Bay State Winter Games Return this Weekend
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Ice and snow and sweat and cheers are all on the agenda over the next five weeks as the 32nd annual Bay State Winter Games return to Berkshire County.
For 37 days at six different venues, athletes from throughout Massachusetts and around New England will compete in sports ranging from ice hockey to snowshoeing.
It all begins Saturday at Williams College's Lansing Chapman Rink with two days of figure skating competition and the BSG's signature event, the Bay State Skate.
The annual Saturday night show features winners from Saturday's competition, special invited guests and the production team from the weekend's hosts, Christmas Brook Figure Skating Club.
"Most of these kids have been on the production team for seven or eight years or more," Christmas Brook President Sara Senecal said this week. "This year, the Bay State Games also have invited three seniors in high school from the club to do a solo number in the show, which is a great honor."
Ashton Goyette, Abby Coleman and Ayla Senecal are among the featured performers in the show, which features nearly 20 acts and the awarding of the 10th annual Berkshire Heroes Award.
The Berkshire Heroes program honors individuals and institutions who have helped make the Bay State Games a success. This year's recipients are the Williams College Campus Safety and Security Office and the Holiday Inn in North Adams.
Sara Senecal, who was named a Berkshire Hero in 2015, said the Bay State Games provide an opportunity to competition for local skaters of all ages and abilities.
"The youngest one competing from our club, I believe is 8," she said. "We have two adults who are competing. One is in college and helps with our learn to skate program. A skater and her mom [from Pownal, Vt.] are both competing."
Christmas Brook coach Laura Wood has been coaching with the club for 18 years and has been involved with the Bay State Games — first as a competitor — longer than that.
She said there are competitions almost every week of the year if that is what families want, but not all do.
"Our kids are not all big competitors," Wood said. "They do this one because it's local, and we're the hosts.
"My highest level skater is [Ayla Senecal], and she skates at the junior level, almost the highest level in the competition this weekend, and she practices five times a week and has skated as many as six or seven. … Other kids skate maybe twice a week. Kids around here, a lot of them, like to do team sport with their friends. You can't fault them for that."
A wide variety of winter sports — team and individual — will be on display in the Bay State Winter Games, which continue Feb. 10-12 with the masters hockey competition at North Adams' Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink and downhill skiing at Bousquet Ski Area in Pittsfield. On March 4 and 5, the games conclude with cross country skiing at Nothchview Reservation in Windsor and Nordic skiing and snowshoeing at Cranbury Farm in Becket.
For more information about the Bay State Winter Games or to register for the skiing or snowshoeing, visit www.baystategames.org.
Christmas Brook Figure Skating Club members competing this weekend include:
- Shaleigh Levesque
- Ashton Goyette
- Abby Coleman
- Ayla Senecal
- Lara Shore-Sheppard
- Maia Sheppard
- Grace Miller
- Erin D'Entremont
- Samantha Whittum
- Yvonne Koperek
- Hannah Fuller
- Emily Daigneault
Pittsfield Figure Skating Club members competing include:
- Aimee Boulais
- Katie Malone-Smith
- Takiera Darrow
- Madison Quinn
- Dakota Marquis
- Sophia Mele
- Anna Rawson
- Alayna Schwarzer
- Hannah Masiero
- Brianna Palmieri
- Daniella Santamarina
- Rebecca Drager
Tags: bay state games, skating , skiing,
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