Joey Payeur
There is a direct link between the most talented members of an organization and the high-quality instruction they received when they joined it.
So it goes for the Border Skating Club and its “CanSkate” program for new and early-stage enthusiasts.
“The ‘CanSkate’ program has an excellent group of professional coaches and professional assistants who lead the skaters through many different skills, with each skill progressing into another,” explained Penny McComb, the leader in terms of seniority when it comes to the club’s coaching ranks.
“The program teaches forward and backward skating, turning, jumping, and spinning,” she noted.
“And when a skater has completed the ‘CanSkate’ program, they are completely prepared to move on to figure skating.”
McComb made it clear the “CanSkate” program provides more opportunities for future success in a range of athletic endeavours.
“[‘CanSkate’] is the backbone of many sports, such as hockey, ringette, speed skating and figure skating,” she remarked.
“Therefore, if a young person joins the ‘CanSkate’ program, they will learn excellent skating skills in a fun, playful environment which can prepare them for many different sports,” she noted.
“Skate Canada has many focuses, one of these being active for life,” McComb added.
“The ‘CanSkate’ program can teach anyone to skate and skating is an activity one can do for many years,” she said.
“Skaters also develop great balance, good posture, and core muscles, as well as flexibility and muscle strength.”
The local club has seen an increase in numbers, with 100 skaters registered this season compared to 94 a year ago, with more signing up each week.
Of those 100, the majority are in the Parents ’N Tots (17), ‘CanSkate A’ (27), ‘CanSkate B’ (25), ‘CanSkate C’ (four) and Junior (four) divisions.
The older “StarSkate” group (24) is lower by comparison, with McComb offering several theories for the drop-off.
“Some have completed their set goals, or find their sport very difficult and feel they do not want to spend the amount of time necessary to reach higher more difficult goals,” she reasoned.
“Others find new sports to try, often when they move into high school.
“In figure skating, we encourage a skater to continue to come and skate less sessions a week than they used to train, but to continue to skate because we don’t want them to forget how much they loved the feeling of gliding over the smooth ice, spinning so fast their hands and arms tingle, and jumping into the air and landing softly back down on their blade,” McComb said.
“We will also remind a skater that they are part of our skating family and we would miss them terribly.
“One of the things retired skaters miss the most is the annual ice show at the end of each season,” she noted.
The club, which already has taken part in competitions in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg so far this season, have a seven-pack of accomplished coaches in McComb, Marie-Josee Potvin, Gerry-Lynn Cousineau, Alexa Buttner, Nicole Katona, Jenna Rae Cousineau, and Ashley Benoit.
Lisette Wilson, meanwhile, has joined the club in the newly-created role of skater development chairperson.
Wilson is responsible for planning and arranging skating clinics and seminars, and already has proven her merit by getting 2013 Skate Canada Challenge junior dance competitor Allan Stoll to come here from southern Ontario for a seminar on ice dancing that was held Nov. 21.
“[Stoll] helped the skaters work on edges and techniques, as well as gave them valuable information on ice dancing,” said Border Skating Club media relations director Amy Wilson-Hands.
Next up for the club, competition-wise, will be a basic skills competition slated for Jan. 18 in International Falls as part of the “Ice Box Days” festivities there.
The annual Sunset Country Interclub meet is set for Jan. 30-Feb. 1 in Keewatin.
That will be followed by the “Festival of Stars” from Feb. 6-8 in Sault Ste. Marie and then the Thunder Bay Open from Feb. 20-22.
With the Christmas holidays coming up, all groups within the club will be taking a break from their arduous practice schedules in the upcoming days.
The CanSkate programs will end tomorrow, while the StarSkate program holds its final pre-Christmas practice on Dec. 19.
StarSkate is back to practicing on Jan. 4, while the CanSkate programs start up again on Jan. 6.
