THUNDER BAY – For some, skating is a part of the Canadian national identity, so there is no better way to celebrate the nation’s 150th anniversary than lacing up the skates and hitting the ice with the entire nation.
Sunday was National Skating Day across Canada, with free skates held from coast to coast, and here in the city, the Thunder Bay Skating Academy hosted a free skate at the Fort William Gardens from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“I think it’s an awesome thing to do,” said Katie Walsh, a figure skater with the Fort William Figure Skating Club. “With lots of outdoor rinks and sessions like this, it’s good to know how to skate and go out with your family especially during the holidays. It’s a good Canadian thing to learn how to do and to get out there and celebrate.”
The day also marked the launch of the Thunder Bay Skating Academy, a newly formed nationally certified training program being offered in the city.
Julia Mullins, president of the Thunder Bay Skating Academy, said the program is an amalgamation of several learn to skate programs from the city, the Fort William Figure Skating Club, and the Thunder Bay Figure Skating Club.
“It’s all under one umbrella so it’s easy for families to register with,” she said. “We are offering a nationally certified learn to skate program, which is called CAN Skate, so we focus on agility, balance, and control, so it’s a great way to get the essential skills needed for skating.”
According to Mullins, skating is a great way to keep kids, and adults, active during the winter, which helps promote a healthy lifestyle.
“Skating is one of the easiest things we can do in our city, especially with our outdoor rinks and public skating and we want to keep active all year long,” she said. “Skating is a great opportunity to do that.”
The ice at Fort William Gardens soon filled up with skaters young and old, from little ones out for the first time, to hockey players like six-year-old brothers, Gibson and Keegan Hebert.
“I like it a lot,” Gibson said. “We were racing around.”
“It’s really good,” Keegan added. “I like slap shotting pucks.”
And while Gibson and Keegan are able to race around the rink like pros, other kids were still a little unsure of this new experience of gliding across a fresh sheet of ice. Luckily, Walsh, who coaches figure skating, was on hand to help get the kids back up on their skates and having fun.
“I just love helping kids,” she said. “I find it really rewarding and I think it’s good for them to learn from someone who knows how to teach them and help them learn the basics.”
Free skates introduce kids to learning what can be a difficult skill to master, which Walsh said can be really beneficial and may develop into other activities out on the ice.
“It’s good because if they are looking into going into some kind of skating sport, they get to try out skating, and being out on the ice with their parents which is nice, and just get to skate around and get used to the feeling before hoping into the sport or learn to skate programs,” she said.
And if you can try it out with the rest of the country, all the better. Even if not all Canadians have been out on the ice, everyone is at least familiar with the pastime, which has become a part of who we are, at least in the winter.
“I would think skating is part of our national identity,” Mullins said. “Most Canadians know how to skate or are familiar with skating and I think the Canada 150 proves that with its really strong support of this initiative across the country.”
