Skip to content

The science of skating

SUNSHINE COAST FIGURE SKATING CLUB
Can Skaters
CanSkate participants at their lesson this week at the Gibsons arena.

It looks like organized chaos — helmeted toddlers on tiny blades whizzing about every which way on the frosty rink. It’s go-go-go amid an array of colourful props. Most importantly, they look as if they are having fun.

This is the new face of Skate Canada’s learn-to-skate CanSkate program, retrofitted to use all the scientific research on long term athlete development (or LTAD, an acronym that is becoming the byword of Canadian sport).

The new program will be a key guide on when to train stamina, strength, flexibility and when to acquire certain skills.

“Skill acquisition is a big one,” said Skate Canada’s Monica Lockie. “They say the golden years of learning are between seven and 11 and that’s when we really have to build those neural pathways in the athletes that will be there after puberty.”

The new CanSkate program works to build and reinforce important basic skills. Instead of just introducing a skill at one level and then leaving it, the skater will work on the same skill at many different stages. The coaches have a chance to introduce the skill, develop it and then perfect it over a longer period of time.

“We want to continue to be the best learn-to-skate program in the country,” Lockie said.

Skate Canada coaches are the perfect ones to take that on. They are probably the most technical ice sport coaches around. Skating coaches understand how the blade works, how to get power and edges from the blade, and how the biomechanics of movement of the stride really work. The success of the program will lie in getting all Canadians to skate, even if just for pleasure, for fitness, and to feel safe on the ice.

The SC Skating Club offers CanSkate lessons Tuesdays and Thursdays in Gibsons and Wednesdays in Sechelt, as well as an adult beginner CanPowerSkate. For more info contact Aspen at 604-741-0633 or registrar@sunshinecoastskatingclub.ca or go to www.sunshinecoastskatingclub.ca.