New Skating Programs

New Skating Programs for All Levels

Where does your skater fit into our fall programs? T he Skating department is thrilled to welcome members back for the upcoming fall classes! There’s a place for your sons and daughters as we build their skating skills with our CanSkate and StarSkate programs. From hockey to high performance figure skating, we’re ready for a new season. Are you? What’s CanSkate? It’s Canada’s learn to skate program and it’s here at the Glencoe, providing kids with the best foundation for figure skating, hockey, speed skating and ringette. Glencoe coaches are nationally certified and trained to teach the mechanics and proper techniques of skating. Scott Davis Head Skating Professional 403-287-4317 sdavis@glencoe.org

The curriculum is a complete series of balance, control and agility skills that prepares skaters for any ice skating, sport or recreational. Glencoe members will experience a nationallytested, proven curriculum and delivery methods that guarantee skater success!

Some of the best skaters in the world learned to skate with CanSkate, including Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir and Patrick Chan, not to mention hockey players who made the show (NHL): Ivanie Blondin, Matt Duchene and Jeff Skinner.

What happens after CanSkate? Glencoe skaters will move into either figure skating or hockey/ringette.

NEW SKATING PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Figure Skating • Starting in September, the Glencoe invites young, motivated, pre-competitive skaters into the Skating Academy. • This program requires a commitment to excellence, including two group classes, two dry land classes and a minimum one extra free skate per week. Skaters in the Academy learn the basics of figure skating in a fun, motivating group lesson environment. There is a group warm-up that includes edges, turns, strokes and drills. Skaters also break into smaller groups and work with all Glencoe coaching staff on spins, jumps and field movements. • The intent is to focus on the basic fundamentals of the sport. Dry land classes include a dynamic warm-up and jumping drills. In order for your skater to see improvements and performance gains, consistent attendance is needed.

StarSkate & the High Performance Training Centre • To help promote programming at the Glencoe, the figure skating department created two pathways of skating which take competitive skaters from the Academy level up to Elite. • StarSkate: After completing the Academy, skaters enter Skate Canada’s Star 1 to 5 program of development with skills training, dances and free skate. Skaters begin to compete at local StarSkate competitions and events and then progress through the new assessment system of coach-driven learning and testing. • High Performance Training Centre: This program parallels other Glencoe sports training such as badminton, squash, tennis, curling and swimming. To support and encourage athletes to be their best, this program outlines a specific and demanding schedule while setting standards for your skater to achieve at every level. The HPTC includes Academy to Elite athletes. Please contact Skating Director, Scott Davis, if you have any questions.

Hockey & Ringette • Fred Sloan and his assistants will be continuing their Hockey Skills and Power Skating classes. • These are extremely popular and fill up quickly!

Power Skating • This program takes place on Sundays, with various levels. • The focus is on developing proper posture, balance and technique in each child’s skating style. Young skaters progress through PreSchool and CanSkate lessons before registering for Power Skating. • You’ll see a vast improvement in the skating ability of your child over the three-month program. In terms of actual skating and drill time, one Sunday Power Skating session would equate to four or five on-ice hockey practices for those on a team. Many helpers are on the ice, all of them experienced with the drills.

Hockey Skills • This runs Wednesday and Thursday mornings, with various levels. • The focus is stick handling for puck control and passing skills. It’s a high tempo, fast-paced hockey skill session and space is limited.

CanPowerSkate • Various levels are run by Elise on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. • This is the only nationally regulated power skating program in Canada and we’re thrilled to be offering this program again! • CanPowerSkate is an action-packed, high-energy instructional power skating program geared to hockey and ringette skaters. Its focus is 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.

Ultimate Edge (new this year) • Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Scott Davis and Svend Wiele run this program for skaters aged nine years and up. • The focus is to improve your hockey skater’s edge control, balance and acceleration, with a concentrated effort on basic skating. • By using techniques from figure skating and hockey, the members will have an opportunity to improve their skating! • The off-ice portion of the class focuses on core strength, agility and power, all very important, too. Sign up now!

Skate for Life!

• The Glencoe Skating program also offers Adult Figure Skating, organized and un-organized Shinny and General Skating all year long. Build your cardio capacity, core fitness and overall strength by signing up! • Come join us. No matter your age or experience, skating can be a challenging and enjoyable lifelong sport! A

Badminton Shuttlecocks Everything you need to know (& more) about

Here at The Glencoe Club and around the world, many different types of shuttles are used in the game of badminton. Also known as a bird, the shuttlecock has been around since the Victorian era.

Most people agree the term likely came from the movement of the bird changing directions when hit over and over, similar to the shuttle on an old-fashioned loom (a device used to weave cloth and tapestry). Another name for a rooster is a cock or cockerel. That may be where the term cock came from as the feathers on a feather shuttle could give the appearance of feathers on a rooster. The two main families of shuttles are feather and nylon. Traditional feather shuttles have 16 feathers attached to a cork. The feathers generally come from the same wing of a goose or duck so they all bend in a similar direction. There are many benefits to using a feather shuttle. The feel of one on the strings of a racquet is better and you can execute more shots. For example, you can spin and slice with feather shuttles in ways that you cannot with nylon ones. Feather birds tend to fly in a more predictable manner. Powerful hitters can smash with force without them collapsing and turning into little bullets. Feather shuttles do collapse, but not as easily as their nylon counterparts. Beth Richardson Badminton Professional 403-287-4106 brichardson@glencoe.org

38 glencoe.org Unfortunately, feather shuttles don’t last extremely long. The feathers themselves are brittle and pieces break off as play continues. They’re expensive, coming in at about $3.75 each. One way to make a feather shuttle last longer is to steam it. The Badminton department has a humidifier in the back of the Badminton office. Tubes are placed on racks for a few days before they’re needed. Water is sucked up into the air by a fan that runs constantly. This allows moisture to soften the feathers which makes them more resilient.

If you have your own birds, you can use the kettle in the Badminton Lounge to steam them. The kettle doesn’t turn off automatically when boiling begins since it is the continuous steam that’s needed. In order to get a proper steam on your shuttles, turn the kettle on after checking to make sure there is enough water inside. Take the caps off of both ends of the tube. Once the steam is really going, place the open end of the tube, away from the cork, over the mouth of the kettle. Watch for the steam escaping out of the other end and, when you see it, cap both ends, turn off the kettle and let the birds sit for a couple of minutes. Then they’re good to go!

Nylon (also referred to as plastic) shuttles are much easier to maintain when compared to feather shuttles. To make them last, simply make sure they don’t get squished or get too warm. The plastic can melt and even body heat through a pocket in a skirt or pair of shorts can be enough to make the bird lose shape. If a plastic shuttle is cared for properly, it can last for many hours of play. A plastic bird costs about the same as a feather one but could last hundreds of times longer. However, once you’ve gotten used to playing with feather birds, it’s hard to go back to plastic!

High level badminton is always played with feather shuttles. Recreational badminton is more often played with nylon or plastic shuttles. However, this is not where choosing a bird ends.

Next, think about speed Calgary is one of the only locations in the world where a Speed 0 bird is used most of the time. The reason for this is our altitude. Because we’re so high above sea level, the air is thin. Therefore, birds move through it more quickly than in Vancouver. Speed can also be affected by temperature and humidity. At high level tournaments there are always a minimum of two speeds of birds available since there will often be changes to the conditions in the venue. A different speed of shuttle might be needed dayto-day or even on the same day. Birds fly more quickly through hot, humid air. There are two different rating systems for the speed of feather shuttles. Yonex uses a range of speeds that are classified -1, 0, 1, 2, 3. Other manufacturers use a different rating system of 75-80.

Plastic/nylon shuttles also come in a variety of speeds. The Yonex birds that we use at The Glencoe Club come in green, blue or red capped tubes. We only use the green as they’re the slowest of the three. Once again, this is due to our altitude.

About a year ago, Glencoe Badminton Professionals had the opportunity to try out a new type of shuttle with synthetic feathers. The idea is that these shuttles will be more durable but will mimic the playability of traditional feather shuttles. After trying them out, it was clear there is still a long way to go. Synthetic feathers would be wonderful for the sport so that thousands of duck and goose feathers don’t need to be harvested. Years ago, when there was rampant bird flu in China, there was a huge shortage of badminton birds because a large portion of the goose and duck population were infected. Synthetic feathers would take care of that type of issue.