World Ice Skating Day

Photo Credit Sportswave.ca

The best kept secret was overshadowed by the home coming of Canadian Superstar Christine Sinclair over the weekend with virtually no one or at least a few knowing about World Ice Skating Day.

The event was hosted by the Sungod Figure Skating Club and held at their home rink Delta’s Sungod Arena that was well attended by skaters from various areas.

World Ice Skating Day featured 10 time National Men’s Champion, 3 times World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Patrick Chan.

It was a fun-filled day meeting up with several skating coaches whom I have known for not just years but also decades, all of which are extremely professional and still have a passion for the sport.

It was interesting that when I was entering the “side door” and if you’re familiar with the rink you’ll know the one I mean that I met up with Norma Grant who stepped aside to enjoy retirement.

Norma was involved with the club for at least four decades but still enjoys watching the young skaters starting out in their career.

We also connected with Kevin Bursey who has been a skating coach and a club director for over 30 years.  

His past roles he has held include National Performance Director with the UK National Ice-Skating Association, Director of Programs at Connaught Skating Club, Senior Staff member at the BC Centre of Excellence. 

He was the High-Performance Manager at the Sungod Skating Club prior to his appointment as Director of Programs in 2015.

He was a member of the British Olympic Association’s Coaching Commission in the lead up to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City as well as writing Ice-Stars back in 1999.

So as you can imagine the club isn’t short of quality skating coaches and that alone is one of the reasons why the club is so successful and continues to grow.

In addition we connected with Constanze Paulinus, the High Performance Manager coming off  the 2-time National Champion in Great Britain and a senior National Medalist in Germany.  

She represented Germany internationally competing in various international events and ISU Grand Prix Championships.  

Once the meet and greet was over it was down to business watching the skaters put on the blades showcasing their talent and skill with Twists, Turns, fan Spiral plus an I-Spin to the delight of the crowd.

For Patrick it was more of a “meet and greet” event that had his attention drawn in several directions with many wanting to meet Canada’s iconic Olympic Ice Skating champion.

The day started off as the skaters taking to the ice with Patrick having various photos being taken from skaters and fans alike watching him converse with everyone and not skating away.

The Sungod Skaters took to the ice doing their routine followed by a demonstration from the Richmond Rockets Speed Skating Club who skate out of the Richmond Oval.

For those who have never tried this in the past you should lace-em up at least once as it’s quite the experience you’re missing out on.

After this it was more of an introduction to figure skating and then Kevin Adlem with Eastlink TV and I stepped aside to grab out interviews.

Overall the day was an exceptional couple of hours for everyone that allowed many to ask questions about the sport as well as chat with the pro’s.

Thanks to the Sungod Figure Skating Club for putting this on and assisting us with our requests.

Continued success and if you want additional information please contact the Delta Sungod Skating Club via the link provided.

Oh yea – I would be remiss if I did not mention that Patrick has an upcoming birthday December 31 which he was thankful for me giving him a friendly reminder.