Standard skating club focuses on fun

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Standard Figure Skating club places an emphasis on developing skills and having fun while doing so.
The CanSkate program’s youngest skater is two and a half and the oldest is 16. The club is a mixture of beginner skaters just learning the techniques and those with more experience that are improving on their skills.
“CanSkate is basic skating techniques-stopping, turns and stuff like that. StarSkate is when they get into the more technical stuff like figure skating,” said Erin Jensen, secretary of the figure skating club.
“The goal right now is to encourage fitness and participation in the community.”
In a small community such as Standard, it could be difficult to get a lot skaters to participate in sessions but they have stayed consistent the last couple of years.
“I wouldn’t say (there is) an increase, we’re pretty steady and we get new enrolment every year,” said Jensen.
“Our older kids grow out of the CanSkate for StarSkate and it’s so hard to find figure skating coaches. After they’ve been in it for so many years, they need something new or they need a new coach.”
The club hosts a fundraiser carnival with a different theme every year.
“We do a raffle, silent auction, games for the kids and we’re going to have a popcorn machine this year,” said Jensen.
“The theme changes every year, this year it’s going to be ‘At the Movies,’ so every routine will be from a movie. The coach will pick the music from the movies and they do a skating routine.”
The carnival will take place on March 15 from 2-4 p.m. at the Standard Arena.