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Home-town girl returns to coach figure skating club

Diana Tubrett (Koftinoff) grew up in Grand Forks and started skating at the age of two.
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Diana Tubrett

The new coach of the Grand Forks Figure Skating Club is not new to the area or the club—she grew up here and many may remember Diana Koftinoff.

Diana Tubrett (Koftinoff) grew up in Grand Forks and started skating at the age of two. She started competing when she was four and continued until graduating high school. During her teenage years she also started to coach the younger skaters in the local club.

At 18, Tubrett toured with Ice Capades. She travelled through Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong while performing for huge audiences.

Tubrett came off the road and was hired as a club coach in Grand Forks. Only staying a year, she was off to Alberta to obtain a diploma in medical transcription and to compete once more.

Wanting to try something different, she started skating with the Edmonton Ice Elite Senior Synchronized Team. The team competed across the country and finished sixth at the Nationals earning the team an overseas competition for the next season.  Tubrett decided to return to B.C., this time the Okanagan. She was hired as head coach and took skaters to Provincials.  After two seasons with the South Okanagan Figure Skating Club in Oliver, B.C., she moved east to New Brunswick where she began a 10-year career working for the Department of National Defense in the federal government. She met and married her husband Brian Tubrett, a soldier in the Canadian Forces.

They lived and worked at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown for five years. They were then posted to Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ontario for five years and started raising their four children before being posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

They spent the last two years on the east coast where Brian retired after 26 years of service.

Feeling a sense of freedom, the family decided to move back to Grand Forks.  Having been here for a few months now and getting the kids settled into school, Tubrett is returning to the ice to coach again with the Grand Forks figure Skating Club.

Her qualifications and tests include Quadruple Gold – Figures, Freeskate, Dance and Artistic; Junior Competitive Freeskate; Pre-Novice Competitive Pairs; competed at Provincial level, and B.C. Winter Games in singles; competed at the national level in senior synchronized skating; and she coached students who competed at the provincial level.

Her family is still transitioning from military to civilian life and they are excited to be here in Grand Forks while doing so. The community has been so welcoming and Tubrett said she is really looking forward to getting back on the ice and working with the kids.