Peace Wapiti Speed Skating Club

Please consider this as a preliminary notice to give a heads up on the dates we have booked for our upcoming summer camp. Peace Wapiti Speed Skating Club is hosting a Summer Camp in Grande Prairie from July 9-11. Please mark your calendars for these dates. More information will follow in the upcoming weeks.
 

Calgary Speed Skating Association

Oval Ice and Sunday Races

All AASSA members from outside Calgary are able to access oval 'C' ice on Sunday mornings. Please contact the Calgary club if you will be in the city and interested in using the ice. The oval user fee is $15.00 and the times fluctuate so please email in advance to find out the schedule at calspeed@ucalgary.ca

Sunday Club Races

Any skaters who would like to gain Olympic Style long track experience can sign up for Sunday Club Races at the oval. Please call the oval front office (403-220-7954) to register Monday - Thursday the week before the races are scheduled. Costs are $8 per distance and races are 10:20am -11:40am on those Sundays. Distances are usually 500m and 100m or 1500m. If you have a specific distance you want to skate, please contact Greg Planert at the oval. Race Dates are:

  • October 25th
  • November 15th
  • December 20th

Calgary Speed

CSSA's latest newsletter;

Edmonton Speed Skating Association

ESSA Newsletter

ESSA's latest news can always be found at; www.edmontonspeedskating.ca/News.

 

Red Deer Speed Skating Club

Our Olympic Experience

When our family made the decision to go to the Olympics we were all very excited and could hardly wait to get to Vancouver. We were going to watch our close family friends Jessica and Jamie Gregg skate. We arrived on Feb. 12th just in time to watch the opening ceremonies on TV. The next day was our first event and you could feel the excitement in the house we were staying at. There was 17 of us all getting dressed in our hoodies and putting on our CANADA tattoos! We could hardly wait to get to the PNE to meet the rest of the group.

The excitement and noise at the Pacific Coliseum where the short trackers skated was unbelievable. When ever a Canadian stepped onto the ice or was introduced the fans went crazy. Even when a Canadian made a pass or took the lead the fans cheered so loud! On Wednesday, Feb 17th, it was Alberta Day at the Olympics so my mom and Tess did an interview with Josee Chouinard, former figure skating Olympian. It was not on TV but it was on the jumbotron with a group of JRG2 hoodies cheering in the background!

Speed Skating Canada House was a like a home away from home. It was a neat place to go a relax before the event , have a snack or just visit with speed skating friends. Before the men’s 500m we gathered at SSC House and then walked to the entrance in our JRG2 hoodies. They were quite a conversation piece and at the Richmond Oval we took a picture with about 30 of us all dressed in our hoodies. Everyone there was supporting Jamie and Jessica Gregg who both have the same initials!

Other than 4 speed skating sessions, we went to a curling game, Canada vs Norway, and the fans were crazy even at curling! After curling we took the Canada Line train downtown to walk around with thousands of people and to see the caldron. We looked in the Hudson Bay superstore and realized we did not want to wait 15 minutes just to get in and then stand in a huge line up to pay for something! It was an amazing experience just seeing all the people walking around with Canada gear on, all the different houses that were open for the public. If you were not willing to stand in line and be patient, then this event was not for you!

On our last night in Vancouver we went downtown to the CANFUND House with our JRG2 group, I think we almost filled up an entire bus! I have never heard so many people singing O Canada spontaneously or just cheering Canada in my life.

We were very proud to be Canadians in Vancouver and were extra proud of Jessica and Jamie. It was a once in a lifetime experience and as my dad calls it “a life altering experience”. Remember DREAM BIG!

Brooke and the rest of the Pearman’s
 

Club Contacts

Calgary Speed Skating Association

Email: calspeed@ucalgary.ca
Phone: 403-220-4417

Banff/Canmore Speed Skating Club

Email: president@banffcanmorespeedskating.ca
Web: http://www.banffcanmorespeedskating.ca

East Central Striders Speed Skating Club

Email: Nicole, dally99@wy-com.ca
Info: ECSSC meets Wednesdays 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Edmonton Speed Skating Association

Website:  www.edmontonspeedskating.ca

Email: Jules Chabot, jules.chabot@nov.com
Email: Kathy Gregg, programcoordinator@edmontonspeedskating.ca

Ichi-ban Speed Skating Club

Email: Gregg Planert, gdplanert@aol.com

Lethbridge Speed Skating Association

Email: Keith Heyburn, kheyburn@shaw.ca

Border Blades Speed Skating Club (Lloydminster)

Email: Julie Provencher, dustbunny@shaw.ca

Medicine Hat Kinsmen Speed Skating Club

Email: info@albertaspeedskating.ca

Peace Wapiti Speed Skating Club (Grande Prairie)

Phone: Jamie Schoolemmer, 780-765-2199

Rocky Mountain House Speed Skating Club

Email: Kim Hastings, markim@telusplanet.net

Red Deer Central Lions Speed Skating Club

Email: Shawna Pearman, spearman@telusplanet.net

Peace River Nothern Lites Speed Skating Club

Email: Al Benson, acbenson@telus.net

Medicine Hat Speed Skating Club

Racing at Medicine Hat

Western Canada Cup, November 27-29

The Western Canada Cup held in Medicine Hat was a great success. About 140 athletes from four provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta participated in an exciting speed skating weekend!

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all parents and the many volunteers who gave up their precious time to help make our meet a success. The sense of community where everyone “pitches in” was phenomenal all in the best interest of our great athletes which just confirms what a truly wonderful sport speed skating is. The MHSSC would especially like to thank Nicole Cooney from the LSSA who was our meet coordinator and Sharon Zorman who was the recorder. These ladies spent a lot of time behind the scenes as well as on the scene to ensure that the meet ran smoothly. THANK YOU for all you have done!

All athletes seemed to have had a very positive experience and we are proud of their accomplishments! We hope to see everyone back next year at our beautiful facility in Medicine Hat; hopefully the weather will be more cooperative. Thank you once again to all parents and volunteers who have supported our speed skating meet; your help was greatly appreciated! See you all next year! 

Rocky Mountain House Speed Skating Club

2010 AWG - A Chaperone’s Point of View

It was with great excitement that we received the news that our daughter had qualified for Alberta Winter Games (AWG). She had apparently waited “her whole life” for this moment (all 11 years of it) and I as a parent was equally excited but for a completely different reason. Our daughter Kate has a cousin who had qualified for AWG two years earlier and my in-laws had said that it was the best experience of their life. They told me there is no getting your bleary eyed child up at 6am to make it to warm up; no anxious knots in the stomach as you worry about them in marshalling…is she wearing a neck guard? Did she remember her gloves? What if she only has one knee pad on? What if she needs to go to the bathroom? No epileptic fits as you realize all the other skaters in her division are trotting off merrily to the marshalling area and she is no where to be found… no wildly tearing around the arena checking bathroom stalls, inside gyms, outside snow banks…etc etc. Apparently at AWGs there are these wonderful people called chaperones who do all that for you whilst you as a parent, sleep in late, in your luxury hotel, eat leisurely breakfasts, saunter calmly to the arena to watch events, then have time to shop for trinkets in between races. Then when the day is over these wonderful chaperones take your children and feed them and put them to bed and do it all over again the next day. Whilst you as a parent go out for a fabulous dinner, maybe even some dancing..hey! no need to wake up early remember? And so I happily booked my hotel in Cold Lake and waited in great anticipation for the great day to arrive!

Well, as with all great events there is a lot of planning. And at the first AWG meeting I attended the question arose about chaperones. Who wanted to be a chaperone? I quickly found something of interest under my chair and dropped to the floor to hide my head. First they picked the male chaperone, and then came the picking of the female chaperone. I stayed well hidden as a deathly hush fell upon the room. I was on my knees anyway so I prayed silently for some Good Samaritan to volunteer……nothing!! Then someone asked how many girls had qualified from our club? Only one!!!!! So then who was the mother??? I could see the dinner and dancing fading before my very eyes as I got back on my chair and feebly raised an arm. And that was that. My fate was sealed. The decision was made. The meeting moved on! I was the female chaperone!

First off I had to sign a registration form stating I would follow the code of conduct which of course meant absolutely no alcohol at anytime…no glass of merlot for me at the end of a long day at the arena. I also signed that I would spend 24 hours with these little treasures …there goes the dancing!! And to top it all off I signed to say I would sleep on a plastic mattress on a gym floor with my skaters…goodbye luxury hotel!!

Well the big day finally arrived and we had to get up at 5am to catch the 6.30am bus. So with six pieces of luggage between us we set off half asleep and slightly anxious. The bus however was late and so there would have been time for that Timmies stop after all but pretty soon we were loaded up and heading off to two more towns to pick up more athletes from our zone. Our kids were happy because they were first on the bus so were able to nab the most coveted back seats. I, being the dutiful chaperone, went back there with them. Not only is it really noisy back there, but there was diesel fumes drifting in and we were right next to the toilet. Lovely!

After 7 hours of riding in the bus we were all glad to arrive at our destination and find our respective villages. My 2 girls waved goodbye to the 5 boys on our team and so began the task of settling into our new accommodations. The classroom was tiny and there were already a dozen bed rolls in there. We found our mattresses and managed to squeeze them in and unpack our sleeping bags. The girls raced off to explore and in the time it took me to find out there were no showers in this school (help!) they had discovered the gym, the library, the computer lab and how to access face book despite the school’s system that was supposed to block the site! They also found out that a trailer had been set up outside with showers and toilets that actually turned out to be luxury compared to some of the horror stories I heard later about other facilities with communal showers sprouting mould and spitting out cold water only!!!

Opening ceremonies were fantastic, despite the 2 ½ hour wait beforehand. 500 bodies packed in to one building all waiting for things to start wasn’t ideal I can tell you. I was glad I only had 2 heads to keep track of. One chaperone had 20 teenage girls to keep together which was proving very difficult with all those teenage boys to distract them! However I have never felt more proud than when our athletes were cheered into the arena, waving their hands madly to the crowd as the African drum music beat wildly in the background. The kids found their second wind as they were welcomed and praised and entertained with everything from cirque de soleil gymnasts to hip hop dancers. They didn’t get to bed until 11.30pm a long day indeed after getting up at 5am. But you know, those plastic mattresses were sure a welcome sight!!

The weekend proved to be very busy and the schedule hectic. Our skaters raced from 7.30pm to 10.30pm on the Friday night, then up at 5am the next morning to make it to breakfast and then off to warm up and then raced all day until 5pm. Then we were shepherded off to the food hall to eat and that was an experience in itself. But I guess when you’re cooking for several hundred people we can’t expect steak and lobster at every meal!! Then we flew back to the village to get ready for THE DANCE!!!

Yes indeed, even at 11 years old my girls were sooo excited for that dance. In no time at all they were showered and shampooed and were straightening each other’s hair and I even think I saw an eyelash curler! As the trusty chaperone I made sure they got safely to their dance. My friends, other parents who had all driven up for the weekend and were staying in those luxury hotels I was telling you about and drinking merlot, were all going out that night for a fancy dinner. I really wanted to go with them but I had signed that darn code of conduct so dutifully went to the chaperone and coaches evening of entertainment which was actually a lot of fun despite the lack of wine and dancing!!!

The next day was the last day of racing and once more we were up at 6am to pack up all our stuff, get to the food hall for breakfast and then on to the arena for races. By this time we were all exhausted. There were kids falling asleep in the dressing room and to be honest I wasn’t too far behind! However as each child got ready for another race it was delightful to see the excitement that took over, the silly bantering, the teasing and camaraderie in that dressing room. The conditions may not have been ideal for getting P.Bs but man those kids had a ball and probably wouldn’t have changed a thing. After all the racing was over I was a proud chaperone indeed as between our 7 skaters we took home 6 medals! And as those children stepped on to that podium they couldn’t have been happier or more proud of themselves and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

So in conclusion I have to say that if my kid qualifies again and they are looking for chaperones I will be a willing volunteer. For despite the lack of fine dining, luxury accommodations and that ever elusive glass of wine I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!!

Links

You are invited to share ideas and inspirational stories with other Alberta clubs and AASSA members... Contact Kim at markim@telusplanet.net with submissions

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