By Cara Filby
With Winterlude, winning hockey franchises and the recent Canadian Championships in figure skating, the city has caught skating fever.
For those aspiring to one day join those world-class skaters, there are various options. CitySkate is one of them.
The City of Ottawa sponsors the Recreational Skating School, which runs CitySkate. It operates out of eight local arenas including two in Centretown, and offers classes every day of the week.
Twenty-eight different levels exist within CitySkate ranging from Frosty Blades for toddlers and parents to Adult powerskating. CitySkate recommends all participants, whether they are in Kindergliders (for four and five-year-olds) or Adults Plus (for those over 45), to wear helmets.
The program encourages and promotes all types of skating. Participants can branch off into specialized aspects of skating such as hockey, ringette or figure skating.
Peter Ostapchuk, a CitySkate dad, says that skating lessons teach children the fundamentals.
“The good thing about the program is that there are spin-off classes like pre-hockey,” he says.
Ostapchuk’s two-and-a-half-year-old son says he is going to be a hockey player. His dad says, patting his head, “there’s no rush.”
About 1,600 people participate in CitySkate, according to Kim Murray, CitySkate program co-ordinator. “Eleven hundred of those are children,” she says.
This is CitySkate’s first year of operation. In the past the city used the Canskate program designed by the Canadian Figure Skating Association (CFSA).
Murray says because of recent CFSA policy changes, the city can no longer afford to keep its affiliate member status.
So, Murray along with 10 of the city head-skating coaches, created CitySkate.
Lisa Bottiglia, head coach at McNabb Arena on Percy Street, says CitySkate is “strictly recreational.”
Lessons are only once per week — much less than the intense practices of more competitive skaters.
Bottiglia used to skate competitively for the Nepean Skating Club and says recreational skating is simply for those people who want to learn how to skate.
“If we think someone has potential then we will recommend higher levels or competitive skating.”
CitySkate also offers private lessons for those wanting one-on-one instruction.
“When it comes to pleasure skating with the kids on the canal or at the cottage, they already know how . . . it is reassuring,” Ostapchuk says.
Murray says customers seem happy with the transition CitySkate.
But, she adds, the success of the program will not be comprehensively measured for about a year.
Dylan Sparling, 5, says he enjoys his CitySkate lessons. The best part of skating, he says, is when “you glide — and because you don’t have to work.”