User:Medowflowers/Colin Craig Bennett

 Colin Craig Bennett  (born August 31, 1971) is an American former competitive figure skater. He is a three-time national champion, and coach.

Personal life
Colin Bennett was born August 31, 1971 in Washington, DC. His father, Dr. John Bennett, a retired Captain in the Public Health Service, serves as the Chief of the Clinical Mycology section at the National Institutes of Health. His mother, Dr. Shirley Bennett, was a nurse and then turned her focus to Art History, received a Ph.D., and then taught at the University of Maryland for some time.

Colin Bennett graduated from The National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, NY in 1989. He continued his education at the University of Delaware before moving on to Cornell University. He graduated from Cornell University in 1995 with a BS in Economics. He attended Washington College of Law at American University, and in 2000, he completed a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) at George Washington University and in 2001 he followed that with a Master’s of Science in Business at Johns Hopkins University. In 2004, he married Ginger Griffis and in 2009, his daughter Amelia Rose Bennett was born. In 2016 and 2017, he received certificates in Accounting from Frederick Community College.

Skating Career
Colin Bennett began skating in 1976, when his elementary school, the Norwood School, of Potomac, Maryland, had a group lesson with the whole class, at the local Cabin John Ice Arena. Colin’s first coach was Walter Chapman, the director of Cabin John, and a former figure skater who had completed in the 1950’s with Donald Jackson and Dick Button and had also been a principal of several professional ice shows the toured the U.S. during that era (the Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice). Colin first learned through the Ice Skating Institute of America (I.S.I.A.) curriculum. In 1979, Colin began to also skate at a rink within the Lake Forest shopping mall, known as the Lake Forest Ice Arena (Gaithersburg, MD), with instructors Bill and Gail Tillman, former competitive and then professional pairs skaters. In 1982, Colin began to skate at Fairfax Ice Arena, under the instruction of Michelle (Miller) Perna, wife of Nick Perna , and Audrey Weisiger. Between 1982 and 1987, Colin advanced through the U.S.F.S.A. test curriculum and competed at many of the common local competitions in the mid-Atlantic area, such as the Cherry Blossom Invitational, and annual competitions at Old York Road (PA), Challenge Cup (Haverford, PA), Rockland (NY), and Wissahickon (PA).

In 1987, he competed Intermediate Men in the U.S. South Atlantic Regionals, and placed 5th. He was invited to compete at the U.S. Eastern Sectionals that year, and surprised many by placing 6th, out of a very large flight of skaters. Colin began to train during the summers at Lake Placid, NY Olympic Training Center, with coaches Thomas (Tommy) Litz and Amy Brown, part of a program originally started through the efforts of Gustave (Gus) Lussi. Colin competed in the 1988 South Atlantic Regional Championships, and the 1989 North Atlantic Regional Championships, placing second with the silver medal. Colin competed in the 1989 Eastern Sectional Championships, but missed qualifying with the U.S. Nationals. By 1991, Colin was skating with Priscilla Hill, and Jeff DiGregorio at the Olympic Trainng Center in Newark, Delaware (University of Delaware), under the program managed by Ron Luddington. Colin completed in the 1991 North Atlantic Regional Championships and the Eastern Sectional Championships.

In 1992, Colin developed permanent, multiple, compound stress fractures in his lower spine (L4, L5 and S1), due to the rigors of double axels and triple jumps, and skating at the Senior Level at competitions such as the 1990 U.S. National Collegiate Championships, with many famous skaters, such as Gig Siruno. In 1992, he had to take a break from skating, after having passed the U.S. Freestyle Gold Test certification (1989) and the Canadian Figure Skating Association Freestyle Gold Test certification (1990) as well as the 6th “figure” test, a type of skating no longer available today. In 1995, on the dare of a friend in college, Colin performed in an ice show at Cornell University, surprising many in the audience with spins, jumps, and his “Hayes Jenkins” footwork maneuver. Their club suggested that Colin compete in the figures event, which by that time had split into its own scored event. Colin was able to compete in the 1995 U.S. Nationals in the Junior Men’s Figures Event, receiving the silver medal. He returned to competition for the next two years, and earned a silver medal at the U.S. Nationals in the same event in 1996 and then a bronze medal in that event in 1997. During 1997, Colin attempted the 8th test, however, rinks around the country had begun to terminate ice time for figures because it was a not financially feasible or a cost-effective use of ice time, from a rink manager’s perspective. In addition, one of Colin’s former coaches at the Broadmoor Ice Arena in Colorado Springs, Christine (Christy) Haigler Krall, had just developed the “moves in the field” curriculum and test sequence, in an effort to make edges more fun as well as to increase the artistry of skating, which had been driven to become very jump-centered for skaters to receive the highest scores in competition – essentially a Cold War Arms Race of figure skating, following Brian Boitano landing a triple axel at the U.S. Olympics in 1988.

As a result, Colin decided to retire from the competitive skating world. When interviewed, he says that he remembers fondly many different unique experiences, such as competing in a few of the same competitions as Michel Weiss, Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, skating freestyle sessions with Jill Trenary at the Broadmoor, and seeing the teaching styles first-hand of Gus Lussi (Lake Placid) and Carlo Fassi (Broadmoor). Many of Colin’s best friends became professional coaches, as their vocation, such as Craig Horowitz, Matt Stimack, Glenn Zeinhert. Colin also remembers with humor how the Ice Capades (West Company) had offered him a contract to become an associate (potentially a principal later, in time) and how his parents then said “No, you have to go to college instead!”

Over the years, Colin represented many, many different clubs in competition, helping clubs to become better-known at local and national competitions, including: the Skating Club of Northern Virginia, Washington Figure Skating Club , Skating Club of Lake Placid , Salt City Figure Skating Club (Syracuse, NY), Cornell Figure Skating Club (Ithaca, NY) and lastly the Capital City Figure Skating Association (Topeka, KS). One of the other memories that Colin mentioned in an interview was how he periodically trained at Les Quatre Glace, Brossard, in Montreal, Canada, in Paris, France, the Richmond Ice Arena in London, England and lastly, in Montreaux, Switzerland. He also reminisced about one of the most surprising circumstances he found himself while skating abroad was in Switzerland, which believed in co-ed lockers rooms. While skating he also realized that his 5 years of High School French were not quite enough to help him routinely get gas at the local gas station in Montreal – it turned out that pointing and waiving money was actually much more effective. In America, one of Colin’s most interesting skating memories was practicing at “Sky Rink” in Manhatten, NY, which was on the top of a skyscraper (something like the 120th floor). He was afraid to do his double lutzes because landing them at the end of the rink found oneself next to floor-to-ceiling length glass windows, outside of which was only air, white clouds, birds passing by, and the occasional airplane.

Between 2006 and 2015, Colin and his wife Ginger found themselves residents of Topeka, Kansas. During this time, Colin and Ginger started the Capital City Figure Skating Association, a U.S.F.S.A. club that offered Learn-to-Skate (Basic Skills) group lessons to local residents new to the sport. Colin “turned pro” and joined the Professional Skaters Guild of America (P.S.G.A.) and held coaching credentials allowing him to take skaters to competition. One of his fondest memories was taking a group of skaters to a competition in nearby Omaha Nebraska. He expressed how he hoped that though a small token – being an instructor – he may have served to inspire young students to keep their feet planted on the ice but also to reach for the stars.