Pavilion Skating Club member Kimmie Berkovich will compete in U.S. Skating Midwest Sectionals

Kimmie Berkovich

Pavilion Skating Club (PSC) member Kimmie Berkovich, who took fourth place at the U.S. Figure Skating Regional Championships, will compete at the U.S. Figure Skating Midwest Sectionals in November.

Berkovich competed in Novice Ladies Freestyle. It was her first year at the novice level. There were a total of 40 girls organized into three qualifying-round groups representing seven states. In the qualifying round, Berkovich skated her long program and placed first. PSC had three skaters in the Novice Ladies Final Round: Berkovich, Lexi Petkovic (8th place) and Alexandra Smola (14th place).

Midwest Sectionals will be held in Fort Collins, Colo., Nov. 16-19. Berkovich will compete against skaters from 23 states. She will also be competing in Intermediate Ice Dancing with partner Micah Jaffe. Last year, Berkovich and Jaffe finished fifth in Juvenile Ice Dancing at the U.S. Figure Skating Junior Nationals.

Berkovich is a sophomore in the K-12 Online School, Ohio Virtual Academy, and also takes classes at Tri-C. She is a member of the Junior Honor Society and received the President's Award for Academic Excellence last year.

Berkovich lives in South Euclid and has been ice skating at the Cleveland Heights ice rink since 2001 when she started Learn to Skate lessons at age three. Berkovich had frequent colds as a child, and her parents hoped she would get stronger and healthier by skating. Her coach urged her to continue lessons.

After taking a summer off, Berkovich returned, joined the Pavilion Skating Club, and has been training ever since. While she skated in the Junior Club for a couple of years, she always preferred to train with the older kids. Berkovich has been working with coach Molly German since March 2006. It has been a successful partnership that has enabled her to grow as a person and a skater. She also works with Chip Rossbach, Erin Paglio and Jackie Miles. Berkovich's long and short programs for this competition season were choreographed by Yuka Sato from Detroit.

Catherine Butler

Catherine Butler is a Cleveland Heights jewelry artist who also figure skates and is a member of the Pavilion Skating Club.

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Volume 4, Issue 11, Posted 10:25 PM, 11.01.2011