SUNDRE — With the number of registrations for the local skating club growing beyond pre-pandemic averages, the season ahead is shaping up nicely.
“So far, it’s really good. We have about 32 skaters,” Lyndsay Stange, Sundre Skating Club head instructor, said on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
“(There are) lots of really little ones, so that’s awesome to help build the club,” she said. “And then (there are) more in our figure skating side of things, which is helping build the club as well.”
The skating club offers CanSkate, Pre-StarSkate and StarSkate lesson programs that were developed under Skate Canada. While the Sundre Skating Club’s StarSkate program has in recent years remained fairly steady, the numbers of skaters signed up for the CanSkate and Pre-StarSkate programs are up this season, she said.
“Considering the last few years we’ve had – and even in the year prior to COVID – our numbers are definitely up,” she said, adding that depending on the year leading up to the pandemic, the club would average somewhere between 20 to 25 skaters.
As of the time of the interview, Stange told the Albertan the club had been on the ice for three weeks after postponing a few practices earlier in September as a result of a relatively minor, five-day delay in the municipality’s efforts to open the Sundre Arena.
Although a date has yet been set for the season wind-up ice carnival when the club’s skaters get a chance to demonstrate the skills they’ve developed and practised, she confirmed a theme has already been lined up: Skating Through the Decades.
“We’re going to organize everything prior to, and then our last decision will probably be the date just to see what the arena availability is,” she said, expressing on behalf of the club a desire to avoid scheduling overlaps with other user groups, such as potential hockey tournaments like provincials.
While the club is doing well in terms of volunteers and instructors, she said the non-profit organization is currently running a Springbank Cheese fundraiser and that anyone who’s interested in placing an order need only connect with the club’s membership.
