Karla’s passion for figure skating began when she stepped on the ice at age 4! Growing up in Auckland and skating for Auckland Ice Figure Skating Club, she gained over 10 years of competitive skating experience, during which she was a regional and national level skater. Her coaching goal is to help students of all ages, not just learn to skate, but develop a love and understanding of how our bodies perform the amazing feats that ice-skating has to offer and help achieve their skating goals.

Russ comes to us as a convert from the world of inline skating, which he first started in 2003. He was certified as an ICP Level 1 inline skate instructor in 2005, and taught adult beginner inline skating at Kilbirnie Rec Centre for 6 years. On discovering Wellington had an ice rink, he made the switch to ice at the end of 2020 and has never looked back. He loves helping people progress their skating goals, and seeing their enjoyment as they move from tentative first steps to confident skating.

Zark began skating as a child on inline skates and first tried ice skating when he was in Hong Kong back in 1997. He plays ice hockey and has been coaching the beginner classes since the ice rink was built in Wellington. His focus is on teaching the fundamentals of basic skating and breaking it down so students can move into Recreational, Freestyle, Figure Skating or Ice Hockey. He enjoys helping students and watching them advance in their chosen skating style. A number of our figure skaters owe their start to their first lessons with Zark, as well as some national-level competitive ice hockey players.

Growing up in Canada, Maggie was on skates nearly as soon as she could walk. Her competitive figure skating journey started at age five and lasted over a decade. In her last competitive year, Maggie placed in the top five at Canadian Nationals at the Junior level. Maggie has completed her Senior Competitive test and Gold Skills and Dance. In 2010, Maggie was a featured figure skater in the movie Ice Castles. Maggie was a CanSkate coach in Canada and is excited to be part of the KiwiSkate programme at the Wellington Figure Skating Club.

Assistant Coaches