2019 / 2020

Annual Report

Chairperson Skate Canada‐Saskatchewan is committed to ensuring the delivery of quality skating programs.

We value building positive relationships through communication, accountability and commitment. It is my pleasure to report to our membership that Skate Canada‐Saskatchewan has had a successful year. As we continue to build and provide excellence in all areas of programming from CanSkate to our Elite athletes makes Skate Canada‐Saskatchewan a privilege to be part of.

Several of our coaches and volunteers have been selected for committees with Skate Canada. This ensures we have a voice nationally and that we are heard. We have judges invited to International events and this year David and Vicki Schultz were selected to participate in the International Coaching Apprenticeship Program (ICAP).

We are pleased that Neil Tymoruski has signed a 4‐year contract as Program Coordinator for Skate Canada‐Saskatchewan

I would like to welcome 2 new clubs ‐ Naicam and Perdue to our Section. It is always positive to see growth in our club numbers.

As we were working and organizing plans for 2020/2021 COVID ‐19 became a reality. This has made a significant impact on our Section, clubs and the sport. In following Saskatchewan Health Authority all skating came to a halt. Many ice shows, seminars, assessment days and meetings were cancelled. Training for our athletes has been modified to keep them engaged in the sport. I encourage the membership to check our ‘NEW’ web site, emails and the mail for information and updates. I would like to extend a very huge thank‐you to Danielle Shaw as she led us through these difficult times. Thank you also to the membership for your patience in all of the turmoil. We will get through this. Stay Safe.

We will be continuing with the Skater’s Lottery as a fund raiser for our clubs. Please check the web site and or emails to order your books. The Fundraising Adjustment Fee (FAF) is also being continued for the 2020‐21 season. Letters followed by emails have been sent out to all clubs.

We say ‘good‐bye’ to Terry Hadley‐Cole who has served on the Skate Canada—Saskatchewan Board of Directors for 9 years. Thank you so much Terry for your commitment to our sport. As a member of our skating family, we hope to see you around the rink.

On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to thank our staff: Danielle Shaw ‐ Executive Director/Event Manager ‐ who is an amazing source of knowledge and gives extra time when needed.

David Schultz ‐ High Performance Director and Neil Tymoruski ‐ Program Coordinator, who are always working at making skating better in our Province.

Ashlyn Schmitz (Shellbrook SC) & Tristan Taylor (Skate Regina) Novice Pair – Silver Medalists at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships

Jo‐Anne Fritter – Administrative Assistant ‐ who works with Danielle in our Section office.

We have a very experienced and committed staff and we appreciate every one of you.

Although the 2020/2021 year may be a challenged, I look forward to working with an amazing Board of Directors as we work our way back to ‘normal’.

Carla Laevens Section Chairperson

Athlete Development The Athlete Development Committee’s directive is to encourage athlete development within the province of Saskatchewan and develop a high‐performance sport program pathway that will significantly improve performance levels of our athletes at the national level and Jeux Canada Winter Games.

Our focus on developing programming to grow Team Saskatchewan and grass roots athletes proved very successful this year!

Our strategy to support sustainability is the focus on upcoming skaters at the grass roots level. We once again offered one day seminars strategically throughout the province. Our Rising Star, STAR and Black Boots seminars provide an opportunity for younger skaters to experience aspects of competitive skating as well as develop foundational skills, all while having fun with their peers. We continue to offer Spring Kick‐Off Camp, Performance Camp, Out‐of‐Province opportunities, Jump scholarships and placement grants for Team Saskatchewan members.

Skate Canada recognizes the hard work and successful programming provided by the Section and Athlete Development Committee. The success of our pair teams led Skate Canada to target three coaches and their pair teams, affording athletes and coaches the opportunity to travel to Montreal for training and simulations with Richard Gauthier and Shae Zukiwsky through the newly established National Pair Initiative. Besides those two opportunities, each pair team received additional funding for supplementary training. This hard work resulted in, our Novice Pair Team of Ashlyn Schmitz (Shellbrook Skating Club) and Tristan Taylor (Skate Regina) earning a silver medal for Canada at North American Cup (International Competition) in August. They were subsequently named to the NextGen Development Team and attended a national seminar in Laval, QC. They followed their summer achievements with a gold medal at Challenge and a silver medal at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. These achievements earned them a spot on the NextGen Team for the upcoming 2020/21 season.

We had 12 entries (15 athletes) skaters/teams in all three (3) disciplines qualify for the 2020 Skate Canada Challenge, which is on par with the 2018/19 season. We followed that up by repeating our strong 2018/19 numbers at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships where we once again had six skaters represent Saskatchewan in singles and pairs.

Damien Bueckert (Warman/Osler SC) Novice Men

The Wiegers Financial & Benefits Road Show was held in Wynyard, Rocanville, Kindersley and Gull Lake.

The Athlete Development Committee continues to be innovative in pursuing excellence in developing athletes. We are excited for the upcoming season!

Officials We have had many changes to the structure of evaluating skaters this season with the official STAR 6 ‐ Gold rollout for Assessments. Skate Canada launched the new assessment system in September for Skills, with Dance, Artistic and Free Skate following later in the fall. It was a tight timeline to get any of our existing evaluators trained in time to conduct any Assessment Days. Since we had no one trained in the beginning, we did not allow any clubs to host any Assessment Days until January, 2020. This would allow some of them to finish the retired re‐training.

In January we had three or four evaluators trained and ready to attend Assessment Days, so in order to try and accommodate as many skaters as possible, we moved to a centralized system. Skate Canada ‐ Saskatchewan hosted two centralized assessment days ‐ one in the north and one in the south. Regina hosted in January and Clavet hosted in February. There were a handful of other Assessment Days that took place in a few areas in the province. We also held a small Assessment Day during Winter Classic on the Saturday evening.

Due to the outbreak of COVID 19, we were forced to cut the season short. Training modules to conduct STAR 6 ‐ Gold assessments have been revamped and our evaluators are urged to sign in and complete the new training system so we will be able to see all of our skaters when the skating season opens again in the fall.

Seminars Novice Judge Seminar (7 participants) New STAR 6‐Gold Evaluator Seminar (6 participants) Senior Invitational Judge Seminar (13 participants) Introductory Clinic (3 participants) Data Specialists CSS Update Clinic (6 participants)

Promotions ISU Singles & Pairs Referee: Karen Howard

Senior Singles Judge: Darren Bogle

Senior Invitational Singles Judge: Candice Dion, Kathryn Gilliss, Maria Hadley‐Cole, Kate Korchinski, Angie Lowe, Jacob Waskowic, Bonnie Yang

Juvenile Singles Judge: Kim Markwart, Brittani Prete, Julia Schofer, Marilee Taylor

STAR 6 to Gold Evaluator (Re‐training Qualifications): Enid Davidson, Desi Harcourt, Judy Harris, Brett Hines, Marlys Mooney, Kathy Piller

Introductory Data Specialists: Enid Davidson, Alyssa Ballan, Susan Waldal

Level I Data Specialists: Sara McLeod, Jennifer Moffatt, Jody Pipko, Cathy Sarty.

Out‐of‐Province Assignments Wild Rose Leduc, AB Candice Dion ISU Junior Grand Prix – Croatia Cup Zagreb, CRO Jayson Peace ISU Challenger Series – Espoo, FIN Karen Howard ISU Grand Prix – Skate Canada International Kelowna, BC Karen Howard Skate Canada Challenge Edmonton, AB Karen Howard Canadian National Skating Championships Mississauga, ON Karen Howard ISU World Junior Championships Tallinn, EST Karen Howard

Retiring Officials Barbara Leavins Evaluator / Judge / Data Specialist Dale Ternes Evaluator / Judge Elaine McBeth Data Specialist

Thanks to all officials in this province, who continue to volunteer many, many hours to clubs and skaters each season.

Competitions It has been an exciting first year, the committee had one conference call on September 9, 2019 and all other communications were done electronically. Highlights from the committee this year include:

 A new competition will be held next season for STAR 5 to Gold skaters on December 5, 2020 in Indian Head. The committee reviewed the typical skating calendar of events and recognized we are lacking opportunities for STAR athletes to compete earlier in the season. More information to come, but encourage saving the date for this inaugural event!  STAR Champions of Saskatchewan were crowned this year at 2020 Winter Classic in the STAR 5 to Gold Free Skate Events.  Figure skating has applied for inclusion in the 2022 Saskatchewan Winter Games, more information to come including a new qualification process.

Regional Competitions for the 2019/2020 season were held in Yorkton, Mossbank, City View, Saskatoon, Meadow Lake and Carrot River. Living Skies scheduled for March 2020 was cancelled due to Covid‐19.

Provincial Competitions for the 2019/2020 season were held in Regina, North Battleford, and Moose Jaw.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who made our competition season a success.

The following events have been approved for the 2020/2021 Season:

Date Competition Location Sept 17 ‐ 28, 2020 Autumn Classic International Oakville, ON Oct 9 ‐ 11, 2020 Sask Skate Regina, SK Oct 29 ‐ Nov 1, 2020 Skate Canada International Ottawa, ON Nov 6 ‐ 8, 2020 Skate Canada ‐ Saskatchewan Sectionals Moose Jaw, SK Nov 23 ‐ 29, 2020 Skate Canada Challenge Edmonton, AB Dec 5, 2020 STAR 5 to Gold Competition Indian Head, SK Jan 11 ‐ 17, 2021 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships Vancouver, BC Feb 6 ‐ 7, 2021 Prairie Regionals Synchronized Skating Yorkton, SK Feb 19 ‐ 21, 2021 Skate Canada Synchronized Skating Championships Sherbrooke, QC Feb 26 ‐ 28, 2021 Winter Classic Estevan, SK

Coaching The Skate Canada – Saskatchewan Coaches AGM and Awards Reception was held on May 3, 2019 at 7:00 pm in Saskatoon. Debra Armstrong was our special guest. We had 46 coaches in attendance.

After elections, we acclaimed both Laura McLeod and Tasje Sharron to the Coaches Core Committee (CCC) however, during the season Laura and Lennie Lacasse stepped down from the committee. We thank them for their time and input, it was valued greatly.

The CCC’s Goals for the 2019‐2020 skating season were to continue to support Saskatchewan coaches where needed. We had a Planning Meeting on May 2019 topics covered were grants, awards, mentorship opportunities, Synchro and Challenge Seminars, coaching workshops at Rising Stars seminars, Coaches Forum, Club development seminar, Coaching fees for upcoming special projects and STAR 6 – Gold full launch in 2019.

The CCC held a Coaches Seminar in conjunction with the Rising Stars Seminar in North Battleford. This was both on and off ice information for STAR 6‐Gold skills. This was a very successful forum with 8 coaches in attendance. The second seminar scheduled for Carlyle was cancelled due to low participant numbers.

Our MILE (Mobile Interest Learning Experience) Project funding went to two projects this season. We helped send Rhys McAlpine to the Challenge Seminar in Calgary and Joline Bowditch and Trish Bobert to the Synchro Nationals Seminar also in Calgary.

NCCP Courses held were: 3 Club Coach CanSkate courses, 1 Regional Club Coach Course and 1 CanPowerSkate coaches’ clinic.

Grants Coaches Development Grants – The CCC revamped the coaching grant criteria to better suit the needs of our coaches. We awarded 5 grants funding NCCP training and various seminars. This grant is available for coaches wanting to upgrade their NCCP status or for personal development opportunities.

Club Coach Grants – We awarded three grants for completion of the Club Coach Certification. Regional Coach Grants – We awarded two grants for the completion of the Regional Coach Certification.

The National Coaching Awards for 2020 are still being chosen by the national office, but we will once again this year award our own so we can recognize the accomplishments of our Saskatchewan Coaches.

Congratulations to all of the Coaches of Saskatchewan on your skater’s / team’s successes throughout the year. We are seeing continual improvement throughout our sport, keep up the good work!

Marketing The 2019/20 season has been very active for Skate Canada – Saskatchewan. Once again, we have been able to give back in excess of $160,000 to participating Clubs/skating schools and skaters.

We were able to award four (4) training grants to Team Saskatchewan Members for their participation in the Skaters’ Lottery program as well as provide a hosting grant to the six (6) host Clubs for the Regional Invitational Competitions to help off-set officials’ expenses.

With changes to the 2019/2020 Skaters’ Lottery, we were unable to predict how many clubs would use the Skaters’ Lottery as a fundraiser for their clubs. Participating clubs received $70.00 per complete book sold. Due to the participation of 63 clubs, the Skaters’ Lottery did well therefore the Skate Canada – Saskatchewan decided to make this a true club fundraiser; an additional $30.00 per complete book sold will be issued bringing the club payback to 100% of the sales per book for participating clubs, Plans for the 2020/2021 Skaters’ Lottery are under way, The prizes and price of the tickets will remain the same. Participating clubs will receive $70.00 / complete book sold. Pending on success of the 2020/2021 Skaters’ Lottery, the Section may be able to provide more funding to the participating clubs.

With recent changes to the Skaters’ Lottery, to balance the budget and to secure funding for skating programs, a motion was passed at the December 8, 2018 Board Meeting to implement a Fundraising Adjustment Fee of $30.00 per registrant (Skate Canada registered member). Clubs were invoiced for $30.00 per registrant (Skate Canada registered member) as of January 1, 2020 membership stats provided by Skate Canada. Our intention was the funds collected would reconcile with the Skate Canada membership stats as of March 1st, 2020. However, our correspondence dated January 28th, 2019 stated that Clubs would receive an invoice for $30.00 per registrant (Skate Canada registered member) as of January 1, 2020 (membership stats provided by Skate Canada). The Skate Canada - Saskatchewan Board of Directors realized the confusion and made a motion on March 28th, 2020 that a second invoice would not be issued for the 2019/2020 skating season. Letters / emails for the 2020/2021 Fundraising Adjustment Fee were mailed on April 6th and emailed April 9th.

Skate Canada – Saskatchewan realized $36,402 in sponsorship for events such Sask Skate, Sectionals, Winter Classic and the Road Show. Without the generosity of sponsors, we would not be able to hold the events that we do. Our sponsors are an extremely important part of our organization. Thank you to them for their continued support of skating in Saskatchewan.

Regional Coordinators Despite the Club Development Seminar cancellation, the Regional Coordinator Committee met in Humboldt in September 2019 to discuss the internal regional coordinator survey results, CDS cancellation, on‐line reference tools for Regional Coordinators (RC), assessment days, fundraising adjustment fee, dispute resolution, and improved communications between Sections, RC, and clubs.

The skating season went well until (mid‐March 2020) with the following club highlights:  Wawota Skating Club debuted Team Sparkle; a beginner synchronized skating team with 11 skaters. The club hopes to grow the team into two teams over next couple of years.  Mossbank Skating Club celebrated their 50th year as a club.  Skate Esterhazy participated in their Battle of the Blades which was received by skating and hockey fans alike. They aim for it to become an annual event.  Skate Martensville provided a learn to skate program for adults.  Outlook Skating Club noted that their CanPowerSkating membership significantly increased and they added an adult synchro team to the club.  Skate Saskatoon announced that they had six competitive synchronized skater teams with a total of 72 skaters.  Region 10 reported that area club membership increased as a result of new strengthening relationships with local minor hockey associations. The minor hockey associations are asking their members to have CanSkate levels completed before starting hockey.

Fund raising is crucial for many clubs to offset expenses. Clubs got creative with:  Skate Brock hosted a Valentine’s Day skate‐a‐thon.  Milden Skating Club hosted a community supper before their annual skating showcase.  Rosetown Elkette Skating Club hosted a community skate and bake sale before their holiday show case.  Kindersley Skating Club hosted the Saskatchewan Stars on Ice Road Show.  Skaters’ Lottery

Even with all these great accomplishments, there were on‐going challenges:  Low Registration: A few clubs reported low registration for events resulting in their cancellation.  Volunteers: Clubs reported on‐going challenge of recruiting of volunteers at their boards. The lack of volunteers is resulting in overload and disengagement of existing board members.  Coaches: Small club are challenged with the on‐going recruitment of coaches resulting in coaches traveling longer distance.  Communication

Skating Programs We had the opportunity to host a Skate Canada initiative for Program Delivery standards and maximizing ice usage. It was a great day of learning from each other and getting new ideas of where to take our clubs next. A full brainstorming day with our committee, coaches committee, athlete development, National and Section office to dissect what programs and supports we are currently offering and what we could change, develop further and/or create new that would be the most efficient use of our funding and time.

Two CanSkate Enhancement Workshops were offered during September and October this fall, in Humboldt (17 participants) and in Shaunavon (24 participants). The workshops accommodated program assistants, coaches and club representatives as club teams. On‐ice and off‐ice sessions made up the very informative and motivational days. In Shaunavon, we added a second facilitator to accommodate off‐ice participants. Program Assistants, coaches and club representatives are always very excited and appreciative at the end of the day as they leave the clinic with new and refreshing ideas and more confidence in their ability to make their CanSkate Programs the best they possibly can.

Adult Skating Adult events were offered at Winter Classic in Moose Jaw and at the Region 4/7/8 Competition. We would like to encourage Regional Competitions to offer adult events.

Adult skaters in this province may be an untapped market for clubs and should be promoted. Additional training for coaches on how to teach/coach different levels of adult skaters along with more promotion of adult skating is needed.

The adult skating community continues to maintain the Facebook group called Sask Adult Skating Community. Posting content, videos and announcements relevant to the adult skating community is a great way to stay connected.

Synchronized Skating We had teams from Saskatoon and Regina representing Saskatchewan at the Rose Bowl competition in Alberta.

Prairie Regional Synchronized Skating Championships were held in Killarny Manitoba this season. There were teams from Saskatoon and Regina representing Saskatchewan.

The Living Skies Invitational competition was cancelled in March.

Rising Stars This year the Rising Stars Seminars (RSS) were held in four locations Naicam, North Battleford, Mossbank, and Carlyle. On‐ice sessions included skating skills, stroking, jumps, spins, and synchro sessions. Off‐ice sessions included jump/spin, dance, and synchro sessions as well as a parent information session which explained Skate Canada’s progression from CanSkate to STARSkate/Competitive Skating, as well as pathways for Skate for Life.

We will be targeting clubs in different regions of Saskatchewan this summer to host RSS in December 2020.

Awards This has been an excellent year with over 50 nominations submitted. The awards committee was not able to settle on a date for a conference call so ranking of nominations were submitted to the Section Office by email, and the recipients were announced by press release in mid‐April. Thank you to all of the coaches, clubs and parents for taking the time and effort to submit such thorough nominations and bringing attention to the fabulous athletes, volunteers, PAs and coaches. It is always inspiring and motivational to receive so many nominations in recognition of the accomplishments of so many participants in skating.

Many of the categories had over a dozen nominations and the committee had their work cut out for them but has decided on the following;  Sask. Program Assistant Award Tiana Delelleau Carlyle SC  Sask. Section Volunteer Award Dianne Eckel Raymore SC  Sask. Competitive Skate Athlete Award Ashlyn Schmitz Shellbrook SC  Sask. STARSkate Athlete Award Alyssa Mozel Wynyard SC  Sask. CanSkate Athlete Award Rylee Brady Carlyle SC  Sask. Section Officials Award Ashley Kuntz City View SC  Section Volunteer Coach Award Michelle Cowell  Section Volunteer Award of Excellence Brett Hines Skate Regina  Synchronized Skating Recognition Award Kim Markwart Skate Tisdale

The committee has chosen the following Regional Volunteer Award recipients from the nominees;  Region 5 – Jode Derenisky (Skate Regina)  Region 7 – Jodene Ferre (St. Brieux SC)  Region 11 – Abby Lungull (Skate Hudson Bay) and Jacquie Jacobs (Skate Melfort)

Congratulations to the following Coaching Award Recipients:  SK Club & Recreational Coach Award of Excellence – Jennifer Hanson

National award nominees:  Officials Award of Excellence Allyson Senecal Rosetown Elkette SC  Competitive Coach/Choreographer Award of Excellence David Schultz

Merit Award Rhea Renwick Skate Regina

Amy Award Kiara Slabik Gull Lake SC

Pat Kettke Memorial Award Eric Swalm Moose Jaw SC

Winter Classic Club Trophy Estevan SC

Kensie Wawryk (Skate Yorkton) Juvenile Women U12

Skate Canada - Saskatchewan Committee List *designates Chairperson

Data Specialists Sub-Committee *Ila Andrew Audit & Finance Nadia Stevenson * Ricki Giroux Marcy Labbie Carla Laevens Allyson Senecal Allyson Senecal Karen German Dale Ternes Carla Laevens David Tuffs Candice Dion Rayleen Eberl Judy Hruska Danielle Shaw

Awards Evaluators / Judges Sub-Committee * Terry Hadley-Cole * Brett Hines Troy Lucyshyn Allyson Senecal Danielle Shaw Catherine Ready Carla Laevens Enid Davidson David Czerniak Kathryn Gilliss Miranda Spencer Carla Laevens Enid Davidson Officials’ Coordinating Committee Coaches *Allyson Senecal *Heather Martin Carla Laevens David Czerniak Lenni Lacasse David Schultz Ila Andrew Neil Tymoruski Brett Hines Laura McLeod Judy Harris Tasje Sharron Karen Howard Holly Inverarity Darren Bogle Rayleen Eberl Carla Laevens Marketing / Promotions Dale Ternes * David Tuffs Carla Laevens Competitions Danielle Shaw *Darren Bogle Mike Laevens Brett Hines Troy Lucyshyn Ila Andrew Marg Auringer Neil Tymoruski Tasje Sharron Membership Allyson Senecal * Dale Ternes Rayleen Eberl Carla Laevens David Schultz Dale Ternes Carla Laevens

* Candice Dion Regional Coordinators / Skate-Ins Carla Laevens * Troy Lucyshyn Allyson Senecal Dale Ternes Neil Tymoruski Jamie Smith Holly Inverarity Rona Hadley-Cole Janis Johnson Linda Kutschall Meghan Mason Jennifer Moffatt Debbie Rodger Nominating Rhonda McAlpine-Haubrich *Marg Auringer Amy Ewert Danielle Shaw Rachel Bueckert Darren Bogle Nicole Sereda Enid Davidson Adele Sperle Carla Laevens Human Resources Julie Sparks *Carla Laevens Enid Davidson Marg Auringer Tasha Cyr Allyson Senecal Dale Ternes Athlete Development Ricki Giroux *Rayleen Eberl David Tuffs Carla Laevens Heather Martin Karen Howard Jode Derenisky Terry Hadley-Cole Miranda Spencer Allyson Senecal 2020 Winter Classic presented by Jamie Smith Visit Moose Jaw David Schultz Neil Tymoruski Gold Women Free Medallists Danielle Shaw Addison Klapak – Weyburn (Gold) Maggie Borschowa – Weyburn (Silver) Skating Programs Competition Results

2020 Skate Canada Challenge Pre-Novice Women 29 Caidence Derenisky Skate Regina 36 Ashlyn Schmitz Shellbrook SC 43 Rylee Finlay Swift Current SC

Pre-Novice Dance 19 Jillian Benko Skate Saskatoon Shane Benko Skate Saskatoon

21 Tyrae Wiebe Moose Jaw SC Shamus McClanahan Caronport SC

Novice Women 27 Sydney Kotzer Skate Yorkton 35 Rebecca Schindel Skate Saskatoon 36 Kiara Slabik Gull Lake SC

Novice Pair 1 Ashlyn Schmitz Shellbrook SC Tristan Taylor Skate Regina

Junior Men 15 Tristan Taylor Skate Regina

Junior Pair 7 Caidence Derenisky Skate Regina Raine Eberl Skate Regina

13 Shallen Bear Whitewood SC Marty Haubrich Skate Esterhazy

2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships Novice Pair 2 Ashlyn Schmitz Shellbrook SC Tristan Taylor Skate Regina

Junior Men 8 Tristen Taylor Skate Regina

Junior Pair 4 Caidence Derenisky Skate Regina Raine Eberl Skate Regina

11 Shallen Bear Whitewood SC Marty Haubrich Skate Esterhazy

Would like to thank the following sponsors for supporting skating in Saskatchewan.