Delta Skating’s biggest night of the year will be even more special.
The annual year-end show will commemorate the club’s milestone birthday — Celebrating 60 Years. It gets underway Friday night (6:30 p.m.) at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
The evening program will include a tribute to one of the club’s original coaches — Jennifer Nicks — who teamed up with her brother John to win the 1953 world pairs title for Great Britain. They also finished fourth at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. She passed away suddenly of a heart attack in 1980 at the age of 48. The club presents an annual memorial trophy in her honour.
From its early beginnings of being based out of the city’s first-ever indoor ice rink at a converted Boundary Bay Airport hangar, Delta Skating Club has evolved into a year-round operation with 259 members offering programs for all age abilities.
“I would say it’s a club that supports the community. Basically all ice sports,” said DSC president Dina Boykiw during an interview Tuesday, alongside two other key volunteers, longtime executive member and current administrator Barb Baerg and Denise Skinner, who is juggling three positions.
The club provides basic skating lessons — from pre-school to teens — through CanSkate. The popular nation-wide program features six levels and teaches fundamental movements in a group lesson format with an emphasis on fun.
From there, skaters can go in several different directions.
Junior Development is more group lessons that teach the basic skills required in free skate and dance.
The club’s StarSkate/Competitive program provides further in-depth skating instruction in group and a private lesson format. It also assesses the skater’s progress through optional Skate Canada tests and/or challenges skaters in a competitive environment with StarSkate competitions.
“Skaters can be in the StarSkate program and not compete,” noted Boykiw. “There is the reason of doing it just for the love of skating.”
DSF also has a successful synchronized team skating program and have hosted competitions. Two members — Lauren Frasca and Sara Morrow — recently attended the national championships in Waterloo.
DSF’s CanPowerSkate program is a popular option for hockey and ringette players. The action-packed, high energy instructional power skating program focuses on balance, power, agility, speed and endurance. Skills, techniques and conditioning drills are taught in a progressive format that emphasizes how the skills apply to game situations.
With the fall/winter season now wrapped up, registration is underway for the club’s spring programs that will begin the first week of April at Tilbury Arena. Visit www.deltaskatingclub.com for more information or call 604-940-6749.
