December 1981 Blast from the Past
NEIRAD enilno editionThe world of competitive sports that consumes this campus is nothing new. Back in 1981, Sheyl Watkins was a figure and hockey skating powerhouse who competed at the top level across New England.
Here is a look at Watkins’ illustrious student skating career that delved into two different facets of the sporting world on ice.
Hockey Player Wins Gold in Figure Skating
By Cindy Dale
The minute the 10:59 bell rings, one Darien High School student is out of school for the rest of the day and off to a skating rink in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, or just over to Stamford.
Sheryl Walkins, the 17-year-old senior who puts in four to five hours of practice a day, has just seen her long-time dream of passing the Gold Test, the highest test that a skater can pass, become a reality. “My main goal has always been to pass the Gold Test in both figures and freestyle. I just passed the Gold Test in figures and hope to pass the other by the end of this month or January,” Sheryl said. This will make her eligible to skate in Senior Division competitions “where the competition gets really tough,” the skater said.
“The first time I saw Sheryl was about four years ago. She was running around the rink, wearing a queer hat and yelling, ‘Who stole my Ring Ding?’” spoke Sarah Carlson, a New Canaan High School student and skating friend of Sheryl. She added, “When you first meet her, you think she’s a real nut and a tomboy. But when you get to know her, you realize there’s also a serious side to her.”
The DHS student competes in both figures and freestyle competitions in the North Atlantics, a regional, Junior Division competitions, as well as in many smaller competitions throughout Long Island, Westchester, and Connecticut. In the figure competitions, Sheryl said she must trace intricate figures on the ice as accurately as possible while maintaining a clean edge. In the freestyle competition, Sheryl must make up a program to music, performing certain required jumps, moves and sprints.
Sheryl also belongs to a girls ice hockey club in Greenwich, competing with other girls clubs and many Ivy League girls teams.
“Skating takes up just about all of my free time,” Sheryl said. Still, the skater added, she somehow finds the time to remain in the top two-tenths of her class, works a secretary at the Miln Coporation in Darien on alternating Saturdays and is a cashier at Terry Conner’s Ice Rink in Stamford.
Born in Hinnsdale, Illinois, Sheryl lived in Missouri, then moved to Minnesota where she first became interested in skating during third grade.
“Everyone in Minnesota either skated or skied,” recalled the skater. “I had seen Peggy Flemming on TV and decided that it would be neat to be able to skate like her. But I really didn’t take skating seriously until I moved to Darien,” Sheryl said.
Sheryl said when she began as a fifth grader at Ox Ridge, she skated every morning before school.
“My first accomplishment in skating was placing third in the NASSAU County Championships. I skated really well. It was one of the first competitions I placed in,” Sheryl said of her early achievement.
In seventh grade, she placed in the North Atlantic finals, her second year in them, and has made the finals every year since, the senior stated.
By April, Sheryl plans to turn professional. She said she will begin teaching ice skating lessons during the summer at a skating camp.
Of her future plans, Sheryl commented that she hopes to obtain a liberal arts degree and begin a career in international business. “I’ll still skate for fun and plan to attend a college with a girls ice hockey teams,” stated Darien’s star skater.
