Skating is sensational! Your kids can get a great start in Delta

Source: North Delta Reporter

Providing an opportunity for them to learn to skate is one of the biggest gifts you can give your child as a parent, given the variety of winter activities we have available to us in Canada.

Kevin Bursey, director of programs at Sungod Skating Club in Delta, says no matter if your child goes on to pursue figure skating or ice hockey, or simply knows enough to be able to enjoy skating on school field trips, learning through Skate Canada’s CanSkate program is a great way to start.

“I always want to know that the foundations have been covered, and the CanSkate program has proven to be the best for doing that,” he says. “You’re getting a high level of coaching from nationally certified coaches, and a variety of training activities. At the same time, it’s a very high energy program that is 100 percent movement in a very fun environment.”

CanSkate helps identify budding figure skaters

Some children, like Mariah Dacres, who just turned 5, take to skating like a fish to water and learn the basics quickly. As such, she’s keen to learn new skills and practise on the ice.

Given her interest level and the natural inclination toward the sport she showed in CanSkate sessions, she’s been invited into the Sungod Skating Club’s Junior Star Academy, which gives skaters aged four to seven their introduction to figure skating.

“We have fun and you try and try again, and that’s what we do at skating,” Mariah says. Her first session saw her “take a picture, spin around on one foot and do a jump.”

Talking about the initial appeal of skating for Mariah, mom Safiya Dacres says it was a new challenge for her and she liked making new friends. “And she wanted to learn how to do spins like a figure skater,” Safiya adds.

Your beginning skater is in good company!

As a longstanding, national program offered by more than 1,200 clubs and taught by roughly 5,000 accredited coaches today across Canada, CanSkate features an impressive alumni list of names you’ll know.

Past CanSkaters include two-time Olympic Ice Dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, National Hockey League players such as former rookie of the year and current Carolina Hurricanes star Jeff Skinner, and a host of other competitive speed skaters, figure skaters, and men’s and women’s hockey players.