It was rumored that they Sadie Enders whose maiden name was Sadie Cambridge might have been the inventor of the camel spin. No one has confirmation on exactly who may legally claim this right ........but there are a few names that have been mentioned ......Charlotte a beautiful American skater...Cecelia Colledge a British Skater and Sadie Cambridge (Enders). True or not this shows you the respect that Sadie and Alberta had in the early days of skating.
One of our Skate Canada BC Hall of Fame Members Audrey Williams took from Sadie and Albert Enders and writes the following....
Sadie and Albert Enders were wonderful coaches and certainly pioneers in brining figure skating to Vancouver. When they moved from Toronto to Vancouver many of their top skaters followed them here which was a great addition to the Connaught Skating Club in the early days. Mr Enders taught figures while Mrs Enders did some coaching, choreography and made all the costumes. Together they provided the complete package for their skaters.
The Enders had a large group of skaters compete at Western Canadian Championships and at the Nationals. They also ran a large successful summer skating school drawing skaters from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta the United States and of course from around BC.
However, as good as they were it was not always clear sailing. Mr Enders from Connaught and Mr Otto Gold from the Vancouver Skating Club did not get along well. On the back ice at the old Vancouver Forum some of the Vancouver SC skaters overlapped their figures onto some of the Connaught skaters ice.....well.......arguments and yelling followed and the ice men of the rink had to put down wood planks to separate the patches of ice .....in time it all settled down but...competitive??? Not at all
Mr Enders was not only an excellent skating professional but also a successful businessman. In addition to skating he was a dairy farmer, property owner and built the Ocean Towers apartment block which was the very first high rise in English Bay. This was one very determined and competitive man and that energy and focus spilled over into his students.
It was a very long time ago and most of us never met these two individuals but what they did to start our sport in the Vancouver area was critical and they are now recognized forever for their contributions. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome into the Skate Canada BC Hall of Fame Sadie and Albert Enders
