Everyone can benefit from CanSkate program
- Details
- Published on Friday, September 2, 2016
Submitted Article
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
What do well-respected hockey player Matt Duchene, world class speedskater Ivanie Blondin and champion ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir all have in common? Well, for one, they all have been to the Olympics in their respected sports. Duchene won a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics with the Canadian Men’s hockey team. Blondin represented Canada in long track speed skating in 2014 Olympics. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the 2010 Olympic champions and the 2014 Olympic silver medalists in figure skating. They are all fantastic skaters in their respected sports, but did you also know that they are all CanSkate graduates? Each one of them got their start in a CanSkate program in their community and you can too, right here in Neepawa.
The CanSkate program is Canada’s best and longest running Learn-to-Skate program. It introduces a healthy, lifelong sport to kids at any age, whether you want to start at three or 12 years old, or whether you just want to improve your hockey or figure skating skills. The curriculum for this program is based on Sport Canada’s long term athlete development (LTAD) principles and was designed with all ice sports in mind.
Contrary to popular belief, CanSkate doesn’t teach figure skating skills. CanSkate teaches the foundation skills that all types of skaters need to be successful in their sport. Whether you want to be a hockey player, a ringette star, a speed skater or a figure skater, the CanSkate program teaches the basic skills one needs to learn in order to be successful in these sports. You learn to balance on your skates by falling down and getting up, doing slalom around pylons or learning proper forward and backward crosscuts. You learn how to be in control on your skates by skating backward, gliding on one or two feet and how to stop a variety of different ways. You also learn how to be agile on your feet! Whether you are doing a quick turn, a step turn, turning forward or backward or glide turns, any type of turn is vital in ice sports, particularly hockey! In this ribbon and badge program, there are a six levels, all with different skills to master in the three categories of balance, control and agility. Skaters can move throughout these different levels all at their own pace on circuits full of teaching aids, upbeat music and a wide variety of activities that are designed to accommodate multiple different levels at once. In the higher levels,there are specific hockey, ringette, speed skating and figure skating skills that a skater must achieve depending on what sport they are in. This encourages skaters to work on the skill specific to their sport in order to improve on their individual skills. On top of all this, the CanSkate program is taught by a nationally certified coach (NCCP coach) who is trained specifically in teaching the mechanics and proper technique of basic skating. All coaches are assisted by trained program assistants and the program ensures a 1:10 coach/program assistant to skater ratio or lower. To participate, all you need are skates, a CSA-approved hockey helmet, long pants, mittens and a warm sweater or jacket. Be a part of the fun, join a Skate Canada club today and learn to skate with CanSkate.
Neepawa’s CanSkate program runs one day a week for 45 minutes at the Yellowhead Centre from October to March. If interested in joining, please contact Jamie Ellis at (204) 476-0855.
