Burnaby Figure Skating Club wants to get a head start on Skate Canada's new athlete development initiative.
This Sunday, the Burnaby club will be holding an open house at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre that will introduce this season's coaches and present Skate Canada's new revised teaching programs.
The revised CanSkate programs will be stagebased and reconfigured into three fundamental areas - balance, control and agility.
The delivery model, which all skating clubs in Canada will have to follow by September 2014, is based on continuous movement, using circuits and stations to teach skills and music and aids to add fun and variety to the sessions.
"It's a different way of delivering the lessons," said Burnaby club treasurer Deborah Soo-Lum.
Some of the technical changes to the way the program is designed are aimed at delivering better results and stronger skaters at an earlier age.
There is also more emphasis on speed and flexibility and an earlier introduction to edges, turns, strong pushes and glides. Sport specific skills will be introduced later in the program.
Award ribbons serve as incentive awards for benchmark skill achievements. When each stage is mastered the skater will receive a badge of completion.
The emphasis is on skill progression and repetition to reinforce skill development and retention.
The individual skating clubs will be responsible for all the teaching aids and signage, as well as implementing the circuit stations.
For young skaters the pluses include more teachers per class and a more energetic training environment, said Soo-Lum.
The Burnaby Figure Skating Club will hold its Sept. 9 open house between 10 a.m. and noon at the Copeland centre.
