Up Ambassador
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Jill Ahlbrecht
Competition Chair
Test Chair
Assistant Skating Director
Private Coach
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Jill Ahlbrecht is a quadruple gold medalist with United Skates Figure Skating in the disciplines of Freestyle, Figures, Solo Dance, and Moves in the Field. She is the 2023 US Figure Skating Adult National Solo Dance Champion, and the two-time winner of the World Figure Championships in 2015 and 2016. Jill comes to us from Denver, Colorado and has been coaching skating full time since 2010. She is beyond excited to part of the Great Falls Figure Skating community, and loves to share her passion for figure skating with skaters of all ages. Jill is the assistant skating director and test/competition chair for the GFFSC. For private lessons please contact Jill directly.
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Tests Passed:
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Gold Skating Skills
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Gold Freeskate
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Gold Solo Free Dance
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Pre-Gold Partner Pattern Dance
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Gold Solo Pattern Dance
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8th Figure Test
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ISI Platinum
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ISI Freestyle 6
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Notable Competitions:
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2022 State Games of America
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2023 USFS Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals: Championship Solo Dance: Gold Medalist
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2023 USFS Adult Championships: Championship Solo Dance: Gold Medalist
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2024 State Games of America
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Shanda
leritz
LTS Instructor
Private Coach
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Shanda started skating when she was 2 years old, at 7 Shanda started to compete and made her way through ice dances, skills and levels. Shanda won many competitions during her career and was in the top 10 in Canada up until she was 13 years old. Shanda stopped skating at that time and started playing volleyball which took her through college.
Figure Skating was Shanda's first love and will always be her passion.
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Tests Passed: Skate Canada
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Senior Bronze Freeskate
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Junior Bronze Freeskate
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Gold Dance
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Skating Skills Class 1
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Deb
Lajara
GFFSC Secretary
LTS Instructor
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Coach Deb started skating at the age of 4 at Michael Kirby Skating School in River Forest IL. She competed and performed with the school at the level of ISIA Freeskate 7. Deb went to Nursing school and achieved her RN. After a 15 year absence from the ice, she returned to skating and started teaching Learn to Skate programs in IL, WV, TX, OK and now MT. She has been teaching for 30 years and loves every minute of it! Other interests include scuba diving, kayaking, roller blading, skiing, yoga and rescuing dogs of which she has 6
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Laura
detrick
LTS Instructor
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Having trained in Pasadena, CA with World Hall of Fame coach Felix Kaspar and coach Sandy Gollihugh, Laura competed as a child and as an adult, medaling in every competition except one. Over the past 27 years, Laura has coached both private lessons and group classes, directed GFFSC Learn to Skate, served on the GFFSC board, choreographed portions of ice shows and solo programs, prepared music, judged competitions, performed in ice shows, recitals, and competitions, and continued to build her skills through testing, instruction from Kathy Casey, and training in such courses as the USFS “Learn to Teach” program. Coaching is as much a pleasure as ever as she passes on skating skills to new learners, guiding them to their own successes
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Shelley
Brugman
LTS Instructor
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Shelley started skating at age 28 and quickly became a skating addict. She has overcome challenges throughout her skating journey and continues to set goals and achievements every season no matter the setback. Shelley actively seeks improvement and learning new skating skills, testing through USFS . Her favorite skill is the spiral. She also loves hunting, fishing and camping, but skating is her favorite past time. She is a full time member of the Montana Air National Guard. She also loves teaching skaters new skills and looks forward to where skating will take her. Shelley plans to compete at the adult bronze level and work towards fine tuning silver moves in the field and land a loop jump.
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Tests Passed:
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Adult Pre-Bronze Skating Skills
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Adult Bronze Skating Skills
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Adult Pre-Bronze Free Skate
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Notable Competitions:
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GFFSC Adult Pre-Bronze/Bronze Team 2024
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Liv
Perry
LTS Instructor
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In mid-April 2022, at just 16 years old, Liv joined a Learn to Skate group in Helena and began her journey into skating. Progress was slow at first until she met Coach Jill one day during a session in Helena. From that moment on, Liv's skating skills quickly developed.
Liv's passion for skating was sparked by watching Olympic skaters on TV. Skating is a challenging sport, and she has faced many obstacles along the way. However, Liv has also learned valuable lessons, such as "the importance of patience and the courage to confront my fears, no matter how daunting they may seem."
Liv's goals are passing her Pre-Bronze Skating Skills by January 2025 and consistently landing an axel within the next year. Outside of skating, Liv enjoys caring for her reptiles, which include 3 snakes, 5 lizards, and 1 frog. Liv also love camping, painting, and herping. Moving forward, Liv plan to focus on improving my spins and jumps, and she hopes to help coach new skaters during Learn to Skate sessions.
Tests Passed:
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Pre-Preliminary Skating Skills
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Preliminary Skating Skills
Notable Competitions:
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Big Sky State Games 2024
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State Games of America 2024
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Kandi
sampson
LTS Instructor
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Kandi recalls skating in the 1990's as she was jamming out to "Too Legit To Quit" MC Hammer. In middle school she really started to skate for fun. Kandi has skated in Texas, New Jersey, South Korea and Okinawa Japan.
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It wasn't until Kandi came to Great Falls, that her skating journey really took off running...or rather skating.
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Kandi's goal is to bring more adults (men included) into the skating world to show that #AdultsSkateToo. Kandi would like to see theater on ice and synchro teams form. Kandi says "Competing as a solo skater is fun but with others is even more fun!"
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Tests Passed:
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Adult Pre-Bronze Skating Skills
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Notable Competitions:
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Blazing Blades 2013 and 2014
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Big Sky State Games 2024
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​GFFSC Adult Pre-Bronze/Bronze Team 2024
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State Games of America 2024
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LTS AssistanT
To be a learn to skate group class assistant, skaters must be 16 years old or the skater must have passed the first 2 official tests through any USFS curriculum (skating skills, dance, freeskate).
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Anna L.
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Emily W.- Preliminary Skating Skills
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