Provincial 'C' Championship (11 and under)

Over the past weekend, my daughter competed in the Ontario speed skating 'C' Championships for skaters aged 11 and under. This competition was held at the River Oaks Recreation Centre in Oakville, which meant a little bit of driving for us. For the record, the arena is a very nice facility, with good size dressing rooms, much bigger than our club is accustomed to. I just wished they hadn't put the teams that traveled the farthest  in the change room the farthest from the line-up area. Nothing like adding to the journey! :)

This meet marked her 3rd and last competition of the season. Early in the season, she managed to place 3rd in a meet, winning a bronze medal, while at her last meet, she was fighting the flu and didn't fair so well on the ice.

Coming into the weekend, she was hoping the win a medal. We talked on our long drive up about what to expect this weekend, and to aim for PB's more than medals. I also explained that she would be racing against only girls her age, and that there were 4-5 girls who had posted faster 400m times than her best time, making it a challenge to finish in the top 3.

During her warm-up on the first day, I could tell right away she was going to have a good weekend skating. Her form looked good and she was skating faster than most of the kids on the ice. In her first race, a 400m, she had a good start and skated hard through all 4 laps. She posted a new PB, beating her old time by 5s, but unfortunately finished 2nd, 5 seconds behind the leader. The good news was her time was fast enough to get her into the 'A' finals, but the bad news was that she was the 5th seed. In that race, she didn't have a great start, as she was starting from the far outside lane, and could never catch up to the 4 other girls, essentially finishing 5th. She was also 1s slower than her heat time. She wasn't upset, but I think she realize there that finishing in the top 3 would be difficult.

Coming around the 4th corner

In her second race, a 100m, she finished 2nd in her heat, this time she came up 0.25 seconds short of making the 'A' finals. In the 'B' finals she improved her time a bit, but finished 2nd, leaving her behind in top 5 points. As we went home that evening, she asked if she had a chance of winning a medal. I explained to her that it would be very difficult to win a medal, but if she could make both 'A' finals in her last 2 races, she had a good chance of finishing in the top 5 and receiving a ribbon.

On day 2, her warm-up looked good, but you could tell she was a little more tired than the day before. In her first race of that day, a 200m, she had a good race but finished 3rd in her heat, 0.04 seconds behind the other girl. That time is so small, that I don't believe the time keepers could say definitely which of the 2 skaters finished ahead. When the rankings came out for the 'A' finals, she missed the 5th spot, losing to the girl who edged her out in her heat. Leading up to her 'B' final, I told her that if she finished first, she would have a chance of making the 'A' finals for the last race of the day, and possibly win a ribbon.

Here's the race. She's the skater on the inside part of the track.

If the above video does not work, here is a link to a shared drive where I have uploaded it.
As you can see, she wanted to make the 'A' finals for the last race, which she did.

In the last race, a 500m, the top 6 skaters, based on points, raced in the 'A' finals to give everyone a chance to move up in the ranks. I informed her that if she was going to win a ribbon, she had to do better than 4th, while beating both the currently ranked 4th and 5th place girls. She had a good start and as all the skaters came around the 2nd corner, 2 of the girls fell down, leaving it to a 4 girl race. My daughter stayed in 3rd place the remainder of the way, finishing 1 second from 2nd and 0.3 seconds ahead of 4th. It would come down to where everybody was ranked going into the race to see if she managed enough points to reach 5th place. At this point, I informed her that even if she didn't win a ribbon, she set Personal Best in all the distances she raced over the weekend and that was a very big accomplishment. This made her somewhat happy.

When it came time to the medal ceremony, the moment of truth came out and she finished in 6th place, meaning no ribbon for her. You could see the disappointment on her face, but you could also see the desire to do better. As we drove home that evening, we talked about creating an off-ice training plan for the summer so that next year she could be faster against the girls who are bigger than her and have a better chance of winning a medal/ribbon.

Glad to see she wants to keep getting better.

Last meet of the season

Last weekend marked the last meet that speed skating daughter will compete in for the 2011-2012 season. She has decided that she does not want to participate in the Masters & Regional Championships to be held March 31-April 1 in Kitchener. I would like to attend to see how it works and how she would end up ranking, but I'm not going to push her.

That being said, we did attend the Silver #13 (E) Ability meet in Gloucester this past weekend. As I expected, she moved up a level to compete against "faster" skaters. With the new OSSA track rules in place, all skaters in the Juvenile and below categories skated the 100m track (as oppose to the 111m track). This meant that new distances would be skated. 111m races turned into 100m races, 222m became 200m and 333m became 400m. In the older groups, several kids skated 800m races, along with 500m and 400m. Overall, PB's would be set as nobody had skated many of the distances set up for the meet.

In my daughter's 1st race (200m), she did ok, but ended up finishing 3rd (out of 4). That left her out of the 'A' finals for that distance, and I knew right there that there would be no 2nd medal (the points drop off quickly the farther down the list you finish). In the 'B' finals, she had a good start and was in 2nd place heading into the 3rd corner. Unfortunately the leader fell and took out several of the track markers that ended under speed skating daughter's skate as she did a crossover, causing her to fall. She ended up in last place for that final, only to be moved up 1 spot due to another skater being DQ'd (for skating inside the track). 9th place did not get her a ribbon, leaving her a little sad, especially since her friend finished 7th and received a ribbon.

In her 2nd distance (100m), she finished last in her heat and ended up in the 'C' finals. In that final, she skated faster than her prelim race, but ended finishing 2nd (10th overall). Again no ribbon and very little points. With little points gained throughout her 'finals', she was placed in the 'B' 400m Super final (seeding was based on accumulated points). At this point, the coach came up to her and said that if she wanted a ribbon, she needed to finish top 2 in a distance she had never skated before. She wasn't too optimistic about it, but she had a great start, managed to take the lead early and never looked back, finishing 1st in the 'B' final (7th overall). She received a ribbon, which made her super happy (making the day a success). When I saw her time, it turned out to be the same time as when she skated her best 333m earlier in the season. That meant she skated 67m farther in the same amount of time (I'd say she's getting faster). I then did the conversion and it turned out that in comparison, she would have skated a 333m race in 59 seconds, essentially breaking the "1 minute" barrier that many of the kids strive for at an early age. I'll have to talk to the coach and see if she is required to bring in cupcakes as a celebratory gesture for breaking the 1 minute barrier, which is something the club has implemented.

Speed skating daughter leading the pack in the 400m race

And now there are 2

Last night marked the 1st night that Youngest Son tried speed skating (sorry, no photos yet). He did exceptionally well for his first time and showed some decent speed at first. Other than being a little tired (with sore legs), he said he liked it and wants to go back (at least for the 3 remaining try-it sessions).

He will now be referred to as Speed Skating Son. :)

One proud... moment

Today was our speed skating club's yearly ability meet, that speed skating daughter was registered for. The way that she has been skating since learning how to do her crossovers, my wife and I figured she would skate some PB's. That meant, the whole family HAD to come out to watch her skate. It turned out that both my parents, and my in-laws made the 1 hr trip to watch. Right from the first race where she took the lead at the start and didn't give it up until the race was over, we knew she would do well. In the finals of that distance (222m), she finished 2nd overall. That meant she would receive a 2nd place ribbon, which made her smile from ear-to-ear. At that point, I mentioned to her that if she did well in the next distance (111m), she might have enough overall points to win a medal (top 3 in each group). That motivated her and again she finished 1st in her preliminary heat. In the finals she started strong and only lost in the last 3 m of the race. Another 2nd place ribbon for the distance and a 2nd place medal overall.

The interesting thing about this is that we went to watch this meet last year and speed skating daughter said then that she really wanted to try speed skating. That is some great progress to go from never doing it to finishing 2nd overall (in her age category) in 1 year.

Today was a very proud day for speed skating daughter (and mommy & daddy). Can't wait to see what other meets have in store for her.

Here's a few other pics from the day.

All it takes is time... and practice

I’m not sure if I already mentioned it, but before the snow fell, I built a small rink for my kids in my backyard. By small I mean, 19’ x 40’. With the cold weather now upon us, they have been out on it several times, and all 3 keep asking to go out, even in -25o C weather.

Because of the rink, speed skating daughter learnt to do crossovers using hockey skates, only son has gone from barely walking on the ice, to full on strides and glides and oldest daughter states that she can now do crossovers using her figure skates even though I figured she could already do them (she argues no). So all 3 have become better in a short amount of time. That, in my opinion, makes building a backyard rink a HUGE SUCCESS!

Last night, at speed skating daughter’s first practice since before Christmas, she was able to do crossovers using her speed skates and now realized that she can maintain a good pace on the turns. With over 1 month before the club’s official meet, she has plenty of time to become better at doing crossovers and improve her 333m, 222m, and 111m times. Time will tell.

If only son continues at this pace of improvement, I will sign him up for the try-it-before-registering speed skating sessions, as he mentions he wants to do speed skating like his older sister. That means, I could have 2 kids, and possibly my Dad and myself, registered at the club next season. I hope they give family discounts. :)


 
BTW, that is me, speed skating daughter (bottom), only son (on knees) and speed skating daughter’s friend on the ice, with family dog just off the ice. Oldest daughter was away on a sleep over that night.

Rare opportunity

About a month ago, my daughter's speed skating coach asked me if I'd be interested in attending a day long seminar with a National Team Coach. The catch was that it was on a Friday, just before Christmas. After looking at how much leave I still had left, I quickly said yes to this limited opportunity.

It turns out that my daughter's coach happens to be the sister of Jonathon Cavar and he is planning on being home for the holidays. This allowed the club, along with our coach, the opportunity to secure some ice time and have him put on a full day of on and off ice training, for both our club's coaches, our competitive skaters, and coaches and skaters from neighboring clubs.

It should be lots of fun and informative and should really help me when working with the kids from my daughters club. I'm really looking forward to it.

Another meet

Spent Saturday past at another speed skating meet with my daughter. Here’s a recap of what happened.

This meet was organized differently than our previous meet. Instead of ladder format, the kids would skate 2 separate distances (222m and 111m), bracketed by age, and randomly put into skating groups. The winner of each skating group, followed by a few other skaters (based on best time posted) would skate in the age bracket’s ‘A’ final, with the remaining skaters skating in the the ‘B’ and ‘C’ finals. Each skater would receive points based on where they finished, and both race point totals added together to finalize a ranking for the day. This meant, depending on how she would finish, she had an opportunity to winner some awards. A little motivation for her.

The day started off early as her group was the first to be on the ice. Her first race was the 222m (or 2 laps) and as soon as the gun went off, she fell. She managed to get up quickly and still posted a decent time, finishing 7th overall for her age bracket. This meant she would not skate in the ‘A’ finals. In the ‘B’ final they had 6 skaters (normally there is only 4) and right at the first corner, several of the skaters became tangled and my daughter fell (along with 2 other skaters). It took her a few extra seconds to get back up and she ended up finishing next to last in the group, 10th overall. At the time we were not aware that ribbons were given out to the top 8 finishers. We only found out later when her skating friend from our club (coach’s daughter) ended up finishing 8th overall and she received a ribbon. You could see a little disappointment on my daughters face, so I mentioned if she skated well (and didn’t fall) in her next race, she would have a chance to receive a ribbon.

After lunch, the kids went out for the 111m (1 lap) race. This time she had a good result, finishing 2nd in her group, 7th overall. That left her in the ‘B’ final, but this time, the ‘B’ final only had 4 skaters (with 4 in the ‘A’ final), guaranteeing her a top 8 finish and a ribbon (so I figured). Her friend was also in the same ‘B’ final. She was happy with the thought that she might win a ribbon, but she also commented on how she wanted to beat her friend, since her friend now held the advantage 3 to 2. One thing that really stood out for me between the first 111m race and the finals was that both girls were really interested in watching the older kids skate. During the morning break, both girls wanted to colour and play, but not in the afternoon. To me, that is a sign of someone who wants to learn and become better. I then mentioned to both girls, that they should watch how the older kids do their crossovers, and how it makes them faster. Need to keep planting the seed.

The ‘B’ finals went smoothly for all skaters and my daughter ended up finishing 7th, with a time slightly slower than her previous race. Her friend finished 8th, making their little competition tied again. Overall, she was happy with her results, other than falling, and she came home (early than our other meet) with a ribbon that listed her name, finishing position, and time. Winning something is always a huge encouragement to do better, especially when her friend won 2 ribbons to her 1.

On a side note, my daughter ended up finishing 9th overall (out of 11) for the day, based on the points she received from her 222m race and her 111m race, while her friend finished 8th. Everybody starts off somewhere, now to see if she can improve.

Thoughts on my 1st speed skating meet

Several weeks ago, my speed skating daughter attended her first meet (competition). Here is the story about that momentous event. Hey, who knows, my daughter could one day skate for Team Canada and having a record of her first time is good. Besides, I’m a proud parent, so why not tell her story to the world.

My original plan for her this year was to wait until the club had their meet (February 2012) before she would compete. IMO, this would allow her 5 months to become a better skater before dealing with the competitive side of the sport. After 2 months of seeing her greatly improve, hearing from other skaters and parents on how this particular meet was an excellent choice for a skater’s first competition, and asking her if should would like to try it out, she/we decided to register for it. Things never go as planned. As it turned out, 35 other skaters from our club would also be attending, so there would be plenty of familiar faces there, making it easier for her (and us).

A quick note about the meet. The fact that many people considered this meet to be an excellent first meet is that it is a ladder meet. This means that no matter your age, you are seeded based on your best time submitted. After each race, skaters are re-seeded accordingly. This allows skaters to feel like with each race, they have a chance to finish first, since the other kids in the race finished their last race with a similar time as their own.

Although she wanted to go to the meet, it was scheduled for the same weekend as her birthday, and she really wanted a birthday party. This meant that we had to work things around so that she could go and still have the party. It also meant that the party would not turn into a sleep-over like she had hoped, which was disappointing for her while making me happier (I’m sorry, as a father, having your house invaded by 7 little girls for a whole night is not high up on my enjoyment list). After all birthday plans were finalized, all that was left was to plan for the meet.

With the meet location almost 2 hrs away from where we live (remember our club is 1hr from our home), we decided to go up the night before and stay in a hotel, so to not have an over-tired little girl at her first meet. Before deciding to stay over night, I had talked to several parents about what they have done in the past. Several commented that the meets their kids didn’t perform well at were the ones they had to wake up early and drive a long time to get there. Not that I think my daughter is a top caliber speed skater and having her a little tired might make the difference between finishing 1st overall or not, it was just easier than dealing with a grumpy little girl at 5 am and later on in the day. Those of us with kids know that there is a line that they all pass at some point in the day that turns adorable well-behaved children into grumpy-crying-rude-we-should-have-stopped-having-kids-before-you creatures. I love my kids, but there are days that I don’t really LIKE them. So a hotel was booked.

On the day of the race we arrived at the rink at 7:30am. To our surprise, we were not the first from our club, not even close. Once the coach came into the change room, she announced the warm-up schedule. Being that my daughter is a) young, b) not fast and c) all races went by fastest to slowest, she was put in the last warm-up group. That gave us over 1 hour before she would go on the ice. For those of you who don’t already know, most rink’s change rooms are not too big. Add to the fact that there were 36 skaters from our club in one room, ranging from the youngest skaters to the masters group, throw in the fact that there were parents there helping their kids out, the room was over full. This meant that we had to plan our getting dressed accordingly, and once the racing started, things would clear up a bit.

Nearly 3 hours into the meet (includes arriving and practice time), my daughter was stepping on the ice for her first race. Leading up to the start I kept reminding her to have fun and try her best. I also told her that if she fell, get up and keep racing until the whistle went. I think I was more nervous than she was. One good thing about this race was that her coach’s daughter was in her group and competing with her. This gave her someone to stand and sit beside (read: talk to) on the bench when getting in-place for the race. My daughter’s first race went off nicely. She didn’t fall and she managed to finished 2nd (out of 4). She also had a Personal Best time. Yes, I know this was her first official race, meaning no matter what time she had, it would be considered a PB, but her time was nearly 3 seconds faster than when the club tested her (which was the time we submitted for this meet). She came off the ice all smiles, and I was there to greet her, all smiles. Success!

With nearly 160 skaters participating in the meet, we found out that it would be a while before she would race again. If anyone has ever been to the Cataraqui Community Center, you know how cold it is. It seems that when the center was being built, nobody took into consideration that people may want to sit in the stands and watch, and those people would like to feel a little warmth. Because of this lack of thinking, the heaters were installed too close to the ice, and they couldn't be turned on or the ice near the boards would melt. That meant those sticking around and watching the races would have to endure being cold (very cold). The change rooms were very warm, but you couldn’t see the races from there. We decided to hang out in our vehicle between races, let her relax away from the others while playing with some toys she brought, have some “healthy” snacks, and stay warm.

Nearly 2 hours later and she was getting back on the ice for her 2nd race. Again, the coach’s daughter was in her group, and these 2 little girls we starting to become BFF’s. Even though they practice together twice a week, there isn’t much time to chit-chat on the ice, so friendships really aren’t built. Spend a whole day together in the change room and on the ice, friendships begin to blossom. For her 2nd race, they added a 5th skater to the group and this time though, she didn’t have as good of a race with her falling several times and finishing last. Albeit she seemed disappointed with her finish, she still came off the ice smiling and commenting on how she fell. I mentioned that I liked how after she fell she got right back up and kept going. Focus on the positive.

Her 3rd race was better than her second, as she didn’t fall, but her time was not as fast as her first. You could tell that the day was starting to wear on her, but her spirits were still up (thankfully). She raced against her BFF again and finished behind her for the 2nd time, with her friend having a PB on that race. Now, competitiveness is a healthy part of life and although the 2 girls weren’t saying much, their eyes lit up when I mentioned that my daughter was down 2-1 over the 3 races to her friend. Now I’m wasn’t there to cause problems or to say that I think my daughter is better than her friend, but giving them both a little incentive to skate a little faster is good.

Knowing that there would only be 1 more race and that my daughter had celebrated her birthday the day before the meet, my wife and I had brought in a cake to share with all the club. It also turned out that there were 4 other club members who were celebrating their birthday in November, so this became a club celebration.

Either it was knowing that it the last race for the day, or the sugar rush she got from the cake, or the fact that she was racing her friend again and wanted to beat her, my daughter came out strong. She was leading the group as she started her 3rd and final lap. Unfortunately, right around the start line, she had a little fall allowing 2 skaters to pass her and ended up finishing 3rd, still ahead of her friend. She came off the ice saying how she was leading and was close to winning the race, but wasn’t upset that she fell. Although the times weren’t posted immediately, I later found out that with the fall, her time was a little slower than her PB set earlier, so we will never know if she could have beaten it. I did tell her that she had a chance to beat it and to skate like that at her next event and she would get a new PB. Give her something to strive for.

As the day ended, she wanted to go to the awards ceremony, not because she thought she would win, but to see what it was like. With this type of meet, awards are given out based on how much a skater has improved since the previous year’s results. They then brake the skaters into groups based on birth month. It make sense and really favours the younger kids, as they are the ones who make great improvements (with their times) from year to year. As expected, my daughter did not win her month, since she hadn’t competed the year before, but 4 other club members did win their respective months, making this a successful meet for out club. All in all, 25 skaters from our club finished the day with new PB’s, with 4 skaters officially braking the 60 seconds barrier in the 333 m races, and 1 skater going under 60 seconds in the 500 m races. Well done to all.

After doing a little shopping (my daughter had birthday money to spend) and having some supper, we finally embarked on the 2 hr drive home, arriving later than my daughter’s typical bed time. She did fall asleep as we were getting close. Expected after the eventful day she just had. For the record, mom and dad were also very tired and didn’t stay up much later.

Inspired to blog again

After recently reading speedskatingmom.com, I have been inspired to start blogging again. This time, instead of blogging about me, I am going to blog about my kids activities. At the moment, my oldest daughter is involved in dancing (ballet and tap), my other daughter (middle child) is involved in speed skating, while my son (youngest of the 3) is involved in hip-hop dancing. All three take swimming lessons and all three, including myself, are involved in Karate. My son talks about how he wants to play football when he’s old enough, but that is not for another 4 years, so we will cross that bridge when we get to it. During the summer months, all three are involved in soccer. For this post, I will focus on the middle child and speed skating, because that is not your typical kid sport

A brief history on how my daughter, and eventually I, became involved in speed skating. First off, my daughter just celebrated her 7th birthday, so the fact that she wants to do speed skating blows all our minds.

Back during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, speed skating was on TV a fair bit. I, being the athletic type, was very interested in all of the Olympics, but speed skating really caught my attention. Because of this, I made a point to watch as many of the races as possible, and having only 1 TV in the house, my kids also sat through many events. At some point during one of the events the idea of her (and her brother and sister) doing that came up.  I’m not sure if she said she wanted to try it or if I suggested it to them. Either way, she seemed interested, even though she had barely been on skates to that point in her life (she was 5 at the time).

The fact that she was interested stayed with me after the Olympics were done and I began researching speed skating in general and what option we had in our area. It turned out that within 1.5 hrs there were 3 clubs that offered speed skating for all ages. With the end of skating season almost over, I let that information go until after the summer months (really, who wants to think about skating when it’s sunny and warm outside). The following fall, my wife and I registered all 3 of our kids into the local CanSkate program (geared towards basic skating technique all the way to figure skating techniques) so that they could all learn to skate properly. It wasn’t speed skating, but it was skating none-the-less.

On the first day of the CanSkate program, my daughter (the one who said she wanted to speed skate) refused to go on the ice. My wife (I was already on the ice with our youngest son in his program) spent about 15 minutes (out of a 30 minute class) dealing with her crying and refusing to go. Through much of my wife’s frustration and finally physically putting her on the ice, she finally began skating with her group and by then end of the session was grinning from ear to ear (which we figured she would do). Keep in mind, this wasn’t my daughter’s first time on the ice as I had taken them several times during the winter months before to public skating events, so nothing should have upset her. Then again, she is a little girl, and girls have a tendency to be over-emotional (just my opinion). From that point on, there never was an issue getting her on the ice, and with each passing week, she became a better skater. By the time the mid-season progress reports came out, my daughter had already achieved her Level 1 AND Level 2 badge, while her older sister and younger brother had not yet reached Level 1. She was starting to show some skating talents and a month later, she received her Level 3 badge, while her older sister finally received her Level 1 badge. Progress was being achieved all around.

During each skating lesson, I was on the ice with my son who was in the Parent and Tot program. This program was taught by the club’s head coach, so I had plenty of opportunity to talk to her and at various times, she would approach me and comment on how my youngest daughter had great form, always wants to go fast, and how I should look at getting her into speed skating. Now, as parents we all think our kids are the next best thing at what ever they do, but in reality, that is not always the case, so we don’t always act upon it. When an impartial person suggest something other than their program (or something that benefits them), it is something to consider.

With this new enthusiasm about speed skating and talking with my wife and daughter about it, I restarted my search for a club for her to try it out. As it turned out, all the clubs in our area offered some type of try it out session (for a minimal fee) and the club we were interested in was having a upcoming race meet (competition), so we (the whole family) decided to go and check it out to see what it was all about. At the time, our Saturdays were already busy with all 3 kids involved in some sort of dance class, so although we wanted to go, we knew we would be limited for time. On the day of the event, we all woke up early and made the 1 hr drive to the club/arena to watch the race. We arrive shortly after it started and only had time to stay for 1 hr before heading home and getting the kids to dance lessons. During that time, my daughter could not keep her eyes off the ice and my wife and I decided right then that we would look into signing her up as soon as possible. After talking to the club secretary, we were able to register our daughter for 4 try-it-before-joining classes, that included skate rentals. All we needed to purchase/pick-up were cut-resistant gloves, glasses, helmet (we were told her other skating helmet would do fine), knee and shin pads.

After trying on some skates, she got dressed and made her way to the rink. On the way there, she commented on how the skates hurt her ankles, but she would still try it out. For the next 45 minutes (out of a possible 60), she slowly moved across the ice smiling from ear-to-ear. There was also two very proud parents in the stands smiling from ear-to-ear. As the class progressed, although still smiling, you could tell she wasn’t happy. As it turned out, the skates were causing a blister on one of her ankles. So here you had a girl crying due to pain and smiling due to the sheer enjoyment of being the only person her whole family knew on speed skates. She almost made it to the end before finally giving in to the pain and getting off the ice. Although her first experience wasn’t the best, she wanted to come back the next week, so I spoke to the equipment manager and we picked up another pair of skates. The next 3 sessions were awesome and without pain compelling us to sign her up for another 4 more sessions, taking her to the end of the season, while still working with the CanSkate program. Her ice time went from 30 minutes a week to 90 minutes a week. During this time she managed to achieve her Level 4 CanSkate badge and was selected as “CanSkate Skater of the Year” for being the youngest to work through 4 Levels during one season. At the same time, she managed to complete the first 2 levels of the Speed Skating program. That is quite an accomplishment for someone who was 6 years old and only learnt how to skate within the past year. Now don’t get me wrong, she may never become the next Marianne St-Gelais, Kristina Groves or Christine Nesbitt, but this girl loves to skate and everybody comments on how she is always smiling when she is on the ice. As a parent, when your kids find something they are passionate about, you let them follow it and see where it takes them.

Fast forward to September past and we are back on the ice. This time she is registered for the full year, has a new proper helmet, gloves that fit, and better shin and knee pads, to make everything look and feel right. The only thing she doesn’t have is a skin suit, and one has been order (albeit too big because she is small, but it will hopefully last her 2-3 years). Right from the first class you could tell that this year would be different. Gone was the slow moving girl and found was a girl who was showing skills at this sport. What wasn’t lost was that huge grin. It is amazing on how just a few months of natural growth can make a difference in a person’s ability. Add to that the fact that I convinced both my girls that training for and running a 5k race will help them with their other activities (the oldest does ballet and tap dancing, while this one chose skating over dancing). For a 6 and 9 year old, running (and partly walking) 5k with 11 thousand people is an accomplishment, and when you do it in 43 minutes, it is a big accomplishment (I did get a little chocked up when we crossed the finish line together)! Her potential to do well this year looks promising and that makes me happy that she decided to commit to it.

A few weeks into the season and the coach sends out a request for a parent to help out on the ice with my daughters group. Now even before my daughter became interested in speed skating, I wanted to try it out. Having spent many years of my youth playing competitive hockey as a goalie, I figured I could pick it up quickly, despite all the comments I have heard about how different a skating motion it is. In reality, goalie skates are not much shorter than speed skates and they both use a crosscut pattern to sharpen. This opportunity was exactly what I was looking, so I contacted her and have been skating with the club for over a month and a half now. For the record, the motion is different but I have yet to fall, and I can maintain a decent pace while doing crossovers, so all is good. Maybe in a few years, I may actually become a club member and compete, but for now, helping out the coach on the ice is fun for me, especially when I’m already at the rink.

So that is how my daughter, and I, have become involved with speed skating. In the posts to follow I will talk about her first meet and any other interesting things that come up.

Here’s a video I made of her speed skating. The first few clips are from her 1st session (before the crying started), while the remaining are from a month and half ago. Ignore the iMovie comments, as this was originally made to share with family members. Notice the improvements she made over the summer. I would say she is even faster now.