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Student a natural on blades - Jan 24 2008
January 24, 2008
Montreal Gazette
Student a natural on blades
You need a certain kind of personality to make it in figure skating, and Rivière des Prairies native Zane Salera-Nasra definitely has it.
Salera-Nasra, 16, won a gold medal at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon, in the Level-3 skill category of the Special Olympics figure-skating competition, performing a near flawless routine. Skating in front of a big, enthusiastic crowd certainly didn't hurt.
"It gets me fired up," Salera-Nasra said.
However, Salera-Nasra wasn't always this comfortable on the ice. His mother, Maria Salera, said he was scared the first time he stepped out there in his skates, and when he began playing hockey things only got worse.
When Salera-Nasra began attending school, it was discovered he had global development delay, a mental disorder that results in slowed development in several or all key indicators. Maria said in order to help her son integrate in group settings, she signed him up for hockey. But the constant abuse, from his teammates and even their parents, made the sport unbearable for him.
That's when he found the Special Olympic program at the St. Leonard Figure Skating Club and his coach, Jean-Sébastien Fecteau, who instantly saw immense talent in the youngster. "He has a natural ability to skate, and not many people do," said Fecteau, a veteran international pairs skater. "He skates as fast as I do now."
Salera-Nasra didn't take long to develop that talent, winning a gold medal in Level-2 at the Ontario Special Olympics in 2001, only a year after he began training with Fecteau. Two years later, he made his debut at the Canada Winter Games in New Brunswick, and despite a technical glitch that stopped his music for 10 seconds during his routine he managed to finish fourth in the Level-2 category.
His free skate at last winter's Canada Games in the Yukon allowed Salera-Nasra to come all the way from fourth place into first, and also to reach a pinnacle he previously thought was unattainable.
"I felt great," he said. "I never thought I'd make it this far."
Salera-Nasra is preparing to go even farther when he makes his Level-4 debut at the Canadian championships in Quebec City next month, and even though he's a natural in front of big crowds, the new level of difficulty has him feeling some butterflies in his stomach.
"I'm pretty nervous about it," he admitted.
Salera-Nasra's goals in the sport are not necessarily quantified in achievements or competitions, and he's already looking past the end of his skating days.
"When I get to Level-6, I think skating will be over for me," he said. "Then I'll get to find a job and make some money."
His strength in science, particularly chemistry, has led Salera-Nasra to look into wine making, but his true love is sports cars.
With the way he's able to zip around the ice, drawing cheers from the crowd, that should come as no surprise. He attends Lester B. Pearson High School in Montreal North.
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Lester B. Pearson High School 11575 P.M. Favier, Montreal North, Quebec H1G 6E5
(514) 328-4442 (514) 328-4443 (FAX) lesterbpearson@emsb.qc.ca
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