What a difference two extra months of ice has made for the skaters of the Sunshine Coast Skating Club (SCSC).
The SCSC, through working with other ice user groups and the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) was successful in extending ice in the arenas in August 2017 and April 2018. The advantage of having extended ice and being able to train in their own community allowed the skaters to participate (and dominate) in five competitions from November to April. The extra two months have allowed the skaters to really gain momentum and thrive. The results have highlighted the fact that figure skating is a year-round sport and that more ice, dedicated professional coaches, and the determination and work ethic of the skaters is a winning combination.
Some achievements include 65 Skate Canada Test passes and a record number of CanSkate and CanPowerSkate badge passes. In March, four skaters had the prestige of being invited to a Provincial Development Camp based on their competitive scores, which was a high honour for the skaters and the club.
Our most recent competition in April had the highest number of skaters attend in the history of the club, which can be directly attributed to the fact that they had ice to practise on right up to the day of the competition, which for the past 10 years they have not.
The club offers five programs – CanSkate (Learn to Skate), CanPowerSkate (hockey skills), Jr. Academy (Transition to StarSkate or Competitive Stream), StarSkate, Competitive Skate, and Adult Star. The ages range from three up to 50 plus. For the first time this year the club received a platinum ranking along with four other clubs out of 115 clubs in the entire province.
The SCSC has doubled its membership over the past four years and is close to having the same numbers as Minor Hockey. We feel proud to have provided community events such as the Elvis Stojko event and having Olympian/World and International guest skaters at the year-end performance night.
The SCSC is grateful to the SCRD for its support and hopes the SCRD will continue to work with us in extending the ice to having ice year-round, matching other communities around the province. This would provide this hardworking, committed group of skaters with the support and opportunity needed for their ongoing success.
– Submitted by Andrea Watson
