THUNDER BAY - After a major dumping of snow followed by bone-chilling temperatures, Ryan Caron and his daughter Maisyn were happy to get out of the house, strap on the stakes, and enjoy a break in the weather.
“This one is only 18 months and we got her skates on now,” Ryan said. “Typical northern family, right?”
Dozens of skaters came out to Prince Arthur’s Landing on Sunday for the first Winter Fun Days. To start of the series of winter events at the Marina, the Thunder Bay Skating Academy was on hand to offer some coaching to the young skaters like Maisyn.
“We teach all the basic fundamentals of skating,” said Regan Delorenzi, club coach with the Thunder Bay Skating Academy. “We have three sections on our sessions, agility, balance, and control, all focusing on different skills that go toward helping all ice sports. We teach all the fundamentals for all ice sports.”
The Thunder Bay Skating Academy opened last January and offers Can-Skate training for various age groups and skill levels. They also offer hockey fundamentals training for players wishing to develop their skating skills.
Delorenzi said actually having a trained coach teach the fundamentals of skating rather than letting a child simply figure it out on his or her own has a lot of benefits.
“A lot of the time when you are younger, it is hard to figure out what your body is actually doing,” she said. “When you are a trained skater, it is easier to figure out what you are doing wrong. But kids who are younger don’t really understand what they are doing wrong, and they will just keep trying the same thing over and over again, so having a coach there to advise them what to do is a great thing to have.”
With Maisyn starting so young, Ryan hopes she will be just as strong a skater as her older brother.
“I grew up playing hockey until bantam and this is my son’s first year playing hockey,” he said. “He’s doing really well.”
But lessons aside, just being out on the ice is enough for Ryan and Maisyn, who are taking in every minute of the winter.
“It’s really nice to get out of the house and just get the little ones out on the ice,” Ryan said.
For a complete schedule of upcoming events, visit the Winter Fun Days website. For more information about skate training, visit the Thunder Bay Skating Academy website.
