New England West Skating Club figure skaters will be competing against some of the top competition in the country next month at the State Games of America. 

New England West Skating Club, which competes out of Deerfield Academy, has been growing back in size since COVID-19 with director Suzanne McCaughtry noting that numbers have improved over the past few years.

For the first time since 2019, the club will be heading to State Games of America as seven athletes qualified. The games run from July 17-21 in San Diego. 

“We’re really looking forward to it,” McCaughtry said. “The kids are really psyched to get out there.” 

What are the State Games of America? It’s is an Olympic-style event featuring competition between State Games medal winners from across the nation in an Olympic style tournament. The event is held every two years. 

Athletes qualify for the State Games of America by medaling [gold, silver or bronze] in their individual state games. There are currently 30 states conducting or organizing statewide state games, and athletes had to qualify in the last two years for the 2024 State Games. 

For the New England West Skating Club, that meant qualifying at the Bay State Games in Massachusetts or the Nutmeg Games in Connecticut this past winter, as New Hampshire and Vermont do not have state games of their own.

The seven athletes who qualified and are heading to San Diego are Riley Hill-Staples, 14, from Marlboro, N.H., Anjolina Elias, 10, of Sunderland, Lucy Morris-Razen, 13, out of Putney, Vt., Camilla Cavaleri, 8, of Keene, N.H., Lillis Oiu, 6, of Hadley, Candy Tang, 6, of Sunderland, and Caylin Magee, 13, of Keene. 

“We have kids from New Hampshire, kids from Vermont, we’re pulling from the Amherst-Sunderland area,” McCaughtry said. “It’s great having kids from all over.” 

Each New England West Skating Club athlete will compete in three-to-five events while in San Diego. Those events are all different, some being solo dance routines, others being judged on jumps and spins. 

With it being the first time at the State Games for all seven competitors, McCaughtry said she’s just hoping they give it their best and enjoy the experience. 

“I don’t care if you come in dead last as long as you worked hard and tried your best,” McCaughtry said. “That’s what really matters.

 “Our biggest thing is that we’re recreational coaches,” McCaughtry added. “We do it for the love of it. We’re not going to qualifying competitions like nationals or worlds. They’re testing and getting medals. It’s a life skill. All we want is for these kids to do their very best. We want them to have a lot of fun and share that experience so others want to do it as well.” 

Over 14,000 athletes are expected in San Diego for the State Games, which means large crowds will be in attendance for each event. That type of attention can be intimidating for an athlete, though McCaughtry and her assistant coach, Stacy Chickering, are trying their best to prepare their skaters for what it will be like competing in such a venue. 

“Some of them have never been to this big of a competition before,” McCaughtry said. “We’ve been trying to prepare them for the large crowds they’ll see. There will be a lot of people watching them and they’ll be competing against large numbers. It isn’t going to be like what they’re used to. Sometimes you might go in and think you might be able to get fifth because it’s a small competition. That’s not what this is. Stacy and I are there to support them.”

One way to prepare was to compete in a big competition in Boston earlier this month, helping prepare their athletes for the type of crowds and competitors they’ll be seeing on the West Coast. 

“It was a good way to get their feet wet,” McCaughtry said. “Some of the little kids have never competed like that before. They did well.”

While the competition is over in the span of a week, it takes a year-round commitment to practicing and improving to qualify for an event like State Games. 

“Most of these kids that are competing are skating year round,” McCaughtry said. “Some people only do part of the year or take summers off but if you’re competing, you really need to be skating year-round.”

McCaughtry joined New England West Skating Club after spending years as the skating director at FMC Ice Sports in Greenfield. Numbers were down post-COVID, part of the reason why they didn’t have anyone qualify for State Games in 2022. But they are on the rise in recent years, and McCaughtry said she hopes going to a big event like State Games will be able to get more athletes interested in the program. 

“We’re a pretty small club,” McCaughtry said. “We’re picking up from where we left off. When I was the skating director at FMC in Greenfield for years, we had a huge program. It has come up but very slowly. Our learn to skate program is growing. Where you want them to grow is from the base up at learn to skate. We’ve had a huge influx come in and learn. You have to start from the bottom.”