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Siblings Make Quite A Pair

Photo from Karen Chinault

Emma and Noah Chinault, a brother and sister pairs figure skating team, compete during the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Sectional Championships in Boston last November. The duo, who earned silver medals in the juvenile pairs category during the event, attends Calvary Lutheran Church in Apollo Beach.

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By JOHN CEBALLOS

jceballos@tampatrib.com

Published: January 14, 2009

APOLLO BEACH - Noah and Emma Chinault support each other the way many siblings do.

And that support becomes more literal when the duo performs lifts on the ice as part of their pairs figure skating program.

"We both do pairs and singles figure skating, and they're different, but I really like them both equally," Emma said. "We work well together, and we root for each other."

"I love figure skating because I really feel like I can go out there and express myself to a large audience," Noah said.

Noah, 13, and Emma, 11, have been skating since he was 5 and she was 3. Today, they train and compete as members of the Southwest Florida Figure Skating Club, whose members train at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex.

"We came here the sports complex for a birthday party years ago," said Karen Chinault, the siblings' mother and president of the club. "One of the other moms was the director of the "Learn to Skate" program and offered them lessons."

During their eight years on the ice, the pair have won several awards. Most recently, they traveled to Boston and earned the silver medal for juvenile pairs at the 2009U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Sectional Championships in November.

Jim Peterson, their coach and choreographer, has worked with the siblings for the last six years.

"When I'm working with them, sometimes I feel what it must feel like to be a parent," Peterson said. "I've been really happy watching them take on a certain amount of independence the last couple of years."

Noah and Emma skate competitively between June and December. Though their season is over, the pair still practices at least five days a week at the Ellenton complex.

Their parents, Karen and Kevin Chinault, were born in North Carolina and moved to Bradenton when Noah was 2 years old. The family has lived in Ellenton for the last four years.

"It's a lot of work sometimes to get them to all their practices and competitions, but we've found a way to make it work," Karen Chinault said. "We have a good balance between their skating, their school and our church."

Her husband has worked for several Lutheran seminaries in Florida. When the family was looking for a church to attend regularly, they sought a place where he had not worked.

Their search eventually brought them to Calvary Lutheran Church in Apollo Beach.

Since then, they have earned the respect and admiration of the congregation and its leadership.

"I've known them for the past three years, and they are really good people with really neat kids," said Paula Sabo, chairwoman for Calvary Lutheran's leadership team.

To the Chinaults, Calvary Lutheran is more than worth the half-hour drive from their home.

"What really attracted us there were the youth programs that were in place for the kids to get involved," Karen Chinault said.

Noah and Emma will continue to balance their sports, school and church lives for the foreseeable future.

"I think our ultimate dream would be to compete in the Olympics one day," Noah said. "After that, I'd love to just be able to keep performing in skating shows as much as we can."

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 865-1555.

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